First Week

The first week of Cardinal Baseball went really well. Practice is limited in the gym but from the looks of things, the off season workouts and preparation by all members of the team is paying off. The team is also happy to include many new additions to the roster. A great recruiting year will definitely help the Cardinals in winning a sunyac title. We are looking forward to seeing how this team continues growing together.

Cards staying busy

The past two weeks have been busy weeks for our players - on and off the field. We participated in the Battle of Plattsburgh Parade and Bed Race on September 11. This past Sunday our players took part in the North Country Down Syndrome Association Buddy Walk. Most of the student-athletes at the college participate in this event.

On the field we have played five intra-squad games over the past two weekends in preparation of our play date this Sunday with Clinton Community College and St. Michael's College.

Saturday is also one of my favorite days - Alumni Day! Numerous alumni come back and play in an informal game and reminisce about the 'old days'!

Cards begin community service efforts

The SUNY Plattsburgh baseball team began doing community service Sunday morning with a hike to the top of Mt. Pok-O-Moonshine. 32 players and 2 coaches, including Coach Doorey, made the trek to the top of the mountain in support of "Peaks for Pets". The team raised over $100 for the cause. Here is a link to the program if you are interested: http://www.peaksforpets.org/.

2010-11 Season Underway

Head baseball coach Kris Doorey began the 2010-11 baseball season with the Cardinals first practice yesterday. The Cardinals welcomed back 22 returners from the 2010 season, and six recruits.

The Cardinals will practice 15 times over the next five weeks and play one day of games later this September.

The 2011 baseball schedule looks has some very successful opponents. Cortland, which finished second in the nation; and, Heidelberg, which reached the College World Series.

Mixed Results During SUNYAC Opening Weekend

We had our first SUNYAC games this weekend, playing two against New Paltz on Saturday at home and then traveling to Oneonta for two on Sunday. I think the transition from home to away with four games is tough and it may have showed a little bit in our performance. The other short end is that we are the only SUNYAC team to face every team’s top two pitchers. When we face each team, we are the only SUNYAC games they play that weekend. That way, they might have their top four pitchers available as opposed to us only having two of our top four.

We threw Dan Tracy and Matt O’Leary against New Paltz, hoping to sweep the weaker of the two teams on the weekend, but that didn’t work out. We split with both teams, and we know that we did not play anything close to our best baseball. It’s disappointing to only get two wins on the weekend, because we go into every game expecting to win. So to not get four is upsetting but to come away with less than three is unacceptable and we know that as well.

Pat Shaughnessy led us on Saturday against New Paltz driving in runs and getting on base when we needed it most. It was a big offensive day for both teams (14-11 and 15-9 were the scores). Tory Bouyea was the leader on offense on Sunday going 4-8 on the day, and Tyler Greene, pictured, pitched his best game of his young career, going 9 innings in a 3-2 win.

However, those games are over with and our next focus is on St. Lawrence who we play again, this time at home. These midweek games are important as well and it’s important to stay focused on the next game, and to not get caught up in the next SUNYAC game. In order to win these games on Tuesday, Wednesday (at Castleton State), and Thursday (at Skidmore), we need to get back to fundamental baseball. We look forward to the challenge that every game presents, and we look forward to getting back on another winning streak.

#17 = Matt Burns

SLU, Clarkson: Tuning Up for SUNYAC Schedule

We ran our winning streak to 18 games (with an 11-4 win at Saint Lawrence) with great pitching performances from starter Marc Plante who got the win, and from reliever Tyler Greene who got a rare four inning save. Our hitters were better today but still not at our best. It was good to see us improve and stay strong in a couple of aspects. We ran the bases better, put a team away when we needed to, and did that by again capitalizing on our opponent’s mistakes.

We still have not played a game at home yet, and to be this good on the road really feels good. Pat Shaughnessy (pictured) has been our best hitter in the last few games, adding another three hits against the Saints. We’re the (type of) team right now that can take a guy off the bench and plug into our lineup to fill that role well on any given day. Greg Larnerd was that guy yesterday, picking up an RBI single early in the game.

We’re still waiting to get back to our hitting that we had earlier in the season and hopefully we’ll get that today in our double header against Clarkson. This is our final tune-up before we turn to SUNYAC play on the weekend, and we want to put together a strong outing worth of at bats, innings on the mound, and defense in the field.

#17 Matt Burns

Senior Co-Captain's Perspective on Old Westbury Series

(Editor's Note: This was originally to run on Monday.)

This weekend we got another sweep in Long Island, beating Old Westbury 5-4 and 3-1. In the first game, we needed to make a comeback after leading most of the game, and we scored two runs in the top of the ninth to get the win. Matt O’Leary (shown left) pitched a great game and we should have gotten him the win as hitters, but Dan Tracy (right) did well in relief to pick up the win. Simply put, we left too many runners in scoring position. We did not do O’Leary’s performance justice, especially with two outs in the inning. I think the brightest spot on the day was an errorless defensive performance, although it should have been better. We’re looking to fine tune our game right now and we’re so close to doing just that, but if fine tuning some things is the worst part of your game then you must be playing well. I think the one thing we need to work on is putting away teams when we get up on them. We led in both games and stopped scoring.

Tracy threw another great game in the back end of the doubleheader, running his record to a perfect 6-0. You can’t say enough about what it means to a team to have two aces on the pitching staff. They give you a chance to win every single game. They’re both tough to score on. Neither one of them throws a fastball with high velocity, but Tracy will throw a “heavy” one, with means it sinks and makes it hard for hitters to drive the ball in the air. O’Leary spots his pitches better than most and has a great curveball that he can throw to either get ahead of the hitters or put them away with one in the dirt. It’s amazing to have two pitching performances like we did without striking out a single batter. Hopefully this week, we’ll be able to get a look at our other pitchers if the weather permits.

#17 = Matt Burns