SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle baseball team concluded their 2024 season on Friday afternoon, dropping both ends of a doubleheader to Slippery Rock on the road. The Rock won the first game by a 7-4 score, holding off a Clarion rally, and later won a 3-1 decision.
 
Clarion relief pitcher Bobby Curry set a new program pitching record on Friday, appearing in his 23^rd game of the season to set a new standard for pitching appearances. The lefty tied for fourth on the team in total innings pitched and ranked first among relievers in WHIP this year.
 
Game 1: Slippery Rock 7, Clarion 4
 
RECAP: The Golden Eagles nearly rallied back from a 6-0 deficit in the top of the sixth inning, scoring four runs to put the pressure on The Rock and make it a competitive contest. Slippery Rock scored two runs apiece in the first and third innings, taking advantage of a Clarion error in the first to open the scoring. Michael Kitko scored on an error by Alfredo Hurtado and Koby Bubash later plated Cam Panyko Morris with an RBI triple, representing two unearned runs.
 
Noah Ross and Brandon Butler accounted for three more runs, with home runs in the third and fourth innings, and Darryn Callahan gave The Rock a 6-0 lead in the fifth with an RBI single. The Golden Eagles rallied back for a big inning in the top of the sixth, scoring four runs to pull back into the game. Tyler Meachum led off with a walk, and back-to-back singles by Scotty McManamon and Kasey Shughart loaded the bases for pinch-hitter Sam Economy. He drove in a run when he was hit by a pitch, and Nate Petke brought McManamon home with a grounder to first base that represented the first out.
 
Senior Daren Byers provided the extra-base pop to bring the rest of the runners home. He drilled a ball down the right field line that allowed Economy and Shughart to score, cutting SRU's advantage to 6-4. Pitcher Joey Purcell stranded Byers in scoring position, though, retiring Connor Booth and Hurtado to preserve the lead.
 
The Rock tacked on another insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, and Purcell handled the top of the seventh inning to clinch the win.
 
Game 2: Slippery Rock 3, Clarion 1
 
RECAP: The second game saw the Rock again score an early run, taking a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first inning on Bubash's infield single to shortstop. Gage Gillott, who reached on an error with two outs to extend the inning, scored the unearned run to put his side ahead.
 
Starter Isaac Schleich got into more of a rhythm after that point, throwing scoreless frames in the second and third before the Rock got him for two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Eddie Morris hit a solo home run to make it a 2-0 game, and Schleich was charged for a run on an RBI triple by Joey Purcell, with the latter scoring an inherited runner off reliever Vinnie Markulin.
 
Clarion was held scoreless until starting pitcher Hunter Loomis was lifted from the game, taking a run off reliever Gino Marra in the top of the sixth. Byers hit a leadoff single to left-center field, and the senior advanced to second on a productive grounder by McManamon. He eventually came around to score when Shughart's grounder to shortstop was mishandled for an error, rounding third and heading for home for the unearned run. Pinch hitter Will Martinez was stranded at third base when Marra got a strikeout to end the inning. Marra later overcome a one-out single and stolen base from Tyler Meachum in the top of the seventh, forcing a Byers groundout for the save.