MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Plattsburgh State baseball team concluded its season with a pair of non-conference losses, 10-5 and 7-5, at Middlebury College on Forbes Field Wednesday. The Cardinals end their season at 13-23, while Panthers are 18-13. Both of Wednesday's games were seven-inning affairs.
 
In the opener, Plattsburgh State senior T.J. Montalbano (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills West/Jefferson CC) went 2-for-2 with a walk, while freshman Stephen Bryant (Center Moriches, N.Y./Center Moriches) singled, scored a run, had a sacrifice fly and another RBI. Junior Joe Deland (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem East/Suffolk County CC) doubled and sophomore Jordan Godfrey (Castleton, Vt./Rutland) scored two runs and stole one base. Sophomore Frank Finkbeiner (Stone Ridge, N.Y./Rondout Valley) took the loss after 2.1 innings.
 
Middlebury freshman Gray Goolsby went 3-for-3 with an RBI single and one run scored and classmate Brooks Carroll blasted a two-run home run. Freshman Hayden Smith went 2-for-3 with a double and three runs scored and junior Robert Erickson yielded two runs – one earned – on four hits in four innings for the win.
 
The Panthers hopped on the board in the first inning as senior Jason Lock scored on a two-out fielding error. Middlebury then scored four runs in the second as the hosts were aided by four stolen bases, three base hits, three Cardinal defensive errors and a pair of wild pitches. Plattsburgh State broke onto the board in the third as Bryant provided a sac fly and then Godfrey came home later on a fielding error as the Cardinals trimmed the deficit to 5-2. Two Middlebury runs in the next half inning and three runs in the fifth gave the hosts a 10-2 edge.
 
Deland would touch home on a one-out passed ball in the sixth and the Cardinals added two runs in the seventh for a 10-5 margin before the Panthers induced a game-ending double play.
 
In the second game, Deland launched a two-run home run for his first career homer while senior Billy Rombauts (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip/Erskine) had a two-run single. Bryant singled and scored a run and freshman Keller Kowalowski (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Beekmantown Central) doubled and scored a run. Montalbano scattered three hits across four scoreless innings for the no decision in his first start of the season, while freshman Connor Lyons (Brookhaven, N.Y./Bellport) took the loss in relief.
 
Lock and Smith both went 2-for-3, while Carroll provided a two-run double. The Panther bullpen tossed three scoreless innings, with sophomore Colby Morris earning the win.
 
Plattsburgh State jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead. Bryant led off with a single and Deland followed the next at bat with a two-run blast to left field. Rombauts came up later with a one-out two-run single through the right side. Middlebury totaled three hits over the next three innings and then left two runners on base in the fifth.
 
The hosts then erupted with a seven-run sixth inning on four hits. Goolsby had a sac fly and Carroll doubled in two runs to highlight the big frame. The Cardinals would plate their final run of the day in the seventh on a fielding error that allowed Godfrey to come home.
 
For Plattsburgh State, Montalbano ended his three-year Cardinal career with 117 hits to finish 10th in program history. He reached the feat in 105 games for the Cardinals.