After a day off, the Clarkson University Baseball team played two close games with Curry College, winning the opener 4-2 before losing game two in extra innings, 6-5, on a walk-off sacrifice fly.
Clarkson is now 2-5Â on the season.
In the first game, Clarkson jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the first, Greg Jasek worked a two-out walk and then Brad Pearson followed him with a single. A ball hit by Will Coleman was bobbled by Curry's shortstop, allowing Jasek to score the first run of the game. In the third, an Anthony Padrazo single to lead off the inning was followed by another Jasek single with Padrazo and Jasek moving up to third and second respectively on a Curry throw. Pearson walked to load the bases and then another ground ball by Coleman allowed Padrazo to score.
Clarkson doubled its lead in the fifth inning. After Chris Miller reached on an error, Jasek ripped his third single of the afternoon. Pearson then got the biggest hit of the game, driving a triple straight down the first base line, scoring both Miller and Jasek.
Up until that point, Rory Corcoran had held Curry in check in his first start of the year. The Colonels were finally able string together some hits in the sixth inning, getting one run back. With Andrew Smith on the mound in bottom of the seventh, Curry added one more run on a sacrifice fly, but Coleman caught a line drive and then tossed to Padrazo to pick a runner off at second base to end the game.
In the second game, another Clarkson pitcher making his first start held Curry scoreless through the first few innings. This time is was freshman Mike Bubniak who did not allow a run in the first four innings. Clarkson gave Bubniak a 1-0 lead in the third inning. A Pearson single scored Padrazo who had singled to open the inning.
However, Curry finally broke through with four runs in fifth inning to take its first lead of the day. Four hits and two errors helped the Colonels push the four runs across.
Clarkson was not done though. With just three outs remaining to tie the game, Clarkson put two of its first three runners on through a hit batsman and a Padrazo single. Miller followed with a single that plated pinch runner Bobby Smarrelli to make the score 4-2. Jasek then doubled into the left field gap, with Padrazo scoring and Miller going all the way from first to home to tie the game at four. Pearson singled to move Jasek just 90 feet away from scoring the go-ahead run and then Coleman lifted a fly ball to right field that allowed Jasek to tag up and score.
Ted Wilson entered the game to pitch the bottom of the seventh inning, hoping to close out the game. Although Curry led off with a single, two consecutive groundouts left the Colonels down to their final out with the game-tying run on third base. The Golden Knights thought they had closed the game out when Wilson induced another ground ball, but a throwing error allowed the run to score and gave Curry new life. The Colonels took advantage in the bottom of the inning, when a lead-off single and an error moved the game-winning run to second base. Curry advanced the runner to third on a bunt and then scored him on a sacrifice fly to come away with a 6-5 win.
Corcoran picked up the win in the first game, moving to 1-0 this year while Wilson lost the second game and is now 1-1. Jasek and Pearson finished with four hits in the two games while Padrazo had three. Miller and Mike Krick had a pair of hits in the second game while Connor Martin had two of his own in the first.
Clarkson will continue its Florida schedule tomorrow when the Green and Gold take on Western New England at 9:30 am.
