Garrett Collins
On Tuesday May 4th the SUNY Plattsburgh Men’s Baseball Team took on the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons in a two-game double header. The Cardinals come into this game with an overall record of four and 12
The Cardinals looked to continue the strong pitching that was apparent during the end of the third inning and into the second game against the SUNY New Paltz Hawks. Behind the arms of pitchers Chase Blazak, David Ghiloni and Andrew Vie, the Cardinals were able to split their double header. The cards were looking to ride their last win into another when Cortland came into town. Coming off of a low scoring loss of 1-2 to Oneonta, Cortland opened the first inning with a two-run lead on the Cardinals putting them down 2-0. The Cardinals however, showed up on defense in the second and the third inning pitching two shutouts keeping the game close and uncomfortable for Cortland. Plattsburgh’s inability to make contact with the ball however, would show to be their biggest problem. Throughout the fourth, fifth and sixth, Plattsburgh surrendered only one run per inning. Their inability to match those runs in those three innings made a win for the game feel out of reach. The seventh inning was when the wheels fell off on the Plattsburgh defence allowing five runs to make sure there would be no comebacks late in the game. The Cardinals would fall to the Red Dragons 0-11 in the first game of the double header.
In the second game the Cardinals looked to fix their offensive attack by getting a well needed run in their first inning keeping the game at a comfortable 3-1 score. Two runs were given up by Plattsburgh in the second and the third inning. With the Plattsburgh offense not being able to match runs made by Cortland, the game had gone from a close one to the Cardinals facing a four-point deficit down 5-1. Plattsburgh responded by scoring a run in the fourth, but Cortland’s additional three runs in the fourth inning kept the lead on Plattsburgh with a score of 8-2. With another three-run inning from Cortland in the fifth, the game had started to feel completely out of reach. Plattsburgh was able to notch three runs in the sixth inning, but another three-run inning by Cortland in the seventh made sure the Cardinals couldn’t get any closer to Cortland. The Cardinals would end up losing in the second of the double header 5-15
The Cardinal’s inability to match Cortland’s runs early in games was what hurt them the most. They were able to keep the game tight until the defense couldn’t keep Cortland at bay by the fifth and sixth inning. The Cardinals look to bounce back in a double header against the New Paltz Eagles on the 6th.
