Fall World Series Game 2

Kevin Briggs' drilled a two-run double while Marc Plante and Ross Levinson combined on a six-hitter to lead Gray to a 2-1 victory over Red in Game 2 of the Fall World Series.

Luke Weaver drove in lone Red run with a sacrifice fly.  Kyle Kelly was the tough-luck losing pitcher.

Game 3 is Sunday at 11 a.m. at Chip Cummings Field.

Thanks to PSTV for covering the game today!

Fall World Series Game 1

Here is a quick recap from Game 1


Red 4, Gray 1
Red    210  001 0 - 4 7 1
Gray   010  000 0 - 1 4 3

Doughtie (WP, 7ip, 4h, 1r, 1er, 2bb, 5so)
Burns (LP, 7ip, 7h, 4r, 2er, 8bb, 3so)

Red offense
Shane Houppert 1-2, 2 runs, 2 walks, rbi, stolen base
Mike Doughtie, 2-2
Mat Chavez, 2 hits

Gray offense
Nick Lupo, 2 hits

Scoring
Red 1st - scored first run with two outs on fielding error by second baseman, John Casten followed with two-out RBI single for 2-0 lead.

Red 2nd - Chavez leadoff single, advanced to second when JD Springer reached on fielding error by first baseman.  After a sac bunt by Luke Weaver, Shane Houppert followed with RBI single.

Gray 2nd - With one out bunched three singles together to score a run.  Jimmy Rosario and Nick Lupo singled to left and Mike Vargues hit an RBI single to right.  After a walk to Matt Meunier, Doughtie worked out of trouble with two foul outs.

Red 6th - With two outs, Shane Houppert walked and stole second base.  Brian Latulipe singled to right to score him.

In the bottom of the seventh, Gray had two guys on with two outs, when Jake Oswald hit a ball to deep left that was run down by Matt Chavez.

Game two tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Hurricane Sandy Misses Cards

While Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on New York City and New Jersey, Plattsburgh managed to dodge the majority of the storm. Even though classes were cancelled Monday afternoon, we failed to get any of the predicted power outages or extreme winds. The accompanying rain did however thoroughly soak Chip Cummings Field, making it difficult to practice last week. With home plate sitting under three inches of standing water and mud, we moved batting practice to the outfield and cages, playing simulated games off of the tee in right field. 

By Saturday, the water had still not cleared, so our guys went to work as grounds keepers to get the field ready to play on. With Steve Corea commanding snow shovel in one hand and coffee in the other, we were able to scoop up enough water to put down the industrial strength kitty litter (known as Quick-Dry) and get ready for practice. It took a lot of time and effort, but given the equipment we have, our team could rival any MLB grounds crew in field prep. 

Saturday's practice was topped off by the three inning, three team simulated game. With coach throwing from behind the L-Screen, and each player getting one strike to hack at, several players had a good afternoon. One player stood out in particular at the plate. Tommy Verdino hit one of the most impressive shots I have seen at Chip Cummings Field, hitting the right field fence on the fly against the wind. Tacking on another hit, Tommy helped his team push runs across the plate, earning his spot atop the BBAP list and winning the second ever, Best Player At Practice Award. Congradualtions Tommy Verdino on a good day at the plate. 

Shunske Sugimoto Wins the First Ever BPAP

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy for the Cards. We have been zombies for the Monster Dash, attended films on campus, helped out in Morrisonville Elementary's pizza kit fundraiser, competed with the Alpha Phi sisters in the campus sponsored Fall-Fest, and been having some solid practices.
The Monster Dash made for a long day, but was ultimately a good time. We volunteered our services as "monsters" for the annual 5k. fully clad in face paint and running shoes, the Plattsburgh State baseball team terrorized runners for the full race. With the main objective for the runners being to finish the race with at least one of their "lives" (Flags tucked into a twine belt), it was our objective to try and steal as many flags as possible. Matt Meunier took home the crown of the Monster Dash Monsters, collecting over 50 flags throughout the duration of the race.
We have also been busy on campus, between attending film screenings held by various clubs aorund campus. Not only have we been doing this, but we also teamed up with the sisters of Alpha Phi in Fall Fest. During Fall-Fest, our players competed with the sorority girls in various, fun fall games. The combined effort played against teams made of other fraternities, sororities, athletic teams and campus clubs. Matt Chavez took home the unofficial title of Master Apple Bobber, after successfully retrieving "like 7 or 8 apples on my own" - Chavez.
Practice has been going very well lately. The last three have been highlighted by mini-games between the pitchers and position players. Position players are given a goal to accomplish offensively, while the pitchers are given goals to accomplish defensively. This is an entertaining, but effective practice tool, adding a competitive edge just to make things interesting. After a little bit of a rough start, today's practice went very well. Guys worked hard throughout, and came together to put in a solid days work. For the first time ever, we are creating an award for the best player at practice. The BPAP award as it will be referred to in the future, highlights the player who had an exceptionable practice. Shunske Sugimoto, the man of few words, patrols the outfield with grace and agility while commanding the strike zone from the mound. Playing centerfield today, after throwing on yesterday, Sugimoto came ready to dominate the game of baseball today. Drawing comparisons to his fellow countryman Ichiro, Shun not only beat out an infield single to the first baseman today, but he also made two sliding catches in center field on consecutive plays. Hats off to you Shunske, for setting the standard for what it takes to be named the Best Player At Practice.


Casey Brighton
Senior Captain

Practices Heating Up As Weather Cools Down

The team with Karen Gaffney at the North
Country Down Syndrome Association's
event. 

This year, we have been doing things a little differently in the fall. Instead of having our coaches run practices starting along with the semester, as we have done in the past, we have been having captain led practices. During this time, we have been doing a lot of inter-squad scrimmages, and a lot of community service. A typical week would entail 5-6 days of scrimmages, typically followed by some sort of community service, helping out various non-for-profits and charities on the weekends. (The North Country Down Sydrome Association's Buddy Walk, The Run For Jon, The Alzheimer's Walk, and the Heart Walk just to name a few) Not only has this change given the returners a chance to get some of the rust off before official practices actually start, but it gives all the new guys a chance to get the hang of how we do things here at Plattsburgh State. We have also been training with a strength and conditioning coach, Alanna Darling. She has been great thus far. She really pushes us and constantly reminds us why whatever she is asking us to do will help us on the field. It is helping some of the guys to get into the gym a little more than they might normally, which is only going to help us get better.

Mike Vargues directing traffic at the Heart Walk

Last week started the first official practices with Coach Doorey. We will be practicing outdoors as long as we can brave this lovely North Country weather. Officially practicing three times a week with coach on top of the additional captain's practices the other two weekdays should keep everyone pretty busy and working hard. Coming to aid Coach Kris Doorey in the coaching of the 2012-2013 Cardinals, former Plattsburgh State shortstop, Kris Cauchon joins the coaching staff as an assistant. Another new face this year is Matt Rodovick. Matt will be working as our pitching coach this year as well as helping to recruit future Plattsburgh State players. As always, the bench is graced by the always insightful Gary Butler, who even though his locally legendary (unofficial) step-grandson is no longer on the team. The mixture of familiar faces with a couple new ones should lead to an interesting, entertaining year.
We have a good group of guys, I am really excited to see how this year pans out. As far as the chemistry goes, I feel a strong similarity between this group, and the 2010 team, who if you don't remember went 30-10 and was ranked as high as 18th in the nation. We have a good group of seniors who have been to SUNYAC Playoffs and are itching to go back and get Plattsburgh a SUNYAC title.    We will need to get some contributions from some new guys, but our pitching looks good and our offense should improve over last season's. If we can put it all together when spring rolls around, we should give the 2010 team a run for Plattsburgh's best season ever.



-Casey Brighton
2012-2013 Senior Captain

New Paltz and Cortland Weekends

New Paltz traveled to Chip Cummings Field for the home opener against the Cards on March 23rd. When I first saw this game on our schedule I thought that there was no way that we would be playing. As I recall, last year we had to reschedule our New Paltz games because of weather. When we finally made up the games there was still snow on the ground this year was completely different with a relatively dry winter. This was the first conference series for the Cards since winning two against Fredonia. In the opening game the Cards faced last years SUNYAC pitcher of the year Chris Chismar. Chismar didn’t lose many games last year but we were lucky enough to give him a loss. With the success that we had last year against him we tried to bring the same mindset into this game. Chismar typically strikes out a lot of people and our goal was to work the count in each at bat to quickly raise his pitch count. Bobby Piser took the challenge of facing one of our conference best by pitching a solid 5 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs. When Piser exited the game so did Chismar with the game locked at 2-2. Mike Doughtie once again came in and shut the door on New Paltz by pitching the next 4 1/3 scoreless innings. It wasn’t until the bottom of the 10th when the Cards, led by Casey Brighton, won the game with a walk off single. In the second game Tyler Green took the mound pitching a complete game. Tyler kept New Paltz off balanced throughout the game but the offense failed to provide him any run support as New Paltz won 5-0. The rubber match wasn’t much better offensively, for much of the game it seemed like our bats would never wake up. Going into the bottom of the 8th we trailed 2-1 and with the help of Mike Vargues and Pedro Gonzalez’s RBI singles we took the lead 3-2. Brian Burns was then handed the ball to go out and close the game for us. He went 1-2-3 in the 9th for the save and more importantly a series win.

The following weekend we traveled to the nationally ranked team Cortland in hopes to prove a point. Last year Cortland took three heartbreakers from us, winning all three games by two or less runs. History was not on our side as we headed down seeing as how Plattsburgh State has never won at Cortland. Our goal was to show Cortland that we could play with them and that we plan on seeing them in playoffs. In the first game, Cortland got off to a fast start scoring three runs in the first. That was plenty enough support for starter Aaron Schuldt as he pitched 7 innings, striking out 14 batters. After the first game Coach Doorey stressed that Friday was over and done with and that tomorrow was a new day. Senior Tyler Greene was handed the ball on Saturday, pitching the game of his life. Throughout the whole game he continued to keep Cortland hitters guessing. The only thing he needed was run support from his offense and he got that in the 5th when we struck for two runs. Two runs typically is not enough against a powerhouse like Cortland but Tyler finished them off pitching a complete game shut out. The final score was 2-0 making this the first time Plattsburgh has won at Cortland State. The final game on Saturday wasn’t pretty, as I’d like to say we pissed off all of the Cortland players as they pounded 18 hits wining the game 14-1.

After these two weekends the Cards took a big step in positioning for the playoffs. With half of the conference games in the book we need to continue to play good baseball. That means the bats need to wake up to take the pressure off of our pitchers. The next two weeks will determine our fate for the playoffs as we face Brockport and Oneonta. We hope to see all of our fans and parents for senior weekend against Brockport. Wish us luck as we battle to get back into the playoffs!

Florida Trip

Like every spring break to Florida the mindset is to get rid of all the cob-webs and get ready for the conference games. This year’s trip was very different then in the past because we needed to prepare ourselves much quicker. For the first time we had three conference games in Florida, and our main goal was to win those three games against Fredonia. We opened our season against Baruch College, and right off the bat we had our first heart breaker. From the beginning the Cardinal bats were hot and it looked like we were in mid season form. In the first inning we jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Baruch countered with a five run inning, but we followed their attack with a six runs. It wasn’t until late in the game were Baruch scored five unanswered runs to win 10-8. This was a tough opening game for us all, but it showed us that you can never let your foot off the pedal. Our bats were on fire early in the game and then we got satisfied with our lead which let Baruch steal a win from us. In the night cap the Cards had a strong pitching performance from Bobby Piser. He threw a complete game and shut the door on Baruch. This was a huge win for us; Bobby stepped up and made sure we were going to split on opening day.

The next few days we played against St. Josephs, Gettysburg and Principia College. The Cards once again salvaged a split against a strong St. Joes team. The first game we were dominated by St. Joe’s starting pitcher and fell 8-1. In the second game we responded by clubbing 16 hits, 5 different cards had multiple hits and Marc Plante threw five solid innings. This was plenty enough offense to get the win as the final score was 12-5. The following day we dropped two games against Gettysburg College. Once again the first game was a heart breaking loss. We took the lead in the 6th inning and then gave it back in the 7th to lose the game 5-4. The second game wasn’t a pretty one as we lost 9-1; I truly believe the pain from the first game carried over to the next game. The final warm up games before our conference series against Fredonia was Principia. We had a great performance by Kyle Kelly pitching a complete game and giving up no earned runs. Sadly our bats were dead and most of us didn’t look awake for the game. We ended up losing a very winnable game 2-1. After this loss coach Doorey had seen enough from the starters and decided to give the new guys and chance. This worked out very well for the Cards as the new guys took full advantage of their opportunity winning the game 11-8.

In our first conference game you could feel the tension in the air because we all knew how important these games are. Bobby Piser was given the ball and he pitched 7 innings before leaving the game with a 3-3 tie. The game would stay locked at 3-3 until Fredonia exploded for 7 runs in the final two innings. After dropping the first game to Fredonia, it was a must that we won the next game. By winning the next game it would still put us in the position to win the series. In Game 2, Tyler Greene pitched a complete game only allowing 4 hits. The rest of the team rode off his dominate pitching performance by scoring eight runs and wining 8-1. In the Game 3 rubber match we jumped out to a 6-2 lead before Fredonia managed to crawl its way back into the game. The game was a nail bitter all the way to till the end until we scrapped across two late runs to beat Fredonia 8-7. Mike Doughtie pitched four scoreless innings in relief holding Fredonia off giving us the win. Like every conference series the stress and nerves were high and it was great to see that under all of this pressure we could perform and win the series.

After winning two out of three from Fredonia the Cards ended the Florida trip winning six straight. The final two days we swept Lakeland and Lasell College. The trip ended on a high note as coach Doorey collected his 200th win. I’d also like to congratulate Jake Oswald, Tommy Verdino, Mike Mulvihill, Pedro Gonzalez, Chris Pescetti, Mike Vargues, Matt Meunier, Jimmy Rosario, Brain Latulipe and Nick Lupo on their first career hit. Florida was fun and exciting and I believe that this year’s trip was a successful one. We had our hiccups and mistakes but that’s the whole point of traveling to Florida. We were lucky enough to be put in situations which will help us later in the season. Our hopes are that we will learn from our mistakes in Florida and be ready for them in conference play. Thanks for following us and I hope to see you in the stands cheering LETS GO CARDS!