SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle baseball team finished up their four-game series with Mercyhurst on Monday afternoon, dropping an 11-10 extra innings marathon in the opening game of a doubleheader before falling 13-1 in the nightcap.
 
Game 1: Mercyhurst 11, Clarion 10 (11 inn.)
Recap: An emotional rollercoaster from start to finish, the first game featured two separate innings where five or more runs were scored – one by each team – and tying runs in the sixth and 10^th innings to extend the action into nearly three and a half hours.
 
The tone was set in the very first inning. Mercyhurst touched up Golden Eagles starter Reilly Shafer for six runs in the first frame, but Clarion responded quickly with three runs in the home half of the inning, including a two-run double by Daren Byers to cut the lead down to 6-3. That allowed Shafer to settle, as he allowed just one run the rest of the way and got through five gritty innings on the mound.
 
The Lakers increased their lead to 7-3 in the top of the fourth inning, but the Golden Eagles exploded for five runs in the home half of the inning to take an improbable 8-7 lead. Scott McManamon drilled a single to center field to score Kasey Shughart and Nate Petke to make it 7-6, and the pair of Mason Kepler and Sam Economy smacked productive ground ball outs to drive in runs and make it a one-run lead. Mercyhurst took the lead again in the sixth inning, but Caden Contant hit a sharp RBI single to left field to score Shughart and make it a tie game again.
 
Those would be the final tallies for either side until the 10^th inning, when Vincent Stutz helped the Lakers finally get a run off Riley Palmer, who had thrown shutout ball since late in the sixth inning. Stutz scored Matt Christopher with a double to right field, but Palmer proceeded to whiff Chris Juchno and Corbin Foy to keep his team within one run. McManamon led off the bottom of the 10^th with a walk and a steal, and eventually scored on Byers' sacrifice fly to deep right field. That sent the game to an 11^th inning, when Mitchell Grosch scored Landon DiBeradin with a double to make it 11-10. This time, though, the Golden Eagles could not come through for the tying run, with Contant grounding out to third to end the game.
 
Shughart went 4-for-7 at the plate with three runs scored, while Byers finished 1-for-3 with three RBIs and two walks drawn. Sam Economy and Scott McManamon each drove in two runs.
 
Game 2: Mercyhurst 13, Clarion 1
Recap: Conversely, the second game of the day was entirely in the hands of the Lakers, who failed to score a run in just two of the seven innings they batted as they ran up 15 hits and 13 runs scored. The game was still relatively close after two full innings, as the Golden Eagles cut the lead to 3-1 on heads up baserunning by Tyler Meachum.
 
After Meachum reached with an opposite-field single to right with one out, Nate Petke also went the other way with a line drive to right-center field. Meachum had a full head of steam and would have easily made it to third base without a throw, but a bobble in center field by Eric Chorba provided him the opening he needed to try for home plate. He beat the throw to the plate and Petke slid into second, cutting the Lakers' lead to 3-1.
 
That, however, would be the final run for the Golden Eagles, and Mercyhurst put their foot on the gas pedal for the remainder of the game. The Lakers exploded for seven runs in the fourth inning, sending 12 batters to the plate to increase their lead to 11-1, and they tacked on two more in the sixth off reliever Logan Schlegel to set the final deficit.
 
Caden Contant went 2-for-3 in the second game, and was part of a key sequence in the first inning that could have turned the tide the other way early on. Contant hit a one-out single up the middle and advanced to second on a groundout by McManamon. A passed ball on ball four to Mason Kepler put runners on the corners, and Byers drew a walk to load the bases. Mercyhurst pitcher Ryan Rafalski worked himself out of the jam, though, to prevent any runs from scoring.
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