Worcester, Mass. – For the second straight outing, a starting pitcher handcuffed what has been a pretty potent Clark University offense and a late Cougar rally came up short as Worcester-area rival Nichols College posted a 6-3 win over the Scarlet and White in non-league baseball action at the Granger Baseball Diamond Thursday afternoon.

The win for the visiting Bison bumps their overall record to 6-8 in advance of their twinbill with Lesley University on Monday at 6:30 p.m.

Clark, meanwhile, has dropped two straight after a three-game winning streak and they now sit at 9-10 entering New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play, which starts on Saturday on the road at Emerson.

In today's matchup, it was Nichols starting hurler StigErik McElhinney (Dracut, Mass.) who was in control on the mound, tossing seven innings of one-hit ball, allowing just one unearned run to go along with three strikeouts.

The Bison pushed three runs across in the top of the second after what looked like Clark starter Conor Walsh (Marstons Mills, Mass.) would work his way out of trouble. With two outs and a runner on first, back-to-back singles by Benjamin Harrow (North Reading, Mass.) and Brendan Martin (Nashua, N.H.) loaded the bases for Nichols. Joe Assenza (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) then sent a ball to right center that Tyler Hutchinson (Greene, Maine) made a diving attempt at but it rattled out of his glove and away for a bases clearing double.

Nichols tacked on another run in the third on a Ross Caswell (Randolph, Vt.) single to center to go ahead 4-0.

Walsh and his defense worked their way out of trouble a few times, including in the fourth where the Bison had runners on the corners with two outs but they were able to pick off Assenza on an attempted delayed steal.

The story was the same in the fifth when Nichols loaded the bases with one out but the Walsh was able to induce a pair of groundouts to Zach Richall (Tyngsboro, Mass.) at third to end the threat.

Clark finally broke through in the sixth when Teddy Downing (Cambridge, Mass.) led off the frame with a walk and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. After moving to third on a David Eschen (New York, N.Y.) groundout, Downing came home on a passed ball.

Nichols added a pair of key runs in the ninth off of reliever Joe Gouveia (Nashua, N.H.). Gouveia was strong in his first two innings but yielded a leadoff double to Matt Hardy (North Attleboro, Mass.), who eventually scored on a wild pitch. The Bisons' other run in the inning came on a Nick Osma (Babylon, N.Y.) sacrifice fly.

The Scarlet and White made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth off of Nichols' closer Kevin Kirley (Clinton, Mass.). With one out, Eschen walked and Michael Eglow (Delmar, N.Y.) singled to left. After Adam Chochrek (Foxboro, Mass.) drew a walk to load the bases, Richall drove in a run on a fielder's choice, putting runners on the corners with two outs. Pinch hitter Mikey Thomson (Northampton, Mass.) smacked a single to right bringing home Eglow, making the score 6-3 with two outs and runners again on the corners.

Kirley, however, was able to get Hutchinson, who represented the tying run, to fly out to deep right field to end the game.

Caswell had four hits for the Bison, who also got three hits and three RBI from Assenza.

Eglow, Eschen and Thomson had the hits for the Cougars, who will play their next four games on the road beginning with Saturday's twinbill against the Lions.