WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Golden Eagle baseball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader on the road on Friday afternoon, falling by 11-3 and 8-4 scores to Cal U at Wild Things Park in Washington.
 
Game 1 – Cal U 11, Clarion 3
Recap: The momentum went the way of the Vulcans early as Cal U jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, with the first six batters of the game reaching base en route to the big lead. The Vulcans tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the second inning to increase their lead to 8-0, all while holding Clarion off the scoreboard until the final inning of action.
 
The Golden Eagles generated some offense in the bottom of the seventh inning, starting with Nate Petke reaching on an error at shortstop. After Griffin Snyder drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases, Danny Fox followed suit with a base on balls of his own, bringing Petke across the plate for the run. Matt Privette delivered a hard single through the right side in the next at-bat, scoring two and cutting the Vulcans' lead to 11-3. Kasey Shughart and Caden Contant tried to keep things rolling, but new relief pitcher Tanner Phillips retired them on groundouts to end the threat.
 
Privette finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, raising his batting average to .322 in conference play. Anthony Tucci threw four innings of relief, allowing two hits and three runs.
 
Game 2 – Cal U 8, Clarion 4
Recap: This time it was the Golden Eagles who struck first, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning to take a 4-0 lead early on. Privette drew a one-out walk to get things started, followed by back-to-back singles from Contant and Daren Byers to load up the bases. Mason Kepler worked the count against starter Aidan Ruiz, drawing a five-pitch walk to bring Privette home, and Lenny Piccini bashed a bases-clearing double to center field off relief pitcher Roman Gill to give Clarion a 4-0 lead.
 
However, the Vulcans responded with seven unanswered runs from the second through fourth innings, including a two-run single by Mike Landry to first cut into the lead. The Vulcans tied it at 4-4 in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI double by Louden Conte and took the lead for the first time on an RBI from Santino Marra.
 
The Vulcans tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning, with Conte lifting a sacrifice fly to right field to score Landry and make it 8-4. Byers drew a two-out walk on four straight pitches, but Mason Kepler struck out to end the inning.
 
Contant had a strong game at the plate, going 3-of-4 with a run scored. Byers went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored as well.
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