Auburndale, FL – Senior Cale Giroux (Cortland, NY) collected six hits and freshman David Kinney (Mexico, NY) pitched five strong innings in his collegiate pitching debut to lift the Clarkson University Baseball team to a sweep of Framingham State, 10-4 and 9-3, Wednesday afternoon at Lake Myrtle Park.
The Golden Knights ended a four-game losing streak with the doubleheader sweep, improving to 4-4 overall. Clarkson closes out its Florida trip on Thursday with a doubleheader against Anderson University (IN).
In game one, Framingham State jumped out early with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, but Clarkson quickly responded in the bottom of the inning when the first three Clarkson batters reached base. Matt Giordano (Liverpool, NY) led off with a single, followed by a single from Cale Giroux. Matt Holiday (Syracuse, NY) tripled to right center and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Brady Torbitt (Fulton, NY), giving Clarkson a 3-2 lead after one inning. When Framingham scored two more in the top of the third, the Rams had a 4-3 lead.
A double steal in the bottom of the fourth inning, including a steal of home by Mike Bresett (Norwood, NY) tied the score up at 4-4 and then Matt Curry (Richland, NY) gave the Knights the lead with a single to score Jerry Coleman (Potsdam, NY). The Knights would never look back, adding a sixth run in the fifth inning on another extra-base hit from Matt Holiday, and then four more in the sixth with RBIs coming from Curry and Giroux.
Justin McInerney (Grand Island, NY) earned the win by pitching three scoreless innings of relief. Curry and Bresett each went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Holiday was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in. Giroux also was 2-for-4, and Giordano scored three times and stole two bases. Torbitt drove in a run on his sac fly and then teamed with Holiday and Coleman by eliminating a base runner on the base paths in the sixth when the Rams were trying a comeback.
The Knights continued to get a strong offensive presence from the top of the lineup in game two of the twinbill as once again the top three hitters reached base to start the game. With two runs in the first, two in the third, and three in the fourth, Clarkson jumped out to a 7-1 lead and pushed that to 9-1 with two more in the sixth.
Kinney pitched five strong innings for the Knights, allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out four and limiting the Rams’ offensive chances. Offensively for Clarkson, Giroux went 4-for-4 with two extra base hits and three runs scored. Holiday went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and Giordano went 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Both Sal DiSanza (Elbridge, NY) and Matt Curry went 2-for-4 as Clarkson collected 15 hits in the second game.
