CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State baseball team traveled to SUNYAC foe, defending division III national champion and presently third-ranked SUNY Cortland for a doubleheader on Saturday, and although producing two of its better hitting performances on the season, fell to the Red Dragons by scores of 11-4 and 12-3 at Robert H. Wallace Field.

The Cardinals in the first game pounded 10 hits, tying for their second-highest hit total of the season before posting nine hits in game two. Plattsburgh State falls to 3-24 on the year and 1-10 in SUNYAC contests while Cortland improves to 26-5 and 8-4 in conference bouts.

GAME ONE: SUNY Cortland 11, Plattsburgh State 4 (9 inn.)
Cortland's offense was dominant throughout the opener as it put at least one run on the board in each of the first six innings of play.

The hosts jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first two batters in as Conrad Ziemendorf singled, advanced two bases on a wild pitch by Cardinal starter Matt Fox, and was then brought in by a Paul Dondero base hit up the middle.

Juniors Adam Calabro and Ray Flynn singled consecutively in the second to set up a scoring chance for the Cardinals, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat.

The Red Dragons added three more runs in the second on four hits to increase their lead to 5-0 before a Matt Personius RBI double in the third made it 6-0.

A Ziemendorf sun-aided double in the home fourth followed by a pair of fly outs brought in the seventh Cortland run. Fox would make it through the fifth inning, but not before allowing two more runs to score as he departed with the Cardinals trailing 9-1.

Calabro singled in T.J. Montalbano with two outs in the top of the sixth to plate the first Plattsburgh State run. Senior Ross Levinson entered in the bottom half of the inning and allowed three straight hits, the last two coming in the form of RBI doubles, padding the Cortland lead at 11-1.

The Plattsburgh State deficit remained 10 runs until the top of the eighth, when the Cardinals produced three runs on four hits to make it 11-4. Eric Rock, Jack Tolosky, and Montalbano all singled to start the inning. After Trevor Markey was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Calabro drove in his second run of the game with a single to right field.

Fumiya Nakano bounced back from his last outing on Tuesday by throwing two scoreless innings in relief.

Calabro finished 3-for-4 with two RBI while Flynn and Jon Craft each had two hits.

GAME TWO: SUNY Cortland 12, Plattsburgh State 3 (7 inn.)
Plattsburgh State grabbed a lead in its first at-bat in game two after a two-out rally. T.J. Montalbano singled and stole second base before Trevor Markey drove a base hit up the middle to make it 1-0.

The lead was short-lived however as Cortland scored twice to hold a 2-1 lead after one inning of play. In that home first, the Red Dragons stole three bases. There would be much running attempted throughout the game. Plattsburgh State stole two bases while being caught three times. Cortland was more successful, only getting caught on the base paths once while swiping five bags.

Adam Calabro continued to produce in game two as he tied matters at 2-2 with a sac-fly in the top of the third.

Senior starter Scott Orr set the Red Dragons down in the second and third innings, but the fourth would prove to be hurtful. The first four Cortland batters all reached base safely despite the ball not exiting the infield. With the hosts now holding a 3-2 lead, Dondero and Ziemendorf collected back-to-back two RBI hits, turning the game in the Red Dragons' favor at 7-2.

Cortland started off the bottom of the fifth with three straight singles, eventually leading to four runs in the frame and an 11-2 lead for the Red Dragons.

Plattsburgh State tired to claw back in this one in the top of the sixth after Tolosky and Montalbano both singled to start the half-inning. The Cardinals though would only get one run in the inning though, stranding two runners on base.

The Red Dragons would add one more run in the bottom of the sixth to go up 12-3 and closed out the victory with a 1-2-3 top of the seventh.

Billy Rombauts finished 3-for-3 at the dish in game two, with Tolosky and Montalbano each going 2-for-3.

The Cardinals and Red Dragons will close out their three-game set with a nine-inning affair Sunday morning. First pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.