For the second day in a row, the Clarkson University Baseball team swept a doubleheader against the Bard Raptors, this time by the scores of 7-6 and 16-1.
Clarkson improves its record to 10-12 overall with a 7-5 conference record while Bard drops to 8-20 overall and 3-9 in the Liberty League. Clarkson has now won six straight games, all of them against Liberty League opponents.
The first game was a tight contest that came down to the final inning. Bard jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the second with two two-out RBI singles and a wild pitch that scored a run.
Clarkson answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the third. Mike Bonk and Anthony Padrazo hit one-out singles to left field to put two runners on base. After a fly out, Greg Jasek singled to center to score Bonk and then Chris Miller's double down the right field line scored Padrazo.
Bard extended its lead again with one run in the fourth and two more runs in the top of the fifth. The Golden Knights got one run back in the bottom of the fifth when Brad Pearson singled to score Padrazo.
That set up a dramatic bottom of the seventh inning for Clarkson. Down three runs, Padrazo walked to start the inning, but was cut down by a fielder's choice on Will Coleman's at-bat. Six of the next seven batters reached base for Clarkson though. Jasek followed Coleman with a walk and then the pair advanced to second and third on a balk. Miller singled to score Coleman and move Jasek to third. Pearson followed him with a walk to load the bases and Clarkson still trailing by two runs. Bard made a pitching change, bringing in Kyle Zigner to face Dom Pirro. The two staged an epic battle, with Pirro fouling off four straight pitches with a full count. Eventually Zigner missed the strike zone with a pitch and Pirro earned a hard fought walk to bring Jasek home. Connor Martin then stepped up to the plate and hit a clutch single to center field that scored Miller to tie the game. Zigner was able to get Ben Knauf to pop out and needed just one more out to send the game to extra innings. However, Bonk lifted a pitch to left field that dropped in and brought Pearson home to give Clarkson a walk-off victory.
Coleman earned his second straight win on the mound, throwing a complete game and allowing six runs on 11 hits with four strikeouts. Miller finished 3-4 with two runs batted in and Padrazo, Jasek, and Martin all had a pair of hits.
The second game was decided very quickly as Clarkson jumped out to a 6-0 lead by the end of the third inning and never looked back.
Five Clarkson hitters had multiple hits in the game and 11 Golden Knights notched at least one hit in the game, including the first two collegiate hits for Nolan Duda and the first hit for Mike Messier. Pirro, Coleman, and Pearson all knocked in two runs with Jasek collecting a team high three RBI's.
On the mound, Eddie Miller threw the first seven innings to gain the win. Miller allowed just one unearned run on three hits and four walks with eight strikeouts. Andrew Smith threw the eighth inning and did not allow a hit with Jasek throwing the ninth and striking out one.
Clarkson will have a reprieve from Liberty League action this Tuesday when the Green and Gold host Oswego in a doubleheader starting at 2:00 pm.
