Cortland, N.Y. - #6 Cortland (25-7, 11-1) scored 14 runs in their final two at bats to pull away from Plattsburgh State Baseball (10-12, 0-6) on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Cardinals 22-13 to earn the series sweep. Plattsburgh jumped to an early 4-0 lead, but the Cortland offense awoke late as they scored 20 runs in their last five frames at the plate.
Steve Messerschmitt (Fishkill, NY/Carmel) and
Alex Kornblau (Pound Ridge, NY/Fox Lane) each had three hit games for the Cardinals, with Messerschmitt driving in four runs, matching a career high he set last season against SUNY Poly.
Kaden Kowalowski (Plattsburgh, NY/Beekmantwon) also had two hits for Plattsburgh in his second game of the season out of the lead off spot.
The Cardinals jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in this one, as they scored two runs in the first and two in the second. Kowalowski led off the game with a single and Kornblau was hit by a pitch to set up the Cards early in the first inning. After a strike out and
Conner Gonzalski (Cicero, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) walk ,
Christian Ott (Kingston, NY/Kingston) drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center.
Andrew Veit (Yaphank, NY/Bellport) followed with a single up the middle to plate Kornblau and push the score to 2-0.
After a clean first inning from starter
Sean Malamud (Staten Island, NY/Susan E. Wagner), the Cards offense went back to work in inning two with a one-out single from
Adam Wein (North Rockland, NY/Don Bosco Prep) starting the rally. Kowalowksi followed with his second hit of the game already and after a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position, Kornblau singled down the left field line to score Wein, but Kowalowski was gunned down at the plate. With Kornblau advancing on the throw home, Messerschmitt singled up the middle to plate the sophomore infielder, pushing the Cardinal lead to 4-0.
Cortland was able to take the lead later in the game, as they pushed multiple runs across in the second, fourth, and fifth inning to take a 7-4 lead. Messerschmitt did his best to keep the team in the game with a clutch two-out two-run single to right to pull Plattsburgh within one run in the sixth. Cortland added a run in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-6 and then proceeded to score seven runs in both the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings. The big innings proved to be too much for the Plattsburgh offense, even as they continued to tack on runs in the eighth and ninth for a 13 run day.
Ott drove in three runs and Gonzalski drove in two himself, despite both players failing to record a base hit, with Ott walking twice and Gonzalski walking three times. Kornblau scored a career high four times, as the sophomore moved his season average to .477 with the big day. The mark should keep him around the top 10 in the country in batting average once all games are finished here on Saturday. Malamud was the pitcher of record for Plattsburgh, as the senior went 4.1 innings giving up six hits and six runs, recording one strikeout.
Danny Coleman of Cortland drove in five runs on four hits to lead Cortland's offense as the team continues to be on top of the SUNYAC standings.
Plattsburgh State will welcome Norwich to Chip Cummings Field on Monday April 18 at 3 p.m. for a non-conference matchup at home.
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