CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles baseball team wrapped their first conference series of the year with a home doubleheader sweep, clinching the season series with Gannon with wins of 13-6 and 5-3 at Memorial Stadium. It marks the first time Clarion has won the season series with the Golden Knights since 2011.
 
Game 1: Clarion 13, Gannon 6
 
RECAP: The Golden Eagles jumped on Gannon in the bottom of the first inning, highlighted by a two-run single from Brody Hinkle that scord Cole Yeager and Randy Carlo to make it 4-0. Yeager also logged an RBI single plating Tyson Gill earlier in the inning.
 
An error at third base in the bottom of the second inning put the leadoff batter Tyler Boraski on board, with Gill bunting him over on a well-executed sacrifice. Boraski later came across on a wild pitch to up the lead to five runs. Gannon struck back with three runs in the top of the third inning, but Clarion responded with a three-spot of their own. Caden Contant drilled a single to right-center to score two runs, and Boraski lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score Brody Hinkle, making it 8-3.
 
The Golden Knights pulled to within 8-5 in the fourth inning, but pitcher Reilly Shafer settled into a groove and at one point struck out four straight Gannon batters. His last whiff of the game came in the top of the sixth, when he retired Alex Bemis on a swinging strikeout. The Golden Eagles carried that momentum into the bottom of the sixth, posting five more runs to put the result out of reach. Hinkle and Boraski both smacked two-run hits, with the former lifting a fly ball down the right field line. Wes Parker led off the seventh with a solo home run but that was the extent of the Gannon scoring in the seventh inning.
 
Hinkle went 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs and two runs scored, while Contant went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Shafer threw six innings, striking out eight and walking just two.
 
Game 2: Clarion 5, Gannon 3
 
RECAP: For the second straight game the Golden Eagles scored a quartet of runs in the bottom of the first inning, and this time that would be all the advantage they needed for the duration. This time an error at second base allowed Carlo to reach and Gill to score from second base, giving Clarion a 1-0 lead, and Hinkle drove in a run the hard way when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
 
Contant broke the game open in the next at-bat, scorching a ball down the left field line to clear the bases and score the pair of runners to make it a 4-0 lead. The Golden Eagles never relinquished that lead, though Gannon pulled within a run midway through the game. Reece Colvin drove in a run with a double to left-center in the top of the second but was thrown out trying to extend it to a triple, and Frank Kula hit a two-out, two-run double down the right field line to cut it to 4-3.
 
Aiden Hartle entered the game in the fifth inning and shut the door on the Golden Knights the rest of the way, allowing four hits in three innings but allowing no runs. Yeager – who started the game at pitcher before moving to designated hitter – lifted a fly ball to center field for an out in the fifth inning, but a misplay on the throw allowed Carlo to score an insurance run. Hartle closed out the three-inning save with a tidy seventh inning, allowing a leadoff walk before recording three straight outs.
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