With a split in Saturday's doubleheader against Rochester, the Clarkson University Baseball team will head into the final day of the regular season with a playoff spot clinched and a chance to win a regular season title.
Clarkson improves to 18-15 overall and 13-7 in the Liberty League while Rochester is 21-16 and 14-8 in conference. Clarkson is in a tie with Union for first place in the Liberty League while Rochester is just .014 percentage points behind.
In the first game, two home runs gave Rochester all the runs it needed as the Yellow Jackets won 7-5.
After a scoreless first two frames, Rochester took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third on a three run home run by Matt Todd.
Clarkson answered right back with three runs in the bottom of the third. Ben Knauf reached on an error and two batters later Anthony Padrazo singled. That brought up Will Coleman who tripled down the right field line to score two runs. Coleman tied the game when he trotted home on a wild pitch.
The tie was short lived though, as Rochester grabbed four more runs in the fourth. Three Yellow Jacket singles loaded the bases with one out, bringing up Jake Meyerson who lifted a home run over the left field fence.
Clarkson attempted to get back into the game with a Knauf single that scored Brad Pearson in the fourth. The Golden Knights got one more run when Knauf's sacrifice fly scored Connor Martin, but that was the last run of the game as Rochester took the victory.
In the second game, Clarkson had its second highest hit total of the season as Clarkson won 9-3.
Rochester got the first run in the top of the first, but Clarkson answered back with an RBI groundout from Greg Jasek. Clarkson took the lead with two runs in the third on RBI singles by Dom Pirro and Martin. An RBI single by Pearson extended the lead to 4-1.
After two Rochester runs shrunk the lead to 4-3 after four and a half innings, Clarkson tacked on two runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh. In the sixth, Pearson doubled to left field, scoring Jasek and Coleman. Then in the seventh, Knauf's triple to right field scored Martin with Padrazo doubling immediately after to score Knauf. Three batters later, Chris Miller lifted a fly ball to center field that was deep enough to score Padrazo.
In the first game, Coleman threw a complete game of seven innings, allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts. In the second game, Ted Wilson got the win, allowing three earned runs on 12 hits in six innings. Ryan Riley threw a perfect final three innings to earn his first collegiate save.
The two teams will close out the regular season with a doubleheader starting at noon.
