Canton, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State Baseball team (19-15, 6-9) defeated SUNY Canton twice on Saturday (10-29, 7-8) behind two strong offensive games, as the Cardinals finished a long week of games with five wins and three losses. The Cards took the first game by a score of 11-5 before winning the final game 12-6.
Joey Dirocco (Congers, NY/Clarkstown South), working in his first career start, finished a triple shy of the cycle, as he went 3-5 with his first collegiate homerun. The first-year also had a double as he drove in two runs and scored twice as well.
Alex Kornblau (Pound Ridge, NY/Fox Lane) had an almost identical game in the second game, also going 4-6 with two runs scored, two RBIs, a homerun, and a double. Kornblau tied the team lead in homeruns with
Conner Gonzalski (Cicero, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) as both have four homers this year.
Game One: Plattsburgh 11, Canton 5
The Plattsburgh offense was rolling throughout the day, as they collected 11 runs on 10 hits in game one. Dirocco highlighted the day with his three-hit performance and
Nolan De Melfi (Shirley, NY/William Floyd) blasted his first homerun of the year in the win.
The Cardinals got off to a hot start in the first scoring four runs in the opening frame, with the first run coming home after Dirocco singled to lead off the game, stole second, and scored on a Canton error in the game's second at-bat. The next batter,
Christian Ott (Kingston, NY/Kingston), singled to left-center to score
Christian Lent (Miller Place, NY/Miller Place). After a walk to De Melfi and a wild pitch,
Nick Cergol (Mount Sinai, NY/Mt. Sinai) brought home a run with an RBI fielder's choice and
Jacob Hutton (Albany, NY/Colonie Central) followed with a single to score De Melfi.
Canton responded with two unearned runs in the bottom of the frame, but Dirocco was able to get a run back on the second pitch of the top of the second, smoking a 1-0 pitch to left for his first collegiate homer.
Plattsburgh would go on to add two more runs in the fourth, as De Melfi drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and
Adam Wein (North Rockland, NY/Don Bosco Prep) singled to right to score Ott. The fifth inning saw four more runs score for the Cards as Dirocco doubled home
Dylan Reilly (Lawrence, NY/Holy Trinity Diocesan), who doubled in the previous at-bat, and De Melfi hit a three-run shot to left.
Meanwhile on the mound,
Ryan Nista (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia) was making his first career start and was dealing. Over a career-high five strong frames, the junior arm allowed just two hits, two unearned runs, and one walk while striking out a career-high eight batters.
Eric Agan (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) also had a strong outing on the mound, throwing 1.1 innings of scoreless baseball to finish out the game.
Game Two: Plattsburgh 12, Canton 6
Once again, the Plattsburgh State offense came to play as the team rapped out 12 hits to score 12 runs over nine frames.
The first inning of game two was another four-run frame for the Cardinals, as the inning began with back-to-back singles from Kornblau and Dirocco.
Steve Messerschmitt (Fishkill, NY/Carmel) drew a walk, and
Kyle Cremin (Yorktown Heights, NY/Kennedy Catholic) also walked to bring in the first run of the game. De Mefi followed with a single to center to score another run and Ott brought home a run reaching on an error.
Michael Ascanio (Armonk, NY/Byram Hills) brought the final run of the inning with a bases-loaded walk.
Canton was able to add separate runs in both the first and second, to bring the score to 4-2 Cardinals. Plattsburgh finally got both of those runs back in the sixth when Wein singled through the left side to score a run and Ascanio reach on an infield single to score a run as well.
In the seventh, the Cards added three more runs, as Ott led the frame off with a double and came around to score on a
Mike Rasquin (Garden City, NY/Garden City) RBI single to center. After a fly out, Kornblau deposited his fourth homerun of the season to left, bringing himself and Rasquin home. The eighth innings saw three more Cardinal runs to score as the team added those runs on one hit and one error, drawing two walks and a hit-by-pitch in the frame.
Kolby Mordecki (Poughkeepsie, NY/Roy C. Ketcham) tossed five strong innings for Plattsburgh to earn the win, giving up five hits and four runs while striking out four.
Christian Diaz (Middletown, NY/Iona Prep) tossed two scoreless innings in middle relief as he allowed two hits and struck out two batters.
Ascanio finished 2-4 with three runs driven in and Ott reached base four times, going 1-3 with a double, three runs scored, and three walks.
The Cardinals will head to play St. Lawrence on the road on May 4 at 3 pm for their next game. After, the team will host SUNY Brockport on May 6 and 7 for huge series with the Golden Eagles. Plattsburgh, who is currently 6-9 in conference play, will have to finish with one more win than New Paltz to qualify for the SUNYAC playoffs, as they hold an identical conference record and have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Cardinals. New Paltz will finish up their season as they will play host to #5 Cortland.
