Clarkson stays in tournament

FARMINGDALE — The Clarkson University baseball team refused to let its season come to an end Friday, defeating Western New England 5-2 in an elimination game in the New York Regional of the NCAA Division III tournament.

Clarkson (23-20) received a strong showing from starting pitcher Austin Pitkin, who threw a complete game and struck out seven. The Golden Knights will face Liberty League rival Rensselaer (33-9), the only team yet to lose in the double-elimination event, at noon today. If Clarkson wins, it will have another game later in the day.

"Austin Pitkin came through once again for us today," said Clarkson coach Jim Kane. "We really needed to give our bullpen a break after two offensive slugfests in the last two days, and Austin did just that by going all nine. Defensively, we played much better than the last two days and really limited their chances to score. If it wasn't for just one ground ball that (second baseman) Matt Curry couldn't quite get to, he would have had another shutout. I couldn't be happier with the way we played today."

Clarkson, the lowest seed in the six-team field, stunned No. 1 SUNY Cortland 15-12 in the opener, but lost 19-10 to host Farmingdale State on Thursday, setting up Friday's elimination game with Western New England.

Clarkson scored two runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead for good. Matt Giordano and Cale Giroux started the game with back-to-back singles. Thanks to a pair of errors on Giroux's hit, both players wound up scoring. Clarkson extended the lead to 3-0 in the second when Steve Magovney tripled with two out and scored on another single from Giordano.

Western New England (30-17) scored two runs in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 3-2, but Clarkson answered with single runs in the sixth and seventh. Justin McInerney drove in one run with a two-out single in the sixth, and Sal DiSanza drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to end the scoring.