FORT MYERS, Fla. — The wins — two at a time — continue to pile up for the Plattsburgh State men's baseball team.
The Cardinals ran their overall record to 9-1 Tuesday with an 11-3 and 9-3 sweep of Lakeland College, Wisc. at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic.
Both games were nine innings in length and the score in the first contest was deceiving. Plattsburgh State held a 3-1 lead before scoring eight runs in the top of the ninth.
"We didn't have a lot of offense early and we also had a couple of baserunning mistakes," said Plattsburgh State head coach Kris Doorey. "Their pitcher (Ryan Polizzi) did a good job keeping us off balance with his fastball and curve.
"We hung in there and finally got to him in the ninth. Their next pitcher came in and walked the first three batters he faced. We had six hits in the inning, including a two-run single by Tory Bouyea."
Bouyea and Donny Coolidge each had two hits and two RBI, with Coolidge getting a key RBI triple in a two-run sixth inning. Casey Brighton and Greg Larnerd also rapped two hits and Andy Gooch drove in two runs.
Plattsburgh State also got a big pitching performance from freshman Marc Plante, who allowed eight hits, one run, no walks and struck out two in seven innings.
"Marc wasn't in any kind of trouble," Doorey said. "He got into a groove and pitched very well. We were hoping to get four innings from him and he gave us seven.
"The final score, however, was not indicative of the game. We struggled for a while before we finally woke up."
In the second game, the Cardinals did all their scoring in the middle innings, getting four in the fourth, two in the fifth and three in the sixth.
Bouyea, Coolidge and Brighton led the offense with two hits apiece, with Brighton driving in four runs and Coolidge scoring three runs and stealing two bases. Pat Shaughnessy chipped in with two RBI.
"Coolidge, Bouyea and Brighton are crushing the ball right now," Doorey said.
The Cardinals got another strong pitching performance — this time by freshman Andrew Price. Price went six innings, allowed two runs, one walk and striking out two.
"Price threw well," Doorey said. "We're trying to get him to pitch to contact. He's not going to strike everyone out at this level. He pitched well as a pitcher today, with very good control. This was a big step for him."
Lakeland, which was 4-0 entering the day, had a combined 25 hits in the twinbill. But, the Cardinals' pitchers threw strikes and the defense made just a combined three errors in 18 innings.
Plattsburgh State has today off before playing the Minnesota Twins Rookie Team on Thursday in an exhibition.
Plattsburgh 11, Lakeland 3
Plattsburgh 100 002 008 — 11 12 1
Lakeland 001 000 002 — 3 12 2
Plante, B. Burns (8) and M. Burns, Cross (9). Polizzi, Williams (9) and Da. Novak. WP- Palnte. LP- Polizzi. Sv- B. Burns. 2B- Presto (PSU), Larnerd (PSU), Schartner (L). 3B- Coolidge (PSU).
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Plattsburgh 9, Lakeland 3
Lakeland 000 101 001 — 3 13 3
Plattsburgh 000 423 00x — 9 11 2
Vincetich-Morris, Kozey (6), and Meier. Price, Besaw (7), Reisman (9) and M. Burns, Russo (7). WP- Price. LP- Vincetich-Morris. 2B- Brighton (PSU), Schartner (L), Ruzek (L), Chitwood (L).
