INDIANA, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle baseball team wrapped their four-game set with IUP on Sunday afternoon, earning a road split with the Crimson Hawks in the first weekend of conference action. Clarion lost the first game by a 7-0 score before beating IUP 8-6 in extra innings.
 
IUP 7, Clarion 0
Recap: The Crimson Hawks picked up where they left off from the second game of Friday's doubleheader, holding Clarion to just two hits in seven innings of action. IUP scored one run apiece in each of the first three innings and two in the fourth, giving them a 5-0 lead early in the action.
 
The Golden Eagles had just one baserunner in the first four innings, when Nate Petke was hit by a pitch from starter Jimmy Tooley. Tooley went on to walk Sam Economy and Petke in back-to-back plate appearances in the fifth inning to put a runner in scoring position, but Connor Booth struck out to end the inning.
 
Clarion got their first hit of the game in the top of the sixth inning, when Scott McManamon pulled a two-out single to left center to reach base. That chased Tooley from the game, but reliever Ty Ryen forced Caden Contant into a lineout to second base to end the inning.
 
IUP scored two additional insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, though the Golden Eagles made a short push in the top of the seventh. Daren Byers and Economy drew back-to-back one-out walks, and Booth hit a single through the left side to load the bases with two outs. That brought up Kasey Shughart, but he flew out to deep center field to end the threat.
 
Ryan Gallagher took the loss in his start, throwing 4.0 innings and allowing four earned runs – five total – while walking two. Joe Rossi worked two innings of relief.
 
Clarion 8, IUP 6 (9 inn.)
Recap: The Golden Eagles rebounded from a late deficit to force extra innings and then broke through in the top of the ninth inning, sealing the win by holding the Crimson Hawks to just one run in the home half of the frame. Down 5-3 in the top of the sixth inning, Clarion chipped away at the lead after Lenny Piccini led off the frame with a double. Shughart drove a single the opposite way to bring him home, making it 5-4.
 
The game-tying run came in the seventh inning. Scott McManamon led off with a single and stole second base to get into scoring position. Byers went oppo for a one-out RBI single, bringing McManamon across to tie the game at 5-5. IUP got out of the inning, but reliever Griffin Snyder retired the Crimson Hawks 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh to send it to extra innings. The teams exchanged zeroes in the eighth inning, and then the Golden Eagles went to work for three runs in the ninth. McManamon led off the inning with a single and advanced on a wild pitch, and then came around to score on Mason Kepler's RBI single. Kepler was lifted for pinch runner Michael Proios, scoring when Sam Felner's shot to shortstop was mishandled to make it 7-5, and Piccini bombed a two-out RBI double to center field to score Tyler Meachum.
 
Now working with an 8-5 lead, Snyder came out for his fourth inning of work in the ninth. The Crimson Hawks got a number of baserunners but were only able to push one run across, on a passed ball that scored Zach Miller. Snyder forced Colton Burd into a weak grounder to second base to end the game, allowing the Golden Eagles to split the twinbill.
 
Three Golden Eagles – Shughart, McManamon and Kepler – finished with four base hits apiece, while Byers went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Starting pitcher Anthony Tucci threw five innings, allowing five runs in the no-decision.
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