Box Score BROCKPORT, N.Y. – After suffering through some early-season woes at the plate, the Plattsburgh State baseball team is finally seeing their offense come around.
The Cardinals mashed 17 hits and forced Brockport to use five pitchers in a 9-8 victory over their SUNYAC foes on Sunday afternoon at the Clark V. Whited Complex on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the Cardinals managed to win their first league series of the 2013 campaign and improve to 9-16 overall and 4-8 in SUNYAC games. Brockport falls to 13-12 and 4-9 in league tilts.
Although they earned the victory, the game was fraught with drama as the Cardinals squandered a five-run advantage and allowed the home-standing Golden Eagles to plate seven unanswered runs before coming back for the win.
Senior right-hander Steven Corea looked sharp in relief as he finally put a stop to the Brockport offense. In 4.2 innings of relief, the Valley Stream, N.Y., native allowed just one hit while striking out four as he improved to 2-0.
Intent on scoring runs early, Luke Weaver and Brian Latulipe blasted singles on the first two pitches of the ball game before coming around to score on RBI swings by Mike Mulvihill and Chris Pescetti.
Pescetti reached base for the first time due to the first of three errors on the day by the Golden Eagles.
Nick Bunce halved Plattsburgh State’s 2-0 lead in the Brockport portion of the first with an RBI single through the left side of the infield, but the Cardinals quickly regained their two-run advantage in the ensuing frame.
Shane Houppert led off the second with a double and Latulipe brought him home with a two-out RBI single that gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.
With that, Brockport starter Matthew Coleman was sent back to the dugout which allowed the Cardinals to continue their hot-hitting ways against Tyler Clifford.
Plattsburgh State tacked on three more runs in the fourth off of the freshman with the biggest piece of damage done by Mike Vargues. The sophomore racked up a pair of RBIs when his single scored Mulvihill and Pescetti to make things 6-1 Plattsburgh State.
Instead of allowing the Cardinals to continue coasting along, the Golden Eagles snapped out of their offensive funk in their half of the fourth. Bunce led off the inning with his second long ball of the series before another three runs scored and made it a 6-5 game. Kyle Tracy provided one of the big hits when his two-out single plated two runners and a catcher’s interference call on Plattsburgh State backstop John Casten didn’t help matters either.
Plattsburgh State starter Mike Doughtie lasted 3.2 innings, and reliever Corey Grossman had a rough outing as well. The Golden Eagles grabbed their first lead of the game with a three-run fifth inning that made things 8-6 before Corea stepped in and finally quieted Brockport down.
A heads-up play by Pescetti brought the Cardinals within one run in the sixth. With Vargues caught in a rundown between first and second, Pescetti broke for home and scored easily.
Houppert rapped another two-base hit in the seventh, and was plated by pinch hitter Casey Brighton to knot matters at eight in the seventh.
Vargues recorded the winning run in the top of the ninth as he led off the frame with a double and scored on a passed ball with one out.
Vargues and Casten each racked up three hits in the game and Vargues also amassed a pair of RBIs and a run.
Latulipe and Mulvihill contributed three hits each as well as well as one RBI apiece. Pescetti had two RBIs and Houppert finished 2-for-5 with his pair of doubles.
The Cardinals will remain on the road as they make the short journey to Canton, N.Y., to take on St. Lawrence on Tuesday afternoon. The non-conference game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
