Clarion freshman shortstop Joey Harrison fields a ground ball in a doubleheader against IUP at Memorial Field as fans watch from behind the fence. (Caitlyn McGill / The Clarion Call)
Clarion was back in action for the third straight day on Monday against Mansfield University.
The Golden Eagles were coming off their first PSAC-West conference win of the season against Indiana University of Pennsylvania and were looking to continue their good fortune.
Mansfield arrived at Clarion’s Memorial Field and was ready to hit from the start.
For Clarion, freshman pitcher Billy Ruhland was making his first start of the season, but he didn’t have the start he was looking forward to.
In the top of the first, Ruhland surrendered two runs on two hits.
Ruhland settled down in the second inning after hitting the first batter of the inning.
With no one out and a runner on first, Ruhland was able to induce the double play to wipe the runners off the bases.
Ruhland then made quick work on the very next batter as he finished the side on a strike out.
The Golden Eagles were able to cut the Mansfield lead in half with a run of their own in the bottom of the second.
With one out in the inning, Ken Morgan singled to get the inning going.
Kevin Keebler was the very next batter and found a gap in the outfield for a double, advancing Morgan to third.
After a Mark White strike out for the second out of the inning, Nate Weiss kept the inning alive by getting hit with the pitch to load the bases.
With the bases loaded, freshman infielder Jordan Labue worked the count and drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Morgan.
The score stayed 2-1 until the fourth inning where Ruhland ran into more trouble.
Mansfield scored two more runs to increase their lead to 4-1.
Ruhland was not able to get out of the inning before giving way to sophomore pitcher T.J Anderson, who shut down the Mansfield offense.
With the Golden Eagles running out of at bats, they needed to get something started quickly.
They also received a little luck along the way. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Tom Briley came to the plate.
Briley struck out, which should have been the second out of the inning, but with the catcher not being able to handle the ball, Briley was able to reach first base.
That ended up being the spark that Clarion needed.
The next batter was Scott Berkes, who delivered a single, advancing Briley to second.
With runners on first and second, Erik Kempton delivered an RBI single to cut the Mansfield lead in half again at 4-2.
After Jason Krimsky struck out for the second out of the inning, Morgan continued his hot hitting with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-3.
After a walk to Keebler to load the bases again, Mark White delivered the big blow with a two out, two RBI single to give Clarion a 5-4 lead that they would not relinquish.
After Mansfield threatened to take the lead in the sixth, Anderson was able to get out of a bases loaded jam before giving way to Mark White.
White struck out the side in the seventh to earn the save.
Anderson recorded the win for the Golden Eagles, going 2 1/3 innings allowing two hits, four walks, and two strikeouts in relief.
Offensively for the Golden Eagles, Morgan led the team once again with two hits and a RBI. Mark White chipped in with two RBI’s of his own.
Clarion didn’t have much luck in the second game as Mansfield made quick work of them with an 11-0 victory.
The game was still in reach heading into the sixth inning before the game was broken wide open.
In the sixth, Mansfield scored six runs to increase their lead to 10-0 before tacking on another run in the seventh.
Kevin Gnacinski was taken out before the big explosion by Mansfield but still recorded the loss.
Gnacinski went five innings allowing four runs (one earned) on five hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.
Mark White and Kempton led the offense with two hits a piece.
The baseball team won one and lost one in a double header against the University of Pitt-Johnstown yesterday afternoon at home.
Scott Berkes went a perfect 4-4 with a run scored and two RBIs.
Kevin Keebler led the attack in game two going a perfect 3-3.
Kevin Gnacinski threw five shutout innings in game two to help the Golden Eagles to a 4-1 win, their fifth win in 10 days.
Pitt-Johnstown won the first game of the double header 8-0 thanks to a five-run fourth inning.
With the loss, Pitt-Johnstown now has a record of 23-13. Clarion now has split their last three doubleheaders. Clarion is now 6-24 on the season. The
Eagles are back in action at 1 p.m. Friday when they host Lock Haven.
