By Emma Deo
Plattsburgh Cardinals’ baseball (8-17, 1-10) is hunting to find consistency after a week with two big wins and four tough losses.
“Defense and practice is always a big thing, but the guys just have to work on their swing and hopefully they feel good heading into the weekend against Cortland,” Plattsburgh head coach Sam Quinn-Loeb said.
CANTON
The Cards opened the week with a SUNYAC doubleheader against the Canton Kangaroos (6-18, 3-10) on April 14. Plattsburgh earned the split on the day and their lone conference win with a 16-4, seven-inning win, followed by a heartbreaking 14-15 loss.
The offense exploded for 16 runs in the first game, with senior outfielder Josh Foglia leading the way for the Cardinals, going 4-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. Sophomore infielder Austin Caldwell was 2-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored, while fellow sophomore infielder Michael Piccirillo drove in three runs for the Cards.
Plattsburgh took the lead early thanks to RBIs from senior first baseman Kyle Cremin and sophomore infielder Jon Beale in the first inning. Foglia then doubled home senior catcher Adam Wein to give the Cards the early 4-0 advantage.
Canton came back and scored two runs in the bottom half of the second inning, but Plattsburgh crossed the plate five times in the fourth inning to give them a seven-run cushion.
Plattsburgh State kept their foot on the gas headed into the fifth inning and put up five more runs off of two hit batters, a walk and a two-run single from Piccirillo, giving the Cards a 14-2 lead.
Sophomore Jack Castillo earned the win with five solid innings of work on the mound, striking out five Kangaroos. Senior Christian Diaz and sophomore Ty Nelson also tossed scoreless innings in relief. Diaz retired all three batters he faced in the seventh inning as the Cards cruised to a 16-4 conference win.
In game two, junior outfielder Colin Ross set a new single-game program record as he homered three times, driving in five runs. Cremin also went yard for the Cards, adding three hits in the loss. Beale and TJ Beninati joined in on the fun with a dinger each, but the offensive onslaught was not enough for Plattsburgh State.
The game was back-and-forth and the Cards went into the ninth inning with a 14-12 advantage. The bottom of the ninth saw three walks and a hit-by-pitch for the Cardinal pitching staff, and a three-run Kangaroo triple handed Canton the walkoff win.
SAINT LAWRENCE
The Cardinal offense came alive once again Wednesday afternoon as Plattsburgh State took down the Saint Lawrence Saints (11-18, 6-7) by a score of 26-13.
Senior infielder Joey Di Rocco had 4 RBIs on the day, highlighted by a three-run double, ending the day 2-4. Beale was also 2-4, reaching safely five times off two walks and a hit by pitch. On the bump, Diaz earned his first collegiate win, chucking 4.1 innings and allowing three earned runs.
The Cards were outhit 17-14 by the Saints, but Plattsburgh was able to capitalize on 16 walks, six hit by pitches and seven errors to earn the high-scoring win. This was the most runs the team has scored since 2022 when they put up 27 runs on Gallaudet University.
“We drew a lot of walks, which is something we haven’t really done too much of this year and then we had some key hits with runners in scoring position,” Quinn-Loeb said.
Plattsburgh State was able to take the lead early, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first. The first Cardinal hit did not come until Di Rocco’s second plate appearance of the inning when he blasted a three-run double to give the Cards a 7-0 edge over the Saints.
The Saints responded with two runs in the second inning, but Plattsburgh State battled back even harder, tallying four runs on one hit to take the 11-2 lead.
Caldwell said the Cards were able to take the Saints pitchers deep in the count and forced them to throw pitches to hit.
“Their pitchers were throwing the ball all over the place but we weren’t chasing pitches out of the zone, allowing us to get on base a lot easier with walks,” Caldwell wrote in a text.
The third and fourth innings included six total runs scored for the Saints but Plattsburgh responded with a five-run bottom half of the fourth.
The Cards now led 16-8 off of just three hits.
The high scoring affair did not stop there, as the Cards tallied two runs in the fifth inning, four runs in the sixth and four runs in the eighth. First-year Brody Burdo made his first collegiate appearance in the ninth inning, sitting down the final batter to send the Cards home with the 26-13 non conference win.
OSWEGO
Plattsburgh State finished a busy week with a three game SUNYAC series against the Oswego State Lakers (19-11, 8-4).
The first game of the series was a tough loss for the Cards as they fell to the Lakers 15-5 in seven innings Thursday afternoon. Foglia was 3-4 in the loss, while senior pitcher Kolby Mordecki struck out 10 Lakers in five innings, eclipsing the 100 strikeout milestone for his career.
Mordecki is just the eighth Cardinal in Plattsburgh baseball history to surpass the 100 strikeout mark, and his current 109 total strikeouts place him seventh on the all-time Plattsburgh leaderboard.
Senior outfielder Zach Rainville was 2-3 for the Cards, marking his second straight multi-hit showing.
Rainville was able to tie the matchup at three in the fourth inning with a two-out single but the Lakers steadily tacked on runs for the rest of the game, and sealed the run-rule win with a seven run, top of the seventh inning off of seven hits.
The Cards and the Lakers were back in action Friday for a twin bill, as Plattsburgh State dropped two closely contested one-run ball games with fourth-seeded Oswego State.
“You don’t really have too much time to change things, but you just talk, try and stay positive and play decent baseball games,” Quinn-Loeb said.
Game one of the double header was a pitchers’ duel, as junior pitcher Kaelan Clarkson and his Laker counterpart each lasted at least eight innings. Clarkson tallied six punchouts over his eight innings of work, only allowing two runs off of six hits.
Foglia continued to be a spark in the Plattsburgh lineup with another multi-hit outing, going 204 with a run scored while Ross was 1-3 with an RBI. Both being transfer players, they have been able to make an immediate impact for the Cardinals. Foglia leads the team in batting average with .403, adding six doubles and 13 RBI. Ross holds a remarkable .392 batting average, leading the team with six home runs.
“Ross had a good fall so I knew that he would do well and Foglia spent some time at Saint Rose, he’s a good hitter. Hopefully they can continue their hot streak they have the rest of the year and end the season with some wins,” Quinn-Loeb said.
The game was knotted at two headed into the ninth, but the Lakers responded with a two-out walk off single.
Game two was equally as heartbreaking for the Cards, as yet another pitchers’ duel did not go their way. Junior Isaiah Maines tossed six innings for Plattsburgh State, striking out eight and allowing just one earned run.
Offensively, Ross added yet another homerun, finishing the game 2-4. Graduate infielder Alex Kornblau was also 2-4 for Plattsburgh State, with an RBI triple and a run scored.
The contest was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when the Lakers were able to squeak a run across the board off an error, a passed ball and a single.
Plattsburgh State took their first lead of the series in the sixth inning thanks to a Kornblau triple followed by a Cremin RBI single. The Lakers tied the game back up in the seventh, but senior Nick Goldberg came out of the bullpen for the Cards to limit the damage.
Headed into the eighth, the game was still knotted at two until Ross smashed his sixth dinger of the season, tying him for second all-time in a single season, just two behind Kornblau who set the record last year.
Oswego State retook the lead after a wild pitch and an RBI groundout. The Cards then went down in order on nine pitches in the ninth inning, as the Lakers earned the series sweep.
Plattsburgh State is back in action April 23 in Canton, New York as they take on Saint Lawrence for another non-conference contest before their weekend SUNYAC series against the Cortland Red Dragons at Chip Cummings Field in Plattsburgh.
“We are trying to win as many games as possible for the rest of the season. By playing together as a team and not for ourselves as individuals we should be able to achieve this goal,” Caldwell wrote.
