CUP Baseball Swept by Mercyhurst

CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion University baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader Friday afternoon at Memorial Stadium, falling to Mercyhurst 16-0 and 6-2.

The Golden Eagles are now 7-20 overall and 3-11 in the PSAC West. The Golden Eagles will return to action tomorrow afternoon when they head to Erie for another double-header with the Lakers.

Mercyhurst enjoyed an offensive explosion in game one, smacking fifteen hits over seven innings. A six-run top of the first and an eight-run top of the fifth was where the Hurst managed to do most of their damage. In addition, starting pitcher Russ Lamovec gave up just two hits and no walks over six shutout innings, stifling the Clarion offense en-route to a victory in game one.

Clarion battled back tough in game two, however. The game was scoreless through two and a half innings before a CU rally led to the Golden Eagles drawing first blood. After Matt Kamenicky smacked a lead-off double and advanced to third on a groundout one at-bat later, Joey Lopez brought him home after a SAC fly deep to right field that put Clarion up 1-0.

Mercyhurst answered right back the very next inning, however. After Daniel Elliott drew a lead-off walk, he advanced to second on a ground-out by Matthew Schneider before taking third on a wild pitch. A second wild pitch from Clarion arm Kane McCall allowed Elliott to score from third and tie the game.

Clarion managed to keep the Lakers at bay the next two frames, working through back-to-back 1-2-3 innings to set up the seventh and give them a chance to walk it off. McCall gave up just three hits and four walks on the afternoon to set up a chance to win it late in the game.

A walk off would not come, however, as Mercyhurst went off for a five-run top of the seventh to blow the game wide open to secure win number two on the afternoon.