Colchester, VT – The Clarkson University Baseball team suffered through a Jekyll and Hyde performance Monday afternoon, as the Golden Knights came out strong with an impressive 19-5 victory over St. Michael’s before falling 12-4 in the night cap of the doubleheader.
The Golden Knights moved to 11-12 overall on the season, while St. Michael’s moved to 8-10. Clarkson concludes its streak of five straight non-league games on Tuesday with a nine-inning game against Oswego State at Jack Phillips Stadium.
In the first game, the Golden Knights scored a run in the first and two more in the second before really opening up on the Purple Knights, scoring three in the third and seven in the fourth for a 13-0 lead. St. Michael’s picked up three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Clarkson continued to score with two in the fifth and four in the sixth to ease to the victory.
Brady Torbitt (Fulton, NY) and Brett Peplowski (Albany, NY) each drove in four runs with multi-hit games, as Torbitt went 4-for-6 and Peplowski was 3-for-4. Matt Curry (Richland, NY) also delivered a four-hit game, going 4-for-6 with three runs scored and a pair driven in. Senior Matt Holiday (Syracuse, NY) and freshman Pete Clarke (Tully, NY) each went 2-for-5.
With a steal in the top of the first inning, senior Matt Giordano (Liverpool, NY) took over the all-time lead in stolen bases at Clarkson University. The swipe was his 16th of the season and the 49th of his career, surpassing the three-year-old record of Rob Cowin.
Austin Pitkin (Dexter, NY) earned the victory via the NCAA’s pre-determined start rule, allowing four hits and striking out four through four innings, his second win of the season. Freshman Jerry Coleman (Potsdam, NY) came on in relief and struck out three over two innings, and sophomore Alex Giovannone (New Hartford, NY) pitched the final inning to close out the win for Clarkson.
In game two, again Clarkson started off with two runs in the first inning with RBI hits coming from Peplowski and Pitkin, but St. Michael’s responded with two in the bottom of the inning and three more in the second. It appeared as if the Purple Knights offensive push was halted after a scoreless third, but the St. Mike’s scored six unearned runs in fourth inning to all but put the game out of Clarkson’s reach. The Golden Knights scored a run in the top of the fourth inning and another in the sixth inning on run scoring hits from Torbitt and Pitkin, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
Peplowski and Pitkin each went 2-for-3 in game two, while Cale Giroux (Cortland, NY) was 2-for-2 off the bench. Sophomore catcher Sam Grainger (Bedford, MA) also collected two hits in four at bats.
