WILSON, N.C. -- The Golden Eagle baseball team kicked off a four-game slate in Wilson on Thursday, falling in both ends of a doubleheader to Chestnut Hill and Alderson Broaddus, respectively. The games were marked by high-scoring and close results, but Clarion came up just short in both.

Game 1: Chestnut Hill 13, Clarion 12 

Recap: The first game of the day played out like a prizefight, with both sides throwing haymakers over the course of nine innings of action. The Golden Eagles and the Griffins combined for 19 total hits and six total errors as part of their 25-run outburst, with the outcome of the game undecided until the very last inning as a results. 

Chestnut Hill held a 3-1 lead after one inning, with the Golden Eagles' tally coming on an RBI double from Sam Felner. They tacked on four runs in the top of the second inning, with Michael Proios and Kasey Shughart adding RBI singles to tie the game at 3-3. That led to a two-out, two run double by Scott McManamon, who ripped a liner to left field that scored a pair and put his team ahead 5-3. 

The Griffins scored four runs themselves in the second inning and put on another pair in the third to take a 9-5 lead, though Clarion got two of those runs back in the fourth. McManamon struck again, this time blasting a two-run homer to left field to score Caden Contant. McManamon ultimately finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored. 

The teams traded identical run totals in the next three innings, with Clarion tying the game at 11 in the top of the seventh with two runs. Alfredo Hurtado lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Connor Booth, and Proios came around to score on Shughart's groundout to shortstop to even up the game. That said, Chestnut Hill pushed across a pair of runs in the next half-inning, aided in part by an error, to take a 13-11 lead. Emerson Abromavage helped the Golden Eagle cause in the top of the eighth inning, hitting a hard grounder to second that resulted in an error and allowed McManamon to score. The Griffins shut the door, though, with pitcher Marlon Rose working a scoreless ninth for the save.  

Six Golden Eagles had two or more hits in the game, led by McManamon's three. Felner and Shughart each drove in a pair of runs, while Proios contributed two doubles and two runs scored. Clarion stole six bases in the game, with McManamon and Shughart each swiping two bags. Isaac Schleich took the loss, having allowed the two runs in the seventh inning. 

Game 2: Alderson Broaddus 9, Clarion 7 

Recap: The Battlers came out swinging the bats well early in the game, scoring seven runs in the first two innings. Those would be the last runs they scored until the top of the eighth inning, though, as pitchers Sam Rice and Ryan Gallagher put up an additional five shutout inningsfrom the third through the seventh. 

Clarion cut into the lead a bit in the bottom of the second inning after loading the bases with no outs. They took advantage of a wild pitch by pitcher Cade Van Ness, moving the runners around and allowing Sam Felner to score, and Nate Petke drew a walk with the bases loaded to score Lenny Piccini. Kasey Shughart lofted a deep fly ball to center field to score Daren Byers on a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 7-3. 

The Golden Eagles got the score down to 7-4 in the fourth inning, when a throwing error by Van Ness allowed Daren Byers to score from third base. Their next opportunity to complete the comeback came in the bottom of the seventh; Caden Contant reached on a walk and stole both second and third, and then came around to score on Felner's RBI groundout to shortstop. Piccini followed with a walk and Byers hit an infield single, giving the Golden Eagles runners on first and second with two outs. Matt Gilkey was able to force Pitzer into a grounder to short, with the Battlers beating Byers to the bag for the third out. 

Clarion did get another crack at it in the bottom of the ninth inning, scoring two runs and putting the go-ahead run at the plate with two out. Scott McManamon and Sam Felner roved around the bases on wild pitches, with the former coming across to score on one of those pitches. Byers brought Felner home with a grounder to first base, but Brett Pitzer kept the rally going by drawing a walk. He was lifted for pinch runner Michael Proios, who advanced to third on Economy's two-out double, but Petke struck out to end the game. 

Ryan Gallagher and Joe Rossi threw four combined innings of relief, allowing two runs; Clarion allowed just two runs as a team after the second inning. Byers finished 2-of-4 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored.