Potsdam, N.Y. - Freshman Nolan Merrow would finish the day 3-5 from the plate, scoring two runs while driving another in, as the Clarkson University Baseball team earned the weekend sweep over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Sunday afternoon at Jack Phillips Stadium.
With the three-game weekend over the east division leaders sweep Clarkson improves to 15-10 overall and draws level at 6-6 in conference play. RPI drops to 17-11 overall, 8-4 in the Liberty League as the weekend ties the longest losing streak the team has faced in 2026.
The Golden Knights jumped on the board early today, plating one run in each of the first three innings to solidify an early advantage. In the bottom of the first, a Merrow single up the middle on the second at-bat of the inning was followed by a fielding error from the Engineer infield which placed runners on first and third with one out. James Mason provided the breakthrough as a hard-hit ball off his bat found the right-side gap to plate Merrow making it 1-0.
After a 1-2-3 top half of the second where Tommy DiFranco forced a pop-up before striking out two in a row, Clarkson would get another run to double the early lead. Seth Albert would draw a free pass before ending up on second as a grounder in the infield allowed the junior to advance with two outs. Merrow this time would supply the scoring at the plate, as his second single in as many innings brought a speedy Albert around to score and make it 2-0.
RPI would get one back of their own in the top of the third but another one-run half-inning from the Knights reestablished the two-run cushion. With Mason and CJ Cartier reaching to lead off the home-half of the third, a wild pitch to the backstop allowed Mason to move to third. RPI would get the first out on a swinging strikeout but in the next at-bat a towering fly ball off the bat of Joe Figliolino trailed just deep enough into right field to score Mason, making it 3-1.
A Robbie Reddington sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth brought the Engineers back to within one as the visitors seemed determined to leave the weekend with something to show for the long road trip.
That would be the closest that Rensselaer would come over the last several innings though, as they would strand five runners over the sixth, seventh and eighth but none of those stranded would be on third base.
The Knights added a fourth in the bottom of the sixth as a single from David Harris would score Merrow again, who had reached on a fielder's choice, to provide valuable insurance runs in the later stages of the afternoon.
Another lone run in the bottom of the seventh for Clarkson rounded out the game's scoring as Zach Rider produced a looping single into center field that just fell out of reach of the Engineer's shortstop to score Beau Vardion from third and make it 5-2.
CJ Kanick capped off his second win on the mound in as many days, forcing a strikeout and two groundouts in the bottom of the ninth, to put the finishing touches on his two strikeout, six-hit outing over six innings in relief. DiFranco struck out four while giving up just one hit through three innings in the start for the Golden Knights.
Mason would also finish with a multi-hit outing at the dish, going 2-4 with one walk while Harris, Cartier, Vardion, Rider and Albert accounted for the remainder of the base hits. Merrow, Harris, Mason, Figliolino and Rider all evenly distributed the runs batted in as well with each player ending the outing with one each.
