JOHNSTOWN, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle baseball team went back on the road for a pair of PSAC West games on Friday afternoon, losing in both ends of a doubleheader to Pitt-Johnstown. Clarion dropped an 8-3 decision in the first game of the day, and a 7-4 game in the nightcap.
 
Game 1: Pitt-Johnstown 8, Clarion 3
Recap: The first game started out as a back-and-forth contest, as Clarion quickly evened up the score each time the Mountain Cats took the lead. After Pitt-Johnstown took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, the Golden Eagles responded back with a two-spot of their own in the third. All of the action came with two outs as Clarion strung together four consecutive singles, starting with a full-count single from Mason Kepler.
 
Each of the next two batters swung at the first pitch they saw, to successful results. Caden Contant and Lenny Piccini both lined pitches to left field, loading the bases for Daren Byers. Byers hit an opposite-field single to right, scoring a pair of runs to even up the score.
 
Erik Rhodes drove in a run for UPJ in the third inning but Clarion scored in the top of the fourth with some small-ball. Sam Economy led off the inning with a single and moved to second on Tyler Meachum's sacrifice bunt. He came around to score on a two-out RBI single from Scott McManamon, who pulled a 2-2 pitch to left field to bring Economy around from second.
 
The turning point of the game came in the bottom of the fourth, though, as the Mountain Cats enjoyed an offensive outburst that the Golden Eagles could not match the rest of the way. Pitt-Johnstown scored four runs in the home half of the inning, including an RBI triple by Dylan Broderick. Josh Ulery added a solo home run in the sixth inning to set the final score at 8-3.
 
McManamon, Contant and Byers all finished with two hits, with Byers leading the way with two RBIs. Meachum and McManamon also added to their stolen base totals, taking a bag apiece. Starter Michael Proios took the loss, allowing six runs in 3.0 innings, while Griffin Snyder threw three innings of relief.
 
Game 2: Pitt-Johnstown 7, Clarion 4
Recap: The story of the second game more or less boiled down to one inning, as the Mountain Cats hung seven runs on the Golden Eagles in the second inning to take a big lead. The inning including a bases-clearing double by Broderick that scored three runs, as well as a two-run home run by Devon Boyles to score the seventh run on the inning.
 
Clarion chipped away, though, and finally got on the board in the top of the fourth inning. Contant led off the inning with a double to left field and eventually scored on Sam Felner's gap-shot double to right center to make it 7-1. Nate Petke scored him with a two-out single to center field, driving a 1-1 pitch to make it 7-2.
 
The Golden Eagle offense was unable to muster any more runs until the top of the seventh inning, when they added a pair of runs with two outs to pull closer to the Mountain Cats. Kasey Shughart got all the way to third off a two-out single, stealing second base and then advancing to third on a wild pitch. After McManamon and Contant drew walks to load the bases, Byers again delivered a big hit, pulling a 2-1 pitch into right field for two RBIs. Felnder kept the rally going by drawing a walk, but Emerson Abromavage flew out to center field to end the threat.
 
Byers finished two two-game set with four RBIs, while Felner, Shughart and Contant all recorded two hits. Sam Rice took the loss, allowing seven runs in 3.1 innings, while Ryan Gallagher threw 2.2 innings of shutout relief.
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