CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion baseball team faced a tough day at the ballyard on Tuesday, with the Golden Eagles dropping a pair of losses to the Pitt-Johnstown Mountain Cats at home.  Clarion lost by final scores of 15-8 and 21-4 to fall to 5-26 overall on the season and 2-18 in PSAC West play.
 
Tyler Falk went 3-of-3 with two singles, a triple and a walk in the first game, driving in two runs and scoring one himself.  John Finke was also perfect at the plate in the early game, going 3-of-3 with a run scored.  Tyler Delval went 2-of-3 with two runs and Brian Laurito went 2-of-2 with two RBI's and a run scored.
 
Mike Lockhart went 3-of-3 in the second game with two runs and an RBI, while Finke went 2-of-3 to complete a 5-of-6 day at the dish.  Tiler Sadowski took the loss, giving up seven runs in 3.0 innings pitched.
 
The teams were engaged in a slugfest in Game 1, with the teams combining for 23 runs in the early game.  Clarion jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning, starting with a two-run single from Brian Laurito that scored John Finke and Austin Mike.  Josh Ponsoll followed that up with a three-run bomb over the left field wall, plating Laurito and Mitch Holmberg to put the Golden Eagles ahead 6-1.
 
Pitt-Johnstown caught fire in the top of the third, though, scoring four to pull within one run of the Golden Eagles.  A miscue from Ponsoll in the fourth inning put the Mountain Cats ahead 7-6, as the third baseman threw an errant ball to second base that bounced into right field and allowed Ernesto Rizzitano and Dylan Conrad to score.  Pitt-Johnstown increased their lead to 8-6 on a sacrifice fly from Nate Negri.
 
The teams remained close into the seventh inning but the Mountain Cats added major insurance with seven runs in the road half to take a 15-6 lead.  Tyler Delval led the inning off with a double and was scored in the next at-bat with a triple by Falk, and Mike Lockhart brought him home with a single to make it 15-8.  Pitcher Trentin Martin settled down from there, though, and induced a double play from Matt Kamenicky to end the game.
 
The Mountain Cats opened up a 6-0 lead in the top of the first inning in Game 2, but the Golden Eagles responded with two runs in the home half of the second to pull closer.  Falk bombed a long fly ball to center field to lead off the inning and Mike landed one in nearly the exact same spot, scoring Falk to make it 6-1.  He would come home two batters later when Finke pulled a double down the left field line, pulling the Golden Eagles to within 6-2 after two innings.
 
UPJ led 11-2 entering the fourth inning but again the Golden Eagles cut into the lead, this time with some heads-up baserunning.  Lockhart and Finke were on first and second with one out and managed to pull off a double-steal to both enter scoring position.  Mley drove in Lockhart with a bouncer to shortstop, and Dillon Wolbert drove in Finke with a single to make it 11-4.
 
The Mountain Cats did not relent, however, and continued to pour on into the late innings.  They added seven more runs in the top of the seventh inning to set the final score at 21-4.