Schenectady, NY – Through 16 innings of action, the Clarkson University Baseball team could muster only two runs as the Golden Knights were swept by Union College 8-1 and 5-1 in Liberty League conference games Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Knights dropped to 7-8 overall and 2-4 in the Liberty League while Union picked up its first conference victories of the season to move to 3-8 overall and 2-4 in the conference. The two teams will match up again at noon on Sunday.

Union came out of the gate quickly with six runs in the first inning, all of them unearned. A two-out error plated two Union runners and the Dutchmen continued with four more scores in the first frame. Clarkson finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning, but pushed only one run across when Matt Holiday (Syracuse, NY) found a hole in the right side of the infield to score TJ Brinkman (Troy, NY). The Dutchmen added two runs in the sixth inning for the final tally.

Kevin Hickey (Clifton Park, NY) scattered 11 hits over six innings for the Golden Knights in the first game, but allowed only two earned runs. Kevin McCormick pitched a complete game for Union, allowing only five hits and striking out five over seven frames.

In the second game the Clarkson offense continued to struggle, but played better defense behind game-two starter Rick Bittner (Lancaster, NY). Union scored in the first off the Knights’ freshman righthander and Clarkson tied the game in the third inning on an RBI-single by Brian Theilemann (Troy, NY). However, the Dutchmen scored twice in the third and two more times in the fifth to take a 5-1 lead. Josh McKelligan finished off a complete game performance for Union, striking out six and allowing only five hits over nine innings.

Clarkson mustered just 11 hits over the doubleheader with Brinkman going 2-for-4 in the opening game and Theilemann adding a 2-for-3 performance in the second game.