CORTLAND, N.Y.--The Plattsburgh State baseball team dug itself an early 7-0 hole through three innings and couldn't recover in a 13-5 loss at the hands of host Cortland State on Saturday at Wallace Field, eliminating the Cardinals from the State University of New York Athletic Conference Tournament.

This morning's matchup featured two nationally ranked squads who finished 1-2 in the SUNYAC regular-season, but both lost in yesterday's first round of the conference tournament. The Cardinals (No. 26 ABCA, "RV" D3baseball.com) fall to 30-10 overall, and still hopeful of an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament with one of the nation's toughest schedules as its calling card. The Red Dragons are now 31-8-1 and advance through the losers' bracket.

Andrew Gooch led the Cardinals by going 4-for-5 with three runs batted in and two runs scored. He hit his first home run of the season, over the left field wall, in the sixth inning.

Adam Dimino had four hits and four RBIs for the Red Dragons, who had 19 compared to the Cardinals' 13.  Andersen Gardner chipped in with three hits and three runs scored.

Matt Burns, Crockett Pack and Tory Bouyea also had two hits apiece for the Cardinals, who left 11 runners on base today and 22 total for the tournament.