Potsdam, N.Y. - Managing just four hits through the nine innings, the Clarkson University Baseball team opened up 2026 play at the Jack Phillips Stadium at Snell Field with a 5-3 defeat to Hobart College, Friday afternoon.
The Knights fall to 10-9 overall, 2-5 in the league and will get two more cracks at the Statesmen tomorrow, April 4th, as the teams meet to conclude their league series with a Saturday doubleheader. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 11 a.m. Hobart improves to 18-6 overall and remains a perfect 6-0 in conference play.
Despite the lead-off batter reaching in the top of the first three innings, Hobart was unable to open the scoring until the top of the third inning. Jack O'Neil led the frame off with a single to the left center gap and stole second on the very next pitch to move into scoring position. Two ground balls to the second baseman in the next two at-bats would bring O'Neil across to make it 1-0 Hobart.
Clarkson provided an immediate response in the bottom half of the third, stringing together a walk and double to tie the game. David Harris walked after working a full count before Joe Figliolino ripped a double over the left fielder to plate Harris from first.
The level ground did not hold for long again however, as Hobart tacked on another four runs in the top of the fourth, jumping out to a 5-1 advantage. A single from Jack Byrnes and two-out double from Will Jones both brought in a pair of runs for the Statesmen.
Nolan Merrow would lead off the bottom half of the fourth with a rocketed single to the shortstop before advancing to second as James Chagnon would reach on a fielder's choice. A grounder in the infield would advance both runners to second and third with just one out until a slow squibbed hit back to the pitcher from Harris caused enough confusion to bring Merrow across home and move Chagnon to third, still with just one out in the inning. Following a pitching change, Figliolino produced a towering fly ball to left for a sacrifice fly, bringing Chagnon in to make it 5-3.
Both teams would combine for just two hits over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings as the visitors would hang on to a 5-3 lead headed into the final inning of the afternoon.
Sean Garvin managed to lead off the top of the ninth for the Statesmen but Nathan Hartley would force a strikeout looking and double play to the shortstop to get the Knights back up to the plate down just two. Clarkson however, would be unable to get anything going in the final half-inning of the ballgame as Max Friedlander would force a groundout while striking out two, giving Hobart the 5-3 win in the weekend series opener.
Chris Lockwood was awarded the win in relief for the Statesmen, striking out two while giving up just one hit through 3.2 innings of work. Friedlander would earn his third save of the year while CJ Kanick would be handed his first loss of the year on the bump for the Golden Knights. The sophomore would finish with two strikeouts but give up six hits through 3.1 innings in the start.
At the plate, Clarkson managed to piece together just four hits overall with Figliolino, Beau Vardion, Mason and Chagnon accounting for the knocks. Figliolino and Harris had the sole RBIs for the Golden Knights.
