ERIE, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle baseball team took a pair of hard-luck losses on the road on Saturday afternoon, falling in both ends of a low-scoring doubleheader against Mercyhurst. Clarion dropped the first game of the day by a 1-0 score, followed by a 2-0 loss in the nightcap.
 
Game 1: Mercyhurst 1, Clarion 0
 
RECAP: The two teams combined for only five hits in the first game of the doubleheader, and in fact only a handful of baserunners even reached scoring position as starters Danny Fox and Corbin Foy went back-and-forth in a pitcher's duel.
 
Fox enjoyed one of the best starts of his college career, throwing 5.1 innings and allowing just two hits and one run. He got out of a jam in the bottom of the first inning, escaping a situation with runners on second and third with one out. He went at Chris Juchno for a three-pitch strikeout for the second out of the inning, and then followed up by inducing a groundout by Mitchell Grosch to strand the runners.
 
The lone blemish for Fox – and indeed either pitcher – came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Grosch hit a 2-1 pitch over the fence for a one-out solo home run, giving the Lakers a 1-0 lead. Foy saw to it that his team would not need any more, as he completed a three-hit shutout over the Golden Eagles for the win.
 
The Golden Eagles had their chances to light up the scoreboard, the first and best of which came in the top of the third inning. Tyson Gill reached to lead off the inning, wearing a pitch by Foy to take first base, and Scotty McManamon singled to left field to advance him to third. Caden Contant drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, but Daren Byers tapped a grounder back to the mound for the final out of the inning.
 
Clarion got a runner to third base just one more time in the game, with Mason Kepler leading off the fourth with a single and advancing on a pair of groundouts. He was stranded there when Gill grounded out to third base.
 
Game 2: Mercyhurst 2, Clarion 0
 
RECAP: Like Fox before him, Golden Eagle starter Isaac Schleich got things off on the right foot, putting up three consecutive zeroes on the scoreboard before the Lakers broke through in the fourth inning. He limited the Lakers to just two hits in his 4.1 innings of work, and teammates Ryan Gallagher and Bobby Curry combined for 1.2 innings of scoreless relief in his stead.
 
Mercyhurst scored their first run of the game on just one hit, when Zachary Kourous led off with a single. He stole second base, advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt, and eventually scored on a wild pitch to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. They scored another run in the bottom of the fifth inning, with Matt Christopher hitting an RBI single to left field to score John Susnik.
 
Clarion's best opportunity to score came in the top of the fourth inning. Scotty McManamon hit a one-out single and stole second later in the inning. Caden Contant and Daren Byers both drew walks to load the bases, but Mason Kepler struck out to end the threat. The Golden Eagles had a pair of runners on base in the top of the fifth inning, but Mercyhurst's Jack Cecil escaped the jam when he forced Kasey Shughart into a 4-6-3 double play.
 
Down to their final outs in the seventh inning, the Golden Eagles had runners on the corners after Tyler Meachum was hit by a pitch and Shughart reached on an error at third base. McManamon came to the plate with two outs but was retired on a 2-2 pitch, striking out to end the game.
 
Byers went 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk, while McManamon also recorded a hit.