Potsdam, NY – Senior Rick Bittner (Lancaster, NY) and sophomore David Goerold (Clifton Park, NY) gave the Clarkson University Baseball team its third and fourth complete game victories on Friday afternoon as the Golden Knights swept a doubleheader from Skidmore College, 2-1 and 7-4, in Liberty League action at Jack Phillips Stadium.
The Golden Knights evened their overall record at 15-15 and moved to 9-6 in conference games, while the Thoroughbreds fell to 18-15 overall and 9-9 in league contests. The two teams will face one another again on Saturday starting at 12:00 noon.
The first game looked like another pitchers’ duel from the beginning, mirroring Clarkson’s last two victories against the University of Rochester last Sunday, as both Clarkson starter Rick Bittner and Skidmore’s Ed Reilly mowed through the opposition’s lineup. The Knights struck first with a run in the bottom of the third as senior Matt Holiday (Syracuse, NY) delivered a two-out double to right field to score Matt Curry (Richland, NY) all the way from first base. Skidmore responded with a run in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Mike Jaffe which plated Anthony Ferri, who had led off the inning with a double.
The game would remain knotted at 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning when junior Brady Torbitt (Fulton, NY) led off the inning with a single up the middle. After advancing on a sacrifice bunt from freshman Jerry Coleman (Potsdam, NY), Torbitt came around to score on a line drive single to center from senior Austin Pitkin (Dexter, NY). Bittner pitched around a single to close out the game in the seventh, his third victory of the season and his first complete game.
Both teams scattered seven hits, but Bittner was able to minimize his damage better than Reilly, walking just two while striking out six. Reilly pitched well through six innings, but allowed more balls to be put in play, striking out just one and walking one.
Pitkin went 2-for-3 as the only Clarkson hitter with a multi-hit game and Skidmore’s Justin Morelli was 2-for-3 as Skidmore’s lone hitter with more than one hit.
In game two, both teams were victimized by unearned runs on their slates as the first five innings were higher scoring than the first game. Skidmore got on the scoreboard first with an unearned run. Brian Lowry reached on an error and made his way to third before coming home on a wild pitch. Lowry then homered in the third inning to give the Thoroughbreds a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Clarkson tied the score 3-3, with two of the runs being unearned. Brady Torbitt led off the inning with a triple and came around on an error two batters later. Steve Magovney (Watertown, NY) and Matt Giordano (Liverpool, NY) then delivered back-to-back run scoring hits.
Skidmore regained the lead in the seventh inning when designated hitter Zack Rudman reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to second on a throwing error, stole third, and then took home on another throwing error. However, Clarkson responded with a big bottom of the seventh, scoring four times. Giordano came around on an RBI single from Torbitt, Curry raced home on a double from Pitkin, and then Cale Giroux (Cortland, NY) drove in two with an RBI single through the right side to give the Knights a 7-4 edge.
David Goerold held off the Thoroughbreds in the final two innings, allowing just a harmless two-out walk in the eighth, to win his third game of the season. He gave up just five hits over nine innings, walking one and striking out two.
Giordano led all hitters in game two, going 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI, while Torbitt and Pitkin each went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Giroux drove in three and Magovney went 2-for-4 for the Knights. No Skidmore hitter earned more than a single hit in the second contest.
