Box Score PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - For the third consecutive season, the Plattsburgh State baseball team did late Cardinal Brian Mehan proud as the Cardinals downed SUNY Canton 7-2 in the Brian Mehan Be The Match game at Lefty Wilson Field on Friday night. 

Senior Joe Leddy and junior JD Jenkins split time on the hill for the Cardinals and combined to give up just four hits to the Kangaroos who wrap up their 2014 campaign with a 15-19 mark. With the win, Plattsburgh State finishes its latest season with a record of 14-22. 

Prior to the start of the non-conference bout, the Plattsburgh State starters were escorted out onto the field by Special Olympians from Clinton and Essex Counties. Additionally, Plattsburgh State student Sean Conkin threw out a ceremonial first pitch. Conkin, a senior, took part in the baseball team's Be The Match swabbing drive in 2013 and was identified as a positive match for a woman suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Conklin donated blood stem cell after learning he was a life-saving match. 

Leddy came out with something to prove in his final game as a collegian. The Goshen, N.Y., product sat down the first eight Kangaroo batters he faced, racking up four strikeouts during that span. After the top of the first inning, the Cardinals decided to give their senior starter some early run support. Junior Brian Latulipe registered the first of eight Plattsburgh State hits on the night by drilling a double to deep right field to lead off the home portion of the initial frame. 

After swiping third base, Latulipe cross home plate when Frank Buksa picked up an RBI with a groundout to shortstop. In the second, it was the bottom of the Cardinals' order which came up big to widen the gap. Yuya Osawa started the bottom of the second with another double to right field before senior John Casten reached on a dropped pop fly by Phil Tsiaras - the SUNY Canton catcher.

After the pair of base runners moved into scoring position when a balk was called on Kangaroos' starter Derek Harkin, freshman Billy Rombauts picked up an RBI when his groundout plated Osawa. Nine-hole hitter Jon Repetto upped the Plattsburgh State edge to 3-0 when the sophomore laced a sharp single to center field to score Casten before all was said and done in the second. 

Leddy saw his bid for a shutout come to an end in the third when SUNY Canton's Keenan Shannon deposited the first offering he saw from the senior out beyond the fence in center field. It was Shannon's first long ball of the season and trimmed Platsburgh State's advantage to 3-1. 

SUNY Canton crept closer still in the top of the fourth which was lengthened due to a pair of Plattsburgh State errors in the infield. Leddy began the frame with another punch out before the next pair of Kangaroo batters reached on back-to-back Cardinal miscues. A single by Jesse Barton would load the bases before Nick Belile secured the only other SUNY Canton RBI of the evening with a sacrifice fly which allowed Jordan Hunneyman to touch the dish. 

It took until the fifth inning, but the Cardinals would finally put things out of reach. In what turned out to be Harkni's final frame throwing pitches for the Kangaroos, Plattsburgh State tacked on the first of its four runs in the frame when Buksa smashed a screaming double down the left field line, scoring Latulipe who reached on a one-out single. Lupo accounted for the third straight Plattsburgh State hit of the frame when hit RBI single plated Buksa and made matters 5-2. 

Lupo traveled all the way around the bases when Osawa reached on a fielding error by the Kangaroos' second baseman. Osawa advanced to second on the blunder while Lupo reached home to make the score 6-2. Casten put the finishing touches on things by conjuring up the final hit and RBI of his collegiate career to score Osawa which made things 7-2.

From that point on, Jenkins spelled Leddy and allowed just three more SUNY Canton base runners for the remainder of the game. The Lake George, N.Y., product fanned the side in the top of the seventh and saw Repetto turn a sparkling play behind him to get one of his three outs in the eighth. 

Leddy finished the season with a 5-1 record and worked five innings while striking out eight in his collegiate curtain call. Jenkins earned his first save of the season, allowing one hit and sitting down four batters via the strikeout in four innings of work. 

Latulipe and Repetto each had a pair of hits for the Cardinals. In addition to Casten and Leddy, senior Colin Crawford also made his final collegiate appearance by playing first base in the top of the ninth inning.