CLARION, Pa. – The Golden Eagle baseball team played what turned out to be their final home doubleheader of the season on Saturday, with Clarion falling in both ends of the twinbill to Mercyhurst at Memorial Stadium.
The Lakers defeated Clarion (12-23, 10-15 PSAC West) 15-9 in the opening game and 17-4 in the late game.
Due to the anticipated rain in the forecast, as well as concern over field conditions, tomorrow’s scheduled home doubleheader against Slippery Rock will now be played at Jack Critchfield Park in Slippery Rock. The Golden Eagles will be the designated home team for both games of the doubleheader.
Both teams came ready to swing the bat in the first contest, with the opposing sides combining for 24 runs on 31 hits. The Golden Eagles briefly held a 5-2 lead on the Lakers after posting five runs combined in the first two innings of action, but Mercyhurst responded with a six-spot in the top of the third inning and never let their foot off the pedal from there. Nick Fugh and Daren Byers both lined singles to right field in the bottom of the first to bring runs home, with the former driving in Alex Ficorilli and the latter Fugh himself. Clarion’s big inning came in the bottom of the second, starting with an RBI single from senior Will Constantin to put his team ahead 3-2. Fugh came up later in the inning and hit a two-out, two-run RBI single with the bases loaded to put Clarion up 5-2.
It was the Lakers’ turn for much of the rest of the game, though, as Mercyhurst tagged started Kyle Thompson (0-4) for eight runs to re-take the advantage and eventually took a 15-4 lead in the fifth inning. Clarion chipped away by bits and pieces in the late innings, starting with a two-run double by Ficorilli to score Matt Privette and Kasey Shughart. Shughart hit an RBI single in the seventh to score Byers, and Scott McManamon drove in the final run of the game for Clarion in the seventh with an opposite-field single to score Lenny Piccini. That set the final deficit at 15-9.
The second game was close through the first two innings, with the Golden Eagles nearly erasing a 5-0 deficit thanks in part to a three-run second inning. Thomas Lavin actually got things going in the first inning with a solo home run, his ninth of the season and one that extended his own single-season record. In the second, Ficorilli ripped a two-run single to right field to score Piccini and Shughart, and Lavin reached on an error in the second to help bring Ficorilli around to score.
That made it 5-4, but from there Mercyhurst dominated the proceedings. The Lakers got starter Trevor McGee (3-2) for nine runs, and scored 12 unanswered from the third through sixth innings to build a 17-4 lead.
Submitted by Sean Fagan, Sports Information Director, Clarion University
