Troy, NY - Senior righthander Austin Pitkin (Dexter, NY) pitched his third complete-game shutout of the season, and second against the University of Rochester in less than three weeks, as the Clarkson University Baseball team defeated Rochester 6-0 in the first game of the Liberty League Baseball Tournament at Robison Field.
The Golden Knights improved to 19-18 and advance to play the winner of hte second game of the day, which pits top-seeded Rensselaer against fourth-seeded Skidmore, on Saturday at 1:00 pm. The 24th-ranked Yellowjackets fell to 30-12 and will play the loser of today's second game at 9:30 am on Saturday in an elimination contest.
Pitkin, who threw a two-hit, seven-inning shutout against Rochester on April 19th, allowed just one hit through the first five innings and was never really in any kind of trouble, as any time that two runners reached base in an inning, there was always two outs. He finished with nine strikeouts while giving up five hits and three walks, improving to 5-3 on the season.
Clarkson scored the only run it would need in the fifth inning when David Kinney (Mexico, NY) led off with a walk. Mike Bresett (Norwood, NY) sacrificed Kinney to second base on a bunt and two batters later a groundout by Matt Giordano (Liverpool, NY) sent Kinney home for a 1-0 Clarkson lead. Two more runs came around in the seventh inning on back-to-back hits from Matt Giordano and Matt Curry (Richland, NY). A fourth run came home on a double play in the eighth inning and two more scored on a hit from Curry in the ninth inning.
Curry finished 2-for-5, Brady Torbitt (Fulton, NY) went 2-for-3, and Jerry Coleman (Potsdam, NY) was 2-for-4 to lead the Knights. Curry's eighth-inning single gave him 54 hits on the season, tying Clarkson's single-season record set by Brandon Barcomb in the 2005 season. Curry is batting a league-best .422.
Pitkin’s nine-inning shutout display extended Rochester’s scoreless run against the Knights to 28 innings (three complete-game shutouts, three innings of previous game prior to shutout run). In his last four starts for the Knights, Pitkin has an ERA of just 0.31, allowing one earned run in 29 innings. He has given up just 15 hits and five walks in that time frame as well, striking out 24 batters.
Photos from Clarkson's victory over the UofR
