INSTITUTE, W. Va. — The Clarion Golden Eagles baseball team dropped its first game of the season by a final score of 4-3 Friday afternoon at Bailey Field against the West Virginia State Yellow Jackets.

The second game of Friday’s doubleheader was postponed with the score tied at 5-5 in the top of the eighth inning due to a lack of daylight. The conclusion of game two will take place immediately prior to Clarions’ rubber match with WVSU tomorrow at noon. The loss moves the Golden Eagles to 0-1 on the season.

The Golden Eagles were the recipients of some good luck early on in game one. Matt Kamenicky struck out swinging on the first at-bat of the game, however, he managed to reach first on a dropped third strike. A sac bunt one at-bat later moved Kamenicky to third before a Tyler Falk sac fly brought Kamenicky home to give CU an early 1-0 lead.

State would strike right back, however, knocking in three runs in the bottom of the first off pitcher Kane McCall to regain the 3-1 advantage.

A leadoff single from Austin Mike put a runner on for CU in the top of the second shortly before a Garrett Goslaw double drove him home to cut WVSU’s advantage down to one. The tying run would come two innings later when a Joey Lopez double drove home Tyler Falk to knot things at three a piece.

Unfortunately, it would all be for not. Matthew Washington of WVSU crushed what looked like a foul ball over the right-field pole, however, the umpires ruled it fair and the Yellow Jackets re-gained the lead. They would hold on for the final two innings to get the win.