Schenectady, NY – A pair of late-inning rallies, including a two-out walk-off hit by Brett Peplowski (Albany, NY), helped the Clarkson University Baseball team to its second straight doubleheader sweep of Union College Sunday afternoon, 7-2 and 4-3.
The Golden Knights improved to 14-12 overall and 10-6 in the Liberty League with the four-game sweep, moving into third place in the conference standings, just a game behind second-place Skidmore. Union College was officially eliminated from the playoff picture, falling to 5-23 overall and 1-15 in the league.
In the opening game of the doubleheader, Clarkson struck for a pair of runs in the third inning when Chris Falteisek (Baldwinsville, NY) and Sam Grainger (Bedford, MA) produced back-to-back run-scoring hits. Another run crossed the plate in the fourth as David Kinney (Mexico, NY) sent Jerry Coleman (Potsdam, NY) scampering home with a single.
It was all that senior starting pitcher Steve Magovney (Watertown, NY) would need as he allowed only three hits and a pair of unearned runs in a complete-game effort. The righthander struck out four and didn’t allow a walk in the contest.
After Union crawled back to within a run in the top of the fifth, Clarkson put the game away with four in the bottom of the sixth inning. Falteisek forced in a run with a walk, and with the infield in Sam Grainger hit a hard grounder to second base. The throw came home, but bounded away, allowing both Brady Torbitt (Fulton, NY) and Matt Curry (Richland, NY) to score on a ball that never escaped the infield. A line out to center field by Pete Clarke (Tully, NY) allowed Falteisek to complete his trip around the bases, giving the Knights their 7-2 victory.
Curry went 3-for-3 in the contest with a pair of stolen bases. Brett Peplowski also went 2-for-3.
In game two, Clarkson showed its resiliency on several occasions, as Union pushed a run across in the third, fifth, and seventh innings. Each time, the Knights responded with a run of their own. In the third, trailing 1-0, Jerry Coleman’s RBI-groundout plated Scott Morrissey (Troy, NY), who had led the inning off with a double and a steal of third base. In the fifth, Peplowski delivered an RBI-single to score Coleman, and in the seventh it was David Kinney who drove home Coleman with a single.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Clarkson needed to score just a single run to take the game and sweep the series. Pete Clarke began the inning with a single and Morrissey delivered a sacrifice bunt to push Clarke to second. Coleman was intentionally walked to recreate the force play, and the strategy worked as David Kinney’s hard chopper allowed an out to be made at second base. With runners at first and third, Kinney took second base, allowing for Peplowski’s heroics. The senior designated hitter fouled off a pair of pitches and pushed the count to full before delivering his hard liner through the right side of the infield for the winning hit.
Vince Baldwin (Catskill, NY) gained his second victory of the season, pitching four and one-third innings of relief. He allowed just two hits and struck out three, giving up a single run.
Coleman finished the second game 3-for-4 with three steals and Peplowski went 2-for-3.
