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Baseball Charlie Hurley, Assistant Sports Information Director

Cardinals Edged Twice by SUNY Cortland During Twinbill at Cornell

Frank Buksa came up with a big two-run triple for Plattsburgh State on Monday afternoon.
Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ITHACA, N.Y. - A seven-run inning by the Plattsburgh State baseball team in game one of its doubleheader against No. 7-ranked SUNY Cortland didn't prove to be enough as the Red Dragons took two SUNYAC contests from the Cardinals on Monday afternoon at David F. Hoy Field on the campus of Cornell University. 

The Cardinals fall to 7-12 and 2-3 in SUNYAC games while the Red Dragons improve to 16-4 and 5-0 in league bouts. 

GAME ONE: SUNY Cortland 8, Plattsburgh State 7 (9 inn.)
After being thoroughly handled by SUNY Cortland starting pitcher Brandon Serio through the first seven innings, the Cardinals' offense erupted for seven runs in the eighth to give the visiting squad the lead. The last laugh, though, went to the Red Dragons who emerged as the victors thanks to a walk-off sacrifice fly.

Seeking to continue his hot stretch, senior Joe Leddy took the hill for Plattsburgh State but greeted rudely by the Red Dragons in their four-run opening frame. Conrad Ziemendorf and Vinny Bomasuto each drilled a triple during SUNY Cortland's first set of at-bats and drove in three of the four runs.  Anthony Iacomini brought home the other run in the inning with a sacrifice fly.

From there, Leddy settled in and threw two scoreless innings before giving way to Scott Orr. The sophomore kept it a 4-0 game until the Red Dragons were able to capitalize on Plattsburgh State errors in the sixth and seventh.

 Errors by Cardinal shortstop Brian Latulipe in each frame allowed the Red Dragons to add two unearned runs and push their edge to 6-0.

Heading to the eighth, John Casten had posted the Cardinals' lone hit against Serio with a two-out single in the second. The SUNY Cortland ace showed a hint of weakness in the eighth, as he issued a pair of walks, surrendered a hit to Jon Repetto and went on to exit after a one-out RBI single by Luke Weaver reloaded the bases and made matters 6-1.

Nick Lupo followed up the run scoring single by lacing a two-run double down the left field line to trim the Plattsburgh State deficit to 6-3. Cortland reliever Steve Komanecky recorded the second out of the inning before hitting Latulipe to load the bases once again.

Garrett Hoag (2-0) took over for the Red Dragons on the hill, but fired a wild pitch which allowed Weaver to cross home plate. Frank Buksa followed with a triple that drove in two and tied matters at six. Chris Pescetti plated Buksa with an infield single to give Plattsburgh State a 7-6 lead before the inning came to a close.

The Red Dragons came back to tie things up in their portion of the eighth when Iacomini's one-out single through the left side plated Castaldo.

Mike Vargues (1-2) got the call from the Plattsburgh State bullpen to record the final two outs of the eighth, but saw the first three Cortland batters of the ninth reach on a hit, a hit by pitch and an error. That set the stage for Michael DeCarr, who flied out to left field and plated the game-winner on his sacrifice.  

Six different Cardinals recorded a hit while the Red Dragons pounded out 12.

GAME TWO: SUNY Cortland 4, Plattsburgh State 0 (7 inn.)
Another highly effective SUNY Cortland starter in Brandon McClain limited the Cardinals' lineup to just three hits during the final game of the afternoon.

Jeremy Rodriguez, Brian Latulipe and Repetto conjured up infield singles in the first, second and third innings respectively, but Plattsburgh State was only able to boast an additional pair of base runners against the sharp McClain during the seven-inning bout.

The game-winning run crossed home in the second frame when Mark DeMilo capped off a stretch of two consecutive singles with an RBI poke through the right side of the infield. Bryan Marotta was just quick enough to beat the relay back to the dish from Lupo.

Plattsburgh State starter JD Jenkins tossed a pair of zeroes up on the scoreboard before the Red Dragons tagged the junior out of Lake George, N.Y., for a trio of runs in the home half of the fifth.

Donny Castaldo, Iacomini and Chris Jackson were each credited with RBI singles during the three-run inning which was lengthened by a trio of Plattsburgh State errors.

Jenkins (1-2)worked six innings and gave up nine hits, a pair of walks and three earned runs to the Red Dragons.
McClain saw his unblemished 2014 record rise to 5-0 thanks to a complete game effort. He fanned six and walked just two.

Plattsburgh State will continue their slate of SUNYAC games with a three-game series at Oneonta State on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon as will the single game on Sunday. The games were originally scheduled to be played in Plattsburgh, but poor field conditions forced a change in the site of the contests. Keep checking GoCardinalSports.com and follow Plattsburgh State athletics (@PBurghCardinals) as well as the Plattsburgh State baseball team (@Platts_Baseball) on Twitter for all the most up-to-date news regarding weather-related schedule changes throughout the 2014 season. 
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