Cards drop conference series against Hawks

By Ziaire Ferrell

The Plattsburgh State Cardinals’ baseball team endured a three game sweep against the New Paltz Hawks, the defending conference champions, in this weekend’s SUNYAC series, losing 1-8, 4-15 and 2-14. 

New Paltz opened game one with two runs in the first inning and did not give up the lead for the rest of the matchup, cruising to an 8-1 win. 

Senior outfielder Josh Foglia had a two-hit outing for the Cards while senior catcher Adam Wein had one hit and scored the lone Plattsburgh run of the contest. Junior left-handed pitcher Kwintin Nurse tossed 1.1 scoreless innings for the Cards in relief. 

The Cards came within two runs in the third inning, but could not complete the comeback. The Hawks took advantage of the Plattsburgh bullpen and exploded for five runs to close out game one.

Plattsburgh started the second game strong, taking a 3-0 lead in the third inning. The Cards held on 3-1 until the sixth inning as the New Paltz offense exploded for eight runs, and then tacked on six more in the eighth. 

Senior infielder Kyle Cremin had two RBIs while sophomore infielder Michael Piccirillo was 2-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a stolen base.

The Cards rallied in the eighth with a back-to-back one out walks and a Piccirillo RBI single, but the Hawks turned a double play to end game two, dominating the Cardinals 15-4. 

The Hawks completed the series sweep with a 14-2 win over the Cards. Senior Colin Ross led the Cardinal offense with a homerun, scoring both of their runs. Piccirillo had his second multi-hit outing for Plattsburgh State in the loss. 

The Hawks scored two runs in the first and four more in the second, securing a 6-0 lead. 

The Cardinals pushed back in the third inning, with a solo home run right to center by Ross. 

The New Paltz offense continued on to put up three more runs in the fourth.

Ross’ momentum earned the Cardinals another run in the fifth inning but the Hawks battled back, tallying six more runs. 

The Hawks plated their final run of the game on a throwing error during a double steal. 

New Paltz outhit Plattsburgh 16-4 in the loss. The Cardinals now fall to 7-13 overall and 0-6 in the SUNYAC while the Hawks fall 20-8 in their season and 9-2 in conference play. 

Cardinals Points reached out to members of the baseball team and didn’t receive comments on the series.