Potsdam, NY – Entering Sunday’s doubleheader against St. Lawrence, the Clarkson University Baseball team needed just a single win to clinch a spot in the Liberty League playoffs, and senior pitcher Austin Pitkin (Dexter, NY) delivered a gem, striking out seven and allowing just two hits in a 2-0 shutout victory. The Knights also won the nightcap 4-3 in 10 innings on a walk-off hit from Mike Bresett (Norwood, NY), capping a four-hit day for the senior.
The Golden Knights evened their record at 18-18 overall and moved to 12-9 in the Liberty League, while St. Lawrence closed out its regular season at 17-18 and 10-14. Clarkson will travel to Troy, NY to play in the conference tournament next weekend, joining Rochester, Skidmore, and host Rensselaer.
Pitkin was masterful from the start, getting soft groundballs and lazy pop flies to start the contest. From there, he began to pull the string on a few breaking balls, having the Saints flail helplessly while down in the count. Pitkin gave up a single in the third that was erased on a double play and didn’t allow another hit until the seventh inning when a soft liner made its way to the outfield, but again no harm came.
The Golden Knights picked up a run in the first when Matt Giordano (Liverpool, NY) tripled to lead off the game and came around as the Saints struggled to get the ball into the infield. A second run came in fifth when Steve Magovney (Watertown, NY) delivered a two-out double to score David Kinney (Mexico, NY), who led off the inning and was hit by a pitch. That was all Clarkson would get in the way of offense, other than Matt Curry’s (Richland, NY) 2-for-3 effort at the plate, as St. Lawrence starter Chris Cook pitched well, allowing four hits and striking out five in the losing effort.
In the second game, Clarkson continued with another strong pitching performance from sophomore Kyle Moldoff (Nassau, NY) went five-plus innings, allowing five hits no walks while striking out three. St. Lawrence’s Zach Slater started well, too, but got touched for eight hits and two walks in four innings, allowing the Knights’ first run. Clarkson got on the scoreboard in the first inning when Austin Pitkin drove home Sal DiSanza (Elbridge, NY) with a one-out single. The game would remain 1-0 until the sixth inning when Moldoff gave up an unearned run on a throwing error, but reliever David Kinney came on to get the Knights out of the situation with no further damage.
Clarkson appeared to have the game in hand when the team scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a single from Matt Giordano, which plated Matt Curry after a leadoff double. However, the Saints rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 3-2 lead. St. Lawrence brought in Ryan Duff to close the door on Clarkson, but the junior struggled with his control and eventually allowed the tying run in on a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Giordano. With the game tied 3-3, another St. Lawrence reliever, Jason Conde, had trouble with command and also loaded the bases on walks. Mike Bresett then came through with an RBI single over the drawn in outfield to win the second game for Clarkson.
Bresett broke out of a slump in a big way for Clarkson, going 4-for-5 with the game-winning RBI. DiSanza also was 3-for-5 and Curry again had a solid game, going 3-for-4. Cale Giroux (Cortland, NY) and Pitkin also had multi-hit games for the Knights as Clarkson broke out of a hitting slump with 17 hits. David Kinney earned the win for Clarkson, striking out five over four and a third innings of relief.
