CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles baseball team won a wild result in their final home non-conference game of the season on Tuesday, beating Bloomsburg 17-8 at Memorial Stadium in a single nine-inning game.
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It was more rollercoaster than ballgame at times on Tuesday as both sides took advantage of miscues, gaffes, and in some cases just plain old bad luck. This was on full display in the early innings of the game as Clarion took a 9-0 lead over the Huskies, only to watch Bloomsburg battle back with six runs in the top of the fourth inning to cut the deficit to three runs.
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The Golden Eagles rattled off four straight singles to start the bottom of the third inning, including an RBI single by
Ethan Giangiulio to give Clarion a 3-0 lead.
Randy Carlo closed out that string of singles, but only barely; Bloomsburg right fielder Jacob Reifer lost track of Carlo's shallow fly ball in the sun, loading the bases with no outs.
Caden Contant drew an RBI walk to make it 4-0, and
Brody Hinkle did the same with two outs to make it 5-0.
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The carousel continued in the bottom of the third with a wild pitch and a walk issued to
Ethan McNally, leading to another run and a 6-0 lead.
Tyson Gill and Giangiulio were hit by pitches with the bases loaded, with those plays sandwiched around a bases-loaded walk from
Doran Mast, to give Clarion an 9-0 lead.
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Bloomsburg put up six runs in the top of the fourth inning to claw their way right back into the game, including an inside-the-park grand slam from Corey Daniels with two outs. Daniels hit a routine single to left field but Carlo took a tumble en route to the ball, which rolled all the way to the fence and allowed Daniels to clear the bases and score.
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Things settled from there, at least for a time.
Brody Hinkle hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to give Clarion a 10-6 lead, and he later factored into a scoring play in the bottom of the seventh when his sacrifice bunt attempt led to an error by Nathan Kress, which allowed
Cole Yeager to score all the way from first base.
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Clarion led 11-8 in the bottom of the eighth inning but the game had one more curveball. The Golden Eagles scored six runs in that frame on just one hit, taking advantage of four Bloomsburg errors, including a failed pickoff attempt that allowed Carlo to advance to third with one out. He later scored on a wild pitch, Hinkle hit an RBI single, and
Ethan McNally hit a two-run ground rule double when he pulled a hard shot down the third base line that was booted out of play on a diving attempt by Kress. At one point the Huskies even used a five-man infield with one out, bringing left fielder Judah Miller between first and second base with Giangiulio at the plate.
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Aiden Hartle got the start for Clarion, throwing 3.2 innings and allowing four runs, while
Braden Fetherolf earned the win by finishing the fifth inning with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. Carlo went 3-for-6 with three runs scored, while Contant went 1-of-3 with three runs scored and three RBIs. Contant got the scoring started in the game with a two-run home run in the bottom of the second inning, drilling the first pitch he saw from Brian Walsh over the fence in left center to make it 2-0.
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