Potsdam, NY – An all-around impressive day from senior Austin Pitkin (Dexter, NY) led the Clarkson University Baseball team to a split against Brockport State, their first victory against the Golden Eagles since 2000, as the Golden Knights salvaged a doubleheader split with a 4-2 victory in the night cap after losing game one 7-6 Saturday afternoon at Jack Phillips Stadium.
The Golden Knights ended a four-game losing streak with the game two win, improving to 10-11 overall on the season. Brockport moved to 11-15 overall. Clarkson continues its non-league run on Monday when the team travels to St. Michael’s.
In game one, the Golden Knights got on the scoreboard first when the three of the first four batters delivered hits to open the game as junior Brady Torbitt (Fulton, NY) doubled home Matt Giordano (Liverpool, NY) with a one-out rip to the gap. The following inning saw Pitkin blast an 0-1 pitch to left field to give Clarkson a 2-0 lead, his second homer of the season.
Brockport responded with four runs on four hits in the top of the third inning. Clarkson chipped their way back into the contest with an RBI groundout from Peter Clarke (Tully, NY), and then regained the lead in the fifth with two runs. Matt Holiday (Syracuse, NY) hit a one-out double to center and was driven home by Torbitt with a single to left. Torbitt then came around on a bloop hit from Mike Bresett (Norwood, NY), giving Clarkson a 5-4 edge through five innings.
The Golden Eagles came right back with three runs on two hits in the top of the sixth inning, and while Clarkson came within a run in the bottom of the seventh on a groundout from Pitkin, the Knights were unable to plate the tying run, falling 7-6 in the opener.
Torbitt led the way offensively for Clarkson, going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs and RBIs while both Holiday and Jerry Coleman (Potsdam, NY) went 2-for-4. Pitkin also drove in two runs, including his second home run of the season. For Brockport, Kris Gentzke went 2-for-4 and Mike Meola was 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs.
Jordan Allen got the win in relief for Brockport while James Williamson earned the save. Vince Baldwin (Catskill, NY) took the loss for Clarkson.
In game two, runs were scarce early on as Clarkson’s David Goerold (Clifton Park, NY) and Brockport’s Kris Gentzke dueled for the first five innings. Max Zimmerman gave Brockport an early 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first innings, but Clarkson came back to tie the game 1-1 with an RBI double from Holiday, plating Matt Curry (Richland, NY) who previously reached on a single and advanced to third on an errant pick off attempt.
No more runs would cross until the sixth inning when Todd Allen drove in the go-ahead run for the Golden Eagles, giving Brockport a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Torbitt singled and Cale Giroux (Cortland, NY) walked with one out, brining Pitkin to the plate. The senior third baseman sent a towering fly ball to left-center field and Brockport outfielder Jamie Rose nearly made the play, but the ball bounced off his glove at the top of the fence and over for a three-run homer. In the top of the seventh, Pitkin then came on to get the Knights out of a jam with runners on first and second and no one out, earning Clarkson’s first save of the season.
Goerold earned the win for Clarkson, pitching six strong innings and allowing just three hits and three walks. Pitkin got the save with one inning of relief, striking out one and retiring all three batters he faced. Kris Gentzke was a tough-luck loser for Brockport, allowing five hits and four earned runs in six innings overall after pitching a solid first five innings.
