PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - The Plattsburgh State baseball team dropped two State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) games to Cortland on Friday afternoon, as the Red Dragons took both ends of a doubleheader 15-2 and 6-2. 

Kyle Cremin (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) tallied three total hits on the day, as he continues to lead his team in batting average, moving his season mark to .328. In game two, Andrew Veit (Yaphank, N.Y./Bellport) pitched eight innings for Plattsburgh, striking out five and keeping his team in the game throughout the final contest of the series. 

Plattsburgh State falls to 12-20 (4-11 SUNYAC) on the season and is officially eliminated from SUNYAC playoff contention with the pair of losses. They next travel to SUNY Canton, where they will play the 'Roos in a scheduled doubleheader on Sunday, April 30 at noon. Cortland improves to 26-9 (16-2) on the year and locks up the top seed in the SUNYAC playoffs, as they will host the conference postseason. They will host Mount Saint Mary (NY) on Monday, May 1 for a rescheduled non-conference game. 

Game One: Cortland 15, Plattsburgh 2 (7 inn.)

The Red Dragons used a five-run second inning to jump out to a big lead over Plattsburgh and never looked back, taking game one by a run rule in seven innings. Cortland was held scoreless just once over seven frames, as they scored in every inning except the sixth.

For the Cardinals offensively, just five players collected hits, as Ben Catrambone (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) had an RBI single to lead the Cardinal bats. Angel Espinal (New York, N.Y./East Side Community) also drove in a run with an RBI ground out, while Justice Suafoa (Kinderhook, N.Y./Ichabod Crane) had a hit in his lone at-bat and a run scored. Chris Santic (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland) took the loss on the mound in 2.1 innings of work, while Nick Goldberg (Commack, N.Y./Commack) logged the only scoreless outing by a Cardinal pitcher, as he didn't allow a run over 1.2 innings of relief, striking out two batters and allowing just one hit. 

The Cortland offense wasted no time jumping out to a lead, scoring a lone run in the first before adding five runs in the second to take a commanding six-run lead. After a run in the third, the team added four runs in the fourth and three in the fifth as they grabbed a 14-0 lead after five innings of play. The team went on to add one more run in the seventh to get to their 15-run total for the game. 

In the bottom of the seventh, with the run-rule looming, Plattsburgh finally got a rally started, as Conner Gonzalski (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) singled to lead off the frame and was followed closely by a single from Suafoa. After a fly out, a walk loaded the bases with one out, and Espinal grounded into a fielder's choice to get Plattsburgh on the board. In the next at-bat, Catrambone singled to right field, bringing home Suafoa to get the second run of the game in for the Cards before a groundout to short ended the conference contest.

For Cortland, Shane Van Dam earned the win on the mound, going five two-hit innings and striking out 11 batters, while Adam Mieczkowski finished the day with five more RBI and two homers, also tripling on the day for the Red Dragons.

Game Two: Cortland 6, Plattsburgh 2

In game two, the strong start from Veit allowed Plattsburgh to hang around throughout the entirety of the game, as the senior righty bounced back after giving up a two-run home to Mieczkowski in the first inning to give up just one run over his next five innings of work. As he worked well over 100 pitches, Cortland added some insurance runs off of Veit, as he ended up getting tagged for six earned runs over eight innings, allowing just one walk while striking out five.

In game two, Cremin and Alex Kornblau (Pound Ridge, N.Y./Fox Lane) each had two hits and a double, as Cremin scored a run. Nick Cergol (Mount Sinai, N.Y./Mount Sinai) was 1-2 with an RBI triple, reaching base three total times as he was also hit by a pitch and walked, while Adam Wein (North Rockland, N.Y./Don Bosco Prep) registered the other RBI for Plattsburgh, finishing the day 1-4. Logan Avin (Honolulu, Hawaii/Waterford (Conn.)) registered a scoreless inning of work in the top of the ninth, allowing no hits and striking out a batter. 

After the two-run homer in the top of the first, it looked like Cortland would continue their momentum from game one of the day for an easy series sweep. However, Plattsburgh responded with a run to cut the lead in half, after Cremin singled with two outs and Cergol tripled to deep right-center to put the Cards on the board. After a 1-2-3 second inning from Veit, Wein singled home Joey Di Rocco (Congers, N.Y./Clarkstown South) with two outs in the second to tie the game at two runs. 

The next two frames saw zeroes on both sides, despite Plattsburgh loading the bases in the bottom of the third. In the fifth, Cortland regained the lead with an RBI single from Nick Chemotti. Following the end of that inning, Anthony Fusco entered on the mound and shut down the Cardinal bats over the next five innings, earning the rare five-inning save with his work on the bump. The Red Dragons went on to score a couple of runs in the seventh with some small ball and grabbed an insurance run in the ninth with a sac fly, as they completed the series sweep over Plattsburgh.

Tommy Lynch earned the win on the mound for Cortland with 1.1 innings of work in relief, while Chemotti and Matt Krafft each had three hit days for the Red Dragons.