Potsdam, N.Y. - James Mason and Beau Vardion would both tally two hits on senior day but the Clarkson University Baseball team faced stiff opposition from local rivals St. Lawrence University, falling 10-1 at Jack Phillips Stadium, Friday afternoon.
With the loss sinking Clarkson's chances at a postseason berth, the Knights move to 16-14 overall, 7-9 in the Liberty League and will travel down Route 11 to complete the regular season matchup with a doubleheader against the Saints on Saturday. SLU draws level at 14-14 overall, while improving to 7-8 in the league.
The visitors would be the first to open the scoring in the top of the third as Max Cloutier singled to left with one out before moving to third following another single from Mike Siano. Jack Finnegan then drove a stinging line drive out to left field that was caught but was deep enough to drive Cloutier in to make it 1-0.
Clarkson responded immediately in the bottom half of the inning thanks to an error from the pitcher, and two singles which loaded the bases with no outs. A grounder up the middle from Aidan Kuefner forced a fielder's choice that got an out at second but would bring CJ Cartier across for the tying run. With runners on the corners and still just one out, David Zuhlsdorf did well to get out of the pressure on the mound, forcing a line-drive to the first baseman in the next at-bat that was caught, leading to a double-play at first.
St. Lawrence would go on to add four more in the top of the fourth as the lead suddenly grew to 5-1. John Donnellan and Eddie Morrissey would both bring in runs off drives to the outfield while Siano earned a bases-loaded walk, allowing Morrissey to jog across home. The Knights went on to load the bases themselves in the bottom half of the frame with Nolan Merrow singling and Joe Figliolino and James Chagnon both drawing walks with one-out. Despite the pressure however, Zuhlsdorf continued to work on the rubber for the Saints, forcing a line-out and pop-up to get out of the inning unscathed.
Three scoreless innings from both sides would again be broken by St. Lawrence in the eighth as the Saints would add another four insurance runs while looking to put game one of the series away. A sacrifice fly and two singles pushed the gap to 9-1 in favor of the visitors while Clarkson would be down to their last two chances to get something out of the contest.
Another solo run in the top of the ninth meant the SLU lead would b e10-1 headed into the final half-inning of the afternoon where Clarkson managed to get two runners on following a lead-off single from Vardion but line drives to the outfield continued to find Saints gloves as the visitors would gain the 10-1 final.
Kuefner, Merrow, David Harris and Seth Albert accounted for the other four of the Knights eight hits on the day with Kuefner driving in the lone RBI. Figliolino would add a patient day at the plate with two walks. For St. Lawrence, Willie Landman and John Donnellan both went for three hits while Finnegan drove in three RBIs alone. Jack Gannon would register the lone home run of the day with a towering blast to left field in the top of the ninth.
On the mound, Zuhlsdorf would earn his third win of the year, giving up just four hits and two walks over five innings. Jacob Shirley was dealt the loss for Clarkson as the junior relinquished six hits and two walks over three innings while striking out two.
