Pitt-Johnstown found itself on the wrong end of 11-4 and 6-3 decisions to close out a rare triple-header at Clarion on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium Complex.
The Mountain Cats wrapped up a scheduled doubleheader from Friday afternoon with a 7-3 setback before closing the day at 7-18 overall (0-8 PSAC).
Game One—Clarion 11, Pitt-Johnstown 4
After being down 5-0 after two complete innings, Pitt-Johnstown recovered to get within one before its rally eventually stalled out.
Ben Tomb started and was tagged with the loss after surrendering six runs, four earned, on four hits with six strikeouts in 5+ innings of work.
Cam Donaldson walked with one out in the third and moved to second one batter later on a single from Alex Ebeling. Justin Turcovski singled home Donaldson with two outs to make it 5-1.
Four straight hits all with two outs for the Mountain Cats in the fourth allowed them to tack on another run. Aidan Steinbugl doubled, and Nathan Helms followed with an RBI single that cut the deficit to 5-2.
Turcovski and Devon Boyles recorded back-to-back singles and found themselves on second and third with the help of an error. Karson Reffner lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Turcovski and Erik Rhodes followed up with one to left to bring home Boyles and trim it to 5-4.
That was the score until the bottom of the sixth when Clarion scored six runs on three hits to go up by seven and seal it.
Antonio Caporossi gave up five runs, four earned, on two hits in 1/3 of an inning. Luke Lea recorded the final two outs in the sixth before the Mountain Cats went down quietly in the seventh to end it.
Game Two—Clarion 6, Pitt-Johnstown 3
Unlike game one, the Mountain Cats bounded out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with the help of two hits and an error. Brody Roberts reached on that error to lead off the inning and moved to second when Ebeling walked.
Turcovski moved them both up with a sacrifice bunt and one batter later Reffner paid it off with a two-RBI single to take the lead.
The Golden Eagles also recorded a run in the first, but the Mountain Cats struck for another in the second to go back up by two. Tyler Danko walked with one out, moved all the way to third on a single from Roberts and scored when Ebeling cracked a base-hit to make it 3-1.
But three runs on three hits from the Golden Eagles in the third allowed them to go up for good.
Singles from Zac LeGars and another from Turcovski were the only hits the Mountain Cats mustered over the final four innings. Clarion tallied two insurance runs in the sixth to close the scoring.
Reliever Cole Sansom suffered the loss after allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts and three walks in 1 2/3 innings.
Jimmy Kunst started and gave up three earned runs on four hits in 2 1/3 innings of work. Rhodes and Roman Donis also pitched in relief.
Aiden Hartle threw four scoreless innings in relief and picked up the win for Clarion, which closed the day at 15-9 and 7-1 in the PSAC.
Pitt-Johnstown will be idle for five days before beginning a doubleheader with Seton Hill on Friday, April 4 beginning at 1 p.m.
