MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Plattsburgh State baseball team scored early and often as they defeated Middlebury 14-11 in road non-conference action on Tuesday afternoon. Justice Suafoa (Kinderhook, N.Y./Ichabod Crane) and Adam Wein (North Rockland, N.Y./Don Bosco Prep) combined to drive in seven runs, leading the team to an impressive road win.

Suafoa finished the day 2-4 with a career-best four RBI as he also walked twice and scored three runs. Wein drove in three runs on three hits, as he doubled and walked in five plate appearances. Andrew Veit (Yaphank, N.Y./Bellport) earned his first win of the year on the mound, going 6.1 innings allowing six runs and striking out three batters. Dylan Bass (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) closed the door in the ninth as he struck out two batters and tallied another scoreless inning, keeping his ERA for the season at 0.00 through 4.1 innings of work. Alex Kornblau (Pound Ridge, N.Y./Fox Lane) homered and scored four runs while Kyle Cremin (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) was 2-3 with two runs scored and an RBI double.

The Cards move to 3-2 on the season as they now look toward their long spring trip, as they will play 11 games in seven days, beginning with a doubleheader at the City College of New York on Saturday, March 16 at 11:30 a.m. Middlebury falls to 3-3 with the loss and next plays on their spring break trip where they begin play against The College of New Jersey on March 16 at 9:45 a.m. in Auburndale, Florida.

The Cards set the tone early offensively, as the first six batters of the game reached safely to help the team jump out to a 4-0 lead. Cremin got the scoring started as he yanked a double down the right field line, scoring Mike Rasquin (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) from second and putting runners on second and third. Suafoa followed with a two-run single to left and after an Aidan Diltz (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe Woodbury) single through the left side, Wein singled home Suafoa with another single to left.

Middlebury responded with two runs in the first and one more in the second, but the Cards pushed their lead back out three runs in the third after a Diltz RBI double to score Suafoa and a Wein RBI single to center.

In the fourth, Plattsburgh gave themselves more breathing room, putting up five runs on just two hits, taking advantage of three walks, an HBP, and a Panther error. After an error put the leadoff man on, Kornblau laced a one-out two-run blast to left as he turned on an inside pitch and lifted it well over the left field wall for his second homer of the season to put the Cards up 8-3. A HBP and three straight walks followed to make the score 9-3, prompting the second pitching change of the game for Middlebury. Jack DeFayette (Rotterdam, N.Y./Schalmont) greeted the new Panther arm by lining a single to left to score a run, and first-year Jonathan Beale (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's Boys) followed with a sacrifice fly to center, giving the Cards an 11-3 lead.

Middlebury added a run in the fourth to bring the score to 11-4, but Suafoa got the run back in the following top half of the inning, singling home Kornblau. Two more Panther runs came around to score in the bottom of the sixth, but the top of the seventh saw Plattsburgh add them all back, as Suafoa added another RBI with a walk and a run scored on a double play in the next at-bat.

Leading 14-6 heading into the eighth inning, the Cards allowed the Panthers to creep back into the game, as they tallied three runs in the bottom of the eighth and got life in the ninth with the first two batters reaching on infield hits. Bass then entered, and a bloop single off the end of the Middlebury player's bat scored a run, and an error on the throw-in allowed the runners to advance to second and third with no outs. With the tying run on deck, Bass picked up three outs in a row, striking out the next batter he faced to get a big first out. He then induced a groundout that the Cards gladly traded for a run, and got the final out of the game, as Bass blew a fastball right past the Panther batter to give Plattsburgh the 14-11 win over Middlebury.

The win for the Cardinals is just their fourth over the Panthers in 16 total meetings and is also the first over Middlebury since a 10-9 win in April of the 2016 season.

Emmet George moved to 0-1 as he took the loss for the Panthers, while Lucas Flemming and Baker Angstman each had three hits for Middlebury. Flemming tripled and doubled, driving in two runs, while Angstman drove in a run and scored twice. Chris Borter drove in four runs for the Panthers, as he homered and had two overall.