Fitchburg, Mass. – Middle of the lineup hitters James Conway (Newburyport, Mass.) and David Eschen (New York, N.Y.) each hit homeruns and the Clark bullpen did an excellent job as the visiting Cougars topped Fitchburg State, 8-6, in non-league baseball action on Thursday afternoon at Riccards Field.

The win for the Scarlet and White moves them back over .500 at 12-11, while the Falcons, who have dropped three of their last four, dip to 5-11.

Clark opened the scoring in the top of the first as Eschen reached on a fielder's choice and came around to score when Conway launched a two-run homer over the center field fence for the 2-0 lead.

 The Cougars upped its advantage in the following inning as Zach Richall (Tyngsboro, Mass.) plated Mike Tice (Chelmsford, Mass.)  with an RBI ground out for the 3-0 margin.

Fitchburg State cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the second as junior Mike St. John singled, moved to second when Mike Martignetti was hit by a pitch, stole third and scored on a base hit off the bat of sophomore Andrew Currie, while fellow sophomore Nathan Littman drew a bases loaded walk to drive in Martignetti.

With the score 4-2, the visitors expanded their advantage in the top of the fourth when Richall singled and moved to second on a walk by Teddy Downing (Cambridge, Mass.). Following a bunt single from Kyle Bonicki (Waterbury, Conn.), Conway was hit by pitch to score Richall, and then Michael Eglow (Delmar, N.Y.) brought home Downing with sacrifice fly to make the score 6-2.

The Green and Gold rallied to knot the score (6-6) in the bottom half of the fourth as Andrew Mooney walked, stole second, and eventually scored on a wild pitch, while St. John knocked in Rob Lewis and Steven Drury Jr. with a two-run single to center.

Clark regained the lead for good in the top of the seventh when Eschen reached on another fielding miscue, moved to second on a single Conway, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score on a Zach Kelley (Hadley, Mass.) singled home Eschen, while Conway scored on an RBI groundout by pinch hitter Mikey Thomson (Northampton, Mass.), resulting in the 8-6 final.

For Fitchburg State, St. John hit 2-for-4 with one run scored, two RBI and a stolen base, while Littman added a pair of hits and one run batted in.

Conway paced the Cougars offense, going 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI, while Bonicki and Kelley added two hits each for Clark.

Joe Gouveia (Nashua, N.H.) picked up the win for the Cougars in relief of starter Taylor Serrano (Essex, Conn.), giving up just two hits with three strikeouts in three innings of relief. Mitch Mondro (Westford, Mass.) came on and fired two innings of hitless relief to earn his first career save.

Clark will return to NEWMAC play when they host MIT on Saturday for a twinbill starting at noon.