CLARION, Pa. --- Behind three strong collective pitching efforts and a full supply of timely hitting, the Golden Eagles baseball team ran their win streak to nine games with a tripleheader sweep over Pitt-Johnstown at Memorial Stadium. The first game, a makeup for Friday's rained out game against the Mountain Cats, was a 7-3 decision for Clarion, followed by wins of 11-4 and 6-3.
 
Game 1: Clarion 7, Pitt-Johnstown 3
RECAP: Playing as the designated away team for the first game of the day, the Golden Eagles wasted no time jumping on the Mountain Cats, scoring six runs in the first three innings to build a lead of a half-dozen.
 
They benefitted from a handful of UPJ miscues to build that lead, starting in the top of the first inning. Griffin Snyder led off the game with a single and Tyson Gill followed with one of his own, but in the case of the latter the right fielder booted the ball and allowed Snyder to score all the way from first base. Randy Carlo then lifted a single to right center to score Gill.
 
More good fortune came Clarion's way in the second inning. With Tyler Boraski and Doran Mast on second and third with two outs, Gill laid down a bunt in front of home plate, with the throw to get him sailing into the outfield and allowing the pair of runs to score. This came after an RBI groundout by Snyder that plated Caden Contant, making it a 5-0 game.
 
Devon Boyles cut the Golden Eagles' lead in half with a three-run home run in the bottom of the third, but Clarion got one of those runs back in the fourth on Ethan Giangiulio's RBI single. Braden Fetherolf entered in the fourth inning and gave Clarion three innings of shutout relief, and Ryan Gallagher threw a scoreless seventh to clinch the win.
 
Game 2: Clarion 11, Pitt-Johnstown 4
RECAP: For the second straight game the Golden Eagles built a significant lead in the early innings, this time putting up five runs in the first two. Carlo hit a sacrifice fly in the first to score Gill from third, and Snyder eventually busted the game open with a three-run double that cleared the bases loaded to make it a 5-0 game in the second inning.
Starter Reilly Shafer largely kept the Mountain Cats at bay, though UPJ did break through for one run apiece in the third and fourth innings. They eventually cut Clarion's lead to 5-4 in the fourth inning after back-to-back sacrifice flies from Karson Reffner and Erik Rhodes, but Shafer induced a flyout from Aidan Steinbugl to end the inning. He followed up with a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth to preserve the narrow lead.
 
Shafer was rewarded with a bushel of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, as Clarion scored six runs on three hits to bump up the lead. Caden Contant drove in one of those runs with an RBI single while Doran Mast walked with the bases loaded to make it 7-4. Gill pulled a two-run single through the right side to make it 10-4 and Carlo drove in another run with an grounder to the pitcher, giving Clarion a seven-run cushion. Shafer and David DuBray combined for a scoreless seventh to clinch the win.
 
Game 3: Clarion 6, Pitt-Johnstown 3
RECAP: This time around the Golden Eagles needed to rally to catch up to the Mountain Cats. Ethan Giangiulio pushed a double to left field to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Pitt-Johnstown led 3-1 after two and a half innings.
 
The Golden Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the third inning, getting to Jimmy Kunst and Cole Sansom to take a 4-3 advantage. After singles from Snyder and Carlo and a walk by Giangiulio to load the bases, Yeager drew a base on balls of his own to drive in a run and make it 3-2. Contant followed up with an opposite-field two-run double, banging one off the fence in left field to score a pair and make it 4-3.
 
That narrow lead held thanks to the efforts of reliever Aiden Hartle, who threw four shutout innings of relief to earn the win. He retired the first seven batters he faced and allowed just two baserunners in those four innings, with both coming on relatively harmless singles in separate innings.
 
Hartle made the lead hold up, but he got some insurance just the same in the bottom of the sixth inning. Yeager capped his strong day with a two-out, two-run single to left field, scoring Tyson Gill and Griffin Snyder to make it 6-3.
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