Worcester, Mass. - Powered by a two homerun performance from sophomore Shawn Lamothe (Bellingham, Mass.) and a 29-hit attack, Clark won its second straight non-conference contest in as many days, racing past visiting Rivier College, 26-9, Thursday afternoon on Granger Field.

The Cougars even their record at 5-5 overall in advance of their conference opener with crosstown rival WPI, while the Raiders slip to 0-4.

Clark pounced on the visitors early, putting up eight runs in the first frame as Lamothe and Steve DeMartino (New Haven, Conn.) each crushed two-run homers.

After Rivier scored two runs in the top of the second on a bases loaded walk and an RBI groundout, the Cougars scored another in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double from Justin Griffin (Manchester, N.H.).

Clark then broke the game open with a seven-run third inning. The Cougars got RBI singles from Scott Hollingsworth (Tilton, N.H.), Phil DiMarco (Bellingham, Mass.) and Griffin and a two-run single from Ron Bathrick (North Haven, Conn.). The other two runs came on sacrifice flies from Lamothe and Joseph Krahe (Fairfield, Conn.).

The Cougars didn't let up in the fourth, as LaMothe smashed his second home run of the contest - this one a three-run shot to left that gave Clark a 19-2 edge.

The Raiders scored the game's next five runs, two of which came on freshman Kyle Bowser's (Newington, N.H.) first career homerun to close the gap to 19-7.

Clark tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth on a Krahe two-run double and then another in the seventh on freshman James Cadogan's (Ipswich, Mass.) first career homer.

After an RBI single by the Raiders' Ryan O'Connor (Medford, Mass.) in the eighth, Clark junior Andrew Agostini (Williamstown, Mass.) launched a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to put a cap on the Cougars' offensive outburst.

Jonathan Merritt (Milton, Mass.) was the beneficiary of all of the Clark offense, going five innings, allowing four runs and five hits while striking out five.

In addition to Merritt's performance on the mound, the Cougars got solid relief appearances from Nickolas Winchell (Scituate, R.I.) and freshman David Balme (Brooklyn, N.Y.).

Several Cougars had superb offensive afternoons, including Krahe, who went 4-for-4 with three RBI and Lamothe, who had a 4-for-5 day, including the first two homers of his career, to go along with career-highs in runs scored (5) and RBI (6).

Joining in on the offensive onslaught were DeMartino, who went 3-for-5 with four runs scored and two RBI, and Hollingsworth, who was 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.

Bathrick, the designated hitter, had a 2-for-3 day with three RBI, while Griffin went 3-for-4 with three RBI.

In addition, Derek Dubois (Haverhill, Mass.), Cadogan, Agostini, and Benjamin Seel (Belgrade, Maine) all had two hits for the Cougars. O'Connor (2-for-4), Bowser (2-for-5, three RBI) and Patrick Brooks (Milford, N.H.) paced the Rivier offense, which scored a season-high nine runs.

Rivier freshman Ford Coates (Raymond, N.H.) took the loss, giving up seven hits and eight earned runs in just one inning of the work. Sophomore Jeffrey Breslin (Westford, Mass.) tossed six innings of relief, allowing 16 hits and ten earned runs.

The Raiders will look for their first win of the season on Sunday when they visit Massachusetts-Maritime for a doubleheader on Sunday, while the Cougars open NEWMAC play on Saturday at home against the Engineers.