Rochester, NY - In four of his seven innings pitched Austin Pitkin (Dexter, NY) matched zeroes with Rochester starter Pete McEneaney, but the Clarkson University Baseball team's offense could not get on track against the senior righthander and were shutout 3-0 in the Liberty League Tournament first round on Friday afternoon.

The Golden Knights, seeded fourth in the conference championships, fell to 17-19 overall on the season and will take on third-seeded St. Lawrence at 11:00 am on Saturday morning in an elimination game. Rochester improved to 28-11.

Both pitchers looked sharp in the first two innings, but Pitkin allowed a solo home run to Rochester shortstop Ed Kahovec with two outs in the third inning for a 1-0 Yellowjackets lead. Clarkson had baserunners in the fourth and fifth innings, but couldn't push any runs across. The Knights' best chance came in the sixth inning while still trailing 1-0. Matt Curry (Richland, NY) led off the inning with a single and was pushed over on a sacrifice bunt by Sean Griffin (Walden, NY). Mike Bresett (Norwood, NY) followed and reached base on an error by the Rochester leftfielder while Curry moved up to third. With a 1-0 count, Brett Peplowski (Albany, NY) laced the ball up the middle, but Rochester's Nate Stein snagged it and doubled up Bresett at second to end the threat. Clarkson would have baserunners again in the final three innings, but McEneaney was always able to pitch out of the jams.

Rochester used the momentum from getting out of the top of the sixth and delivered a run in the bottom of the next two innings. Kahovec scored on a two-out single to right by Ryan Sullivan in the sixth and Dan Brien plated Blayne Fuke in the seventh on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

Pitkin finished with seven strong innings, allowing five hits while striking out six for the Knights. McEneaney threw a complete-game shutout and struck out eight while scattering four hits. Kahovec was 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored to lead Rochester and Fuke was 2-for-4.