By Melanie Lanzo
SUNY Plattsburgh’s baseball team has been in game mode, making sure they are coming in strong and ready to win this season. Sunday, March 6, the Cardinals played against St. Joseph’s for two games, both of which Plattsburgh won. With a score of 14-2 for the first game and 6-5 for the second, redemption from the last game, it was a win for not only the team, but new Head Coach Sam Quinn-Loeb who has officially earned his first victory of the season as head coach.
From game one, the Cardinals came in strong. Junior right fielder Conner Gonzalski, had four at-bats, and 3-3-3 runs scored, hits and runs batted in. The second the game started he was on go mode, tripling to right-center. This allowed sophomore baseman Fransisco Geraci to score, which was the first of many. He ended the game with two runs scored and two hits. During the beginning of the game, St. Joseph’s managed to get two runs crossed, although the Cardinals were still ahead with a score of 3-0 once the half-inning of play came. At one point, St. Joseph’s stopped the winning streak by having the team put in a pair of runs before the half-inning, but that was cut short by senior left fielder Nolan De Melfi. He ended the game with 4 at-bats, 2 runs scored, 2 hits and 2 runs batted in.
First base player Zachary Stone raised the score to 7-2 by doing a run that went single to center field, allowing Gonzalski to finish it off. After that the Plattsburgh baseball team managed to score two more runs once Nick Cergol singled up to the middle, then Nolan De Melfi scored allowing for Christian Lent to bring the score to 9-2. Close to game 1 ending, Gonzalski, Melfi, and Stone made final plays that brought the team home in the first game with a final score of 14-2.
The second game was a bit more intense, with the ending score tied. With Melfi starting off, Kowalowski tripled to right-center and freshman Kyle Cremin scored and tied the game to 3-3. Lent then tied the score again to 5-5 and Cergol took home the win with assistance from Rasquin and Kowalowski.
“This time around the boys flat out came ready to play,” Geraci said.“The team stepped out to an early lead and compared to last week we didn’t let up even when we were winning. The focus and energy were high and once we had momentum, there was no chance we were losing either game. This is what we expect to do all year and hopefully, we stay the course and keep playing the way we can.”
The next game for the Cardinals is March 11, at 4 p.m. They are playing against Gallaudet University.
