WILSON, N.C. – The Clarion baseball team rallied from a 3-0 deficit to force extra innings, but the Golden Eagles came up just short in falling 4-3 in 10 innings to the Kutztown Golden Bears on Friday.  With the loss, Clarion opens the season 0-1.
 
John Finke went 3-for-5 at the plate with a run scored, crossing the plate in the sixth inning to cut the Golden Bears' lead to 3-2.  Matt Kamenicky had the game-tying RBI triple, going 1-for-4 at the plate on the day, while both Mitchell Holmberg and Tyler Delval contributed a pair of knocks.
 
Delval authored a quality start against Kutztown, throwing six innings and allowing three runs on nine hits.  He struck out five batters while walking just one.  Doug Conrad was saddled with the hard-luck loss, giving up a run in the top of the 10th inning; he was otherwise solid, throwing 1.2 innings and giving up just two hits.  Chase Gorski contributed 2.1 innings of scoreless relief to send the game to extra innings.
 
Kutztown led 3-0 after five innings of action but the Golden Eagles struck back in the bottom of the sixth, tacking on three runs to make it a new ballgame.  Delval led the inning off with a single and advanced to second on Finke's one-out single.  The pair advanced on the basepaths after a wild pitch that sailed past Austin Mike, and Delval scored on a passed ball with Mike still at the plate to make it 3-1.  Brian Laurito brought home Finke with a two-out RBI single, and Kamenicky plated him with a two-out triple to tie the ball game. 
 
Clarion threatened in the seventh when Tyler Falk reached second with two outs, but Kutztown got out of it with a strikeout to end the inning.  The Golden Bears took the lead on a one-out single in the top of the 10th inning, and Clarion went down in order in the bottom of the inning to end the game.