GLENVILLE, Pa. – Ending their weekend road trip tonight in Glenville, WV, the Clarion baseball team dominated the West Liberty Hilltoppers on Saturday, coming out on top, by a final score of 17-8 The Golden Eagles (5-5) finished the weekend with an overall record of 2-1.
 
A host of Golden Eagles drove the offense on Saturday night, including a blistering 3-for-4 performance from Thomas Lavin that included a solo homer and a RBI single to seal the deal for the boys in blue. Alex Ficorilli went 3-for-6 on the night driving in a total of four runs while also scoring three of his own. Bryce Jackson delivered a kickstart to the Clarion offense providing a two run blast over the left center field wall in the bottom of the third inning to give the Golden Eagles an 8-4 lead.  
 
Kyler Mellott got the start on the mound tossing 3.0 innings, striking out three and walking just two. Utilizing the bullpen to end the weekend, freshman Bryce Grenet came in in relief, throwing a solid 3.0 innings allowing only one hit and fanning five West Liberty batters. Fellow freshman Ben Mongelluzzo closed the game out in the top of the ninth inning allowing one hit and striking out two.
 
Bouncing back from a loss last night, the Clarion bats detonated as the Golden Eagles racked up 17 runs on 15 hits. West Liberty struck first in the top of the first inning but that lead was quickly fastened in the bottom half of the inning starting with a Jackson RBI groundout that scored Nick Fugh from third base. Brian Casper gave the Golden Eagles the lead on the very next at bat with a RBI groundout of his own that scored Ficorilli.
 
The explosion came in the bottom of the fifth inning with the score 10-6 in favor of the Blue and Gold. Ficorilli scored on a wild pitch, while a Chandler Palyas single scored Jackson from third. The next at bat Ben Barth singled through the left side picking up two RBIs giving Clarion a 14-6 lead. A sac fly from Fugh would plate Palyas ending the scoring parade in the fifth.
 
Clarion would go on to score two more runs in the seventh inning courtesy of a Fugh triple and a Ficorilli single to close the scoring for the game.
 
The Golden Eagles will be back in action on Friday, March 8 when they travel to the USA Baseball Training Complex in Cary, NC for their five game spring trip. Game one of that trip is set to start at 3 pm against the University of Findlay.