Rochester, NY – Junior David Kinney (Mexico, NY) went 4-for-4 with a home run and three doubles in the opener of Sunday’s doubleheader as the Clarkson University Baseball team split with Rochester, winning the first 8-3 before falling 15-7 in the nightcap at Towers Field.

The Golden Knights saw a five-game winning streak come to an end with the loss in game two on Sunday, moving to 10-6 overall and 6-2 in the Liberty League, good for first place in the conference. Rochester is now 6-10 and 2-4 in conference games. Clarkson will play a non-conference game on Wednesday against Brockport State before opening up at home this weekend when it hosts Union College.

Following a David Wixted (Ballston Lake, NY) single to open the game, Kinney hit a two-run homer to left to give the Knights an early lead that they would never relinquish. Rochester picked up a run the fourth inning, but in the bottom of the frame, Clarkson gained a 3-1 advantage with a two-out single from Sam Grainger (Bedford, MA) which plated Dan Lenney (Clifton Park, NY). Clarkson scored another in the bottom of the fifth when Kinney came around on a single from Ryan Barkley (Penn Yan, NY).

In the top of the sixth, Rochester scored two off Clarkson starter Bryan Chudy (Goshen, NY). Chudy left the game after being struck by a ball and delivering a ball to the next hitter, allowing Vince Baldwin (Catskill, NY) to earn a strikeout for Chudy in relief. A four-run bottom of the sixth allowed Baldwin plenty of cushion as he picked up a save.

In that sixth inning, Wixted singled home a pair of runs and Barkley sent two more runners scampering home on a single up the middle. Kinney finished 4-for-4 in the contest while Wixted went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs. Barkley also went 2-for-3 in the game. Chudy earned his third victory of the season, allowing seven hits and striking out six in six innings.

Game two didn’t go smoothly for Clarkson as Rochester scored three times in the first and two more in the third to take a 5-0 lead. The Knights woke up in the fifth as Grainger led off the inning with a homer to center field. The rally didn’t end there, as three more runs came around on a run-scoring single from Wixted, an RBI-triple by Jerry Coleman (Potsdam, NY), and a groundout from Lenney.

Clarkson’s pitching couldn’t hold the Rochester offense down, however, as they picked up three in the sixth, three in the seventh, and four more in the eighth. The Knights gained three in the sixth when a pop up by Kinney was dropped, allowing the merry-go-round to begin as the miscue allowed the bases to clear.

The offense was spread out in game two for the Knights, as just Pete Lasecki (Stratford, CT) came through with multiple hits, going 3-for-4.