PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State baseball team relied on strong pitching and hitting to down the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 13-3, in its home opener on Friday afternoon at Chip Cummings Field in non-conference action.
 
Junior pitcher Chris Santic (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland) paced the Cardinals on the mound, yielding just two runs (one earned) while striking out six in seven innings of work. Junior second baseman Alex Kornblau (Pound Ridge, N.Y./Fox Lane) went 2-for-2 with three runs scored, two RBI and a triple, while senior right fielder Conner Gonzalski (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) batted 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
 
Plattsburgh State rises to 6-13 overall with the win and next hosts Clarkson University on Tuesday, April 11, at 4 p.m. RPI falls to 13-9-1 overall with the loss and next hosts Purchase College in a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon at 12 p.m.
 
The Cardinals scored early and often, plating three runs in the first inning. Gonzalski ripped a 2-0 pitch into right center for an RBI double to open scoring, while junior center fielder Jack Defayette (Rotterdam, N.Y./Schalmont) laced an RBI double down the left-field line and senior shortstop Andrew Veit (Yaphank, N.Y./Bellport) drove in a run with a groundout to give Plattsburgh State a 3-0 lead. In the fourth, the Cardinals took advantage of three bases-loaded situations, with Kornblau and Gonzalski each drawing bases-loaded hit-by-pitches and sophomore first baseman Kyle Cremin (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) drawing a bases-loaded walk.
 
RPI broke the shutout bid in the top of the sixth, as a run came around to score on a throwing error, but Plattsburgh State answered with a two-run sixth, as Kornblau blasted an RBI triple to left before coming around to score during the ensuing at-bat on Cremin's single through the right side. The Engineers then pushed their second run across in the top of the seventh with an RBI double, while Wein's two-run double, junior third baseman Nick Cergol's (Mount Sinai, N.Y./Mount Sinai) sacrifice fly and Cremin's RBI groundout in the home half of the seventh opened up a 13-2 advantage for the Cardinals. RPI pushed across what wound up being the game's final run in the top half of the eighth, with graduate student second baseman Jack Moncur driving in a run with a single through the left side.
 
The Engineers had five different pitchers toe the rubber in the loss, with sophomore pitcher Rylan Wade being the pitcher of record. First-year catcher Robbie Reddington had the lone multi-hit outing for RPI, going 2-for-4.