LOCK HAVEN, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle baseball team enjoyed one of its best offensive days in years, routing Lock Haven by a 17-2 score on the road on Tuesday afternoon. Clarion jumped all over the Bald Eagles en route to the big victory.
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The 17 runs scored by the Golden Eagles matched their highest total since dropping an identical number against West Liberty during the 2019 season. That also tied for third in a single game in the program's all-time record book. The 18 hits recorded by the Golden Eagles is tied for fourth in a single-game in program history, and is the most since the team recorded a record 20 hits against Baruch in 2008.
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Individual milestones were recorded as well.
Kasey Shughart reached 100 hits in his career with a 3-for-6 day at the plate, achieving the mark in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single that scored
Daren Byers. Meanwhile,
Scott McManamon pulled into a five-way tie for second place on the program's single-season home run record, hitting his seventh of the season in the top of the seventh inning. That leaves him two shy of Thomas Lavin's record of nine set during the 2021 season.
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Though the game ended up a laugher, it started as a compelling back-and-forth battle through two innings.
Caden Contant opened the scoring with the first of his four hits on the day, doubling
Tyler Meachum home to open the scoring. The Bald Eagles scored in the bottom of the inning to even things up, and the teams traded runs in the second to make it a 2-2 game early on.
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The next run belonged to the Golden Eagles, and it sparked a run of 15 unanswered runs that put Clarion in to the lead.
Brett Pitzer rapped an opposite-field single to right field to score Contant, giving the Golden Eagles a 3-2 lead that would hold up the rest of the way. Clarion posted three runs in the top of the fourth inning, starting with an RBI double by
Mason Kepler to score Contant.
Daren Byers and Shughart added run-scoring singles, making it a 6-2 lead.
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Meanwhile, starting pitcher
Dan Miller was effective in an extended outing. He threw six innings and allowed only two hits while walking three batters, and kept the Bald Eagles off the scoreboard after the second inning.
Isaac Schleich threw a clean three innings, allowing just three hits and striking out two for the save.
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The biggest inning of them all came in the fifth, when Clarion went off for six runs.
Mason Kepler and
Kasey Shughart both recorded two-RBI hits, with Kepler pulling a single through the right side and Shughart lifting a double to deep left field. Byers and Kepler went on to score on wild pitches, running the lead up to 11-2. The coup de grace came in the seventh inning, startng with a two-run single by
Nate Petke. That led to a three-run bomb by McManamon, who drove a ball deep over the left field fence to score Meachum and Petke and set the deficit at 15 runs.
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