Alex Kornblau watches Plattsburgh face Clarkson from the dugout April 11.
By Collin Bolebruch
Plattsburgh State baseball is fielding its best team in 14 years, due in large part to the offensive success of senior infielder Alex Kornblau.
Alex has led the Cardinals to the playoffs twice in his career, breaking a 10-year postseason drought that dated back to 2012.
This season, Alex has been the best version of himself, breaking three single-season Cardinal records — home runs with 8, runs with 51 and total bases with 91. Already the holder of the career home run record, if he stays for a graduate season, is also on pace to hold the career runs and doubles records.
As the Cardinals face the losers bracket of the SUNYAC tournament, the team will rely on Alex for some firepower.
This question and answer was conducted with Alex over text May 6.
Question: What’s your walk up song? Why’d you pick it?
Answer: My walk up song is cash war by Gunna because it hypes me up and helps me lock in a little extra before every at-bat.
Q: What’s the best hitting advice you’ve ever received and how has it helped you?
A: The best hitting advice I’ve ever received is to stay confident and always stay within my approach, which is to drive the ball up the middle. It can be easy to try and do too much, but if I stay within myself and am confident in my ability, I wont stress about needing to get a hit. That stress is what causes me to chase pitches. Instead I try to take what the pitcher gives me.
Q: What’s going to make this team scary in the playoffs?
A: What’s going to make this team scary in the playoffs is definitely how deep our lineup is. In any given inning we can have a breakout inning, whether it’s the top of the order up, or the 7 hitter leading off, which is why we are always so confident even if we’re losing. This is because we know we can pop off for a big inning at any point in the game.
Q: Are you a seeds guy? What are the best flavors? If not, what are you eating in the dugout?
A: I’m not a big seeds guy, but when I’m in the dugout I’m always eating some almonds or cashews because they give me the energy to compete, especially when we have long doubleheaders.
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