March 18, 2008 04:00 am
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ALTAMONTE, Fla. -- The Plattsburgh State men's baseball team needs to get defensive.
The Cardinals split a doubleheader with Albright Monday afternoon -- winning the first game, 5-2, before dropping the second, 6-3.
Plattsburgh State, which is now 1-3 following two days on its annual trip to Florida, was guilty of seven more errors in the two games. That didn't sit well at all with head coach Kris Doorey.
"We stink on defense at this point," he said. "We stress to our pitchers to throw strikes and not try to strike hitters out. We want to rely on our defense.
"But, we've committed 13 errors in four games. And, every time we make an error, it leads to our opponent scoring runs."
In Monday's opener, the Cardinals got strong pitching from starter Dan Noonan and reliever Billy Davis, who picked up the win.
"Noonan had a no-hitter into the fifth inning and was actually losing the game," said Doorey. "He struck out seven in his first collegiate start and we couldn't have asked for much more from him -- especially after what happened yesterday.
"Davis came in to pitch in the fifth, with the bases loaded and two out. He got a ground ball to get out of the inning and ended up striking out the side in the seventh."
The Cardinals got a big lift from pinch-hitter Mike White, who singled in a run to tie it in the bottom of the fifth. Kyle Kowalowski's RBI single then gave the Cardinals the lead for good, at 3-2.
Plattsburgh State added two insurance runs in the sixth when Matt Kelley singled, Crockett Pack doubled and Jared Jarvis delivered a key two-run single.
"We're hitting only .150 right now with runners in scoring position," Doorey said. "We're tense at the plate with runners on. Jarvis' hit allowed us to relax a little."
Pack and Jarvis rapped out two hits each to lead the Cardinals.
In the nightcap, the Cardinals were looking to get Kelley, who is coming off an injury, some work at the start of the game. Kelley, however, allowed three runs on four hits in the bottom of the first.
"Kelley is battling back from an injury and we were hoping he would have an easy first inning," Doorey said. "But, a routine ground ball to third turned into an error to start things.
"Instead of Matt throwing 10 or so pitches in the first, he ended up throwing a boatload."
The Cardinals fought back to tie the game, at 3-all, in the third, with Zack Welch's triple the big hit. Welch finished with a triple and two doubles.
Albright, however, regained the lead with a run in the bottom of the third and added two more in the fourth off losing pitcher Corey Johnston.
Only one of the three runs off Johnston was earned. "Corey threw a lot of strikes," said Doorey.
Joey Painter took over for Johnston and did not allow a hit over the final 2.2 innings.
Welch led the Cardinals with three hits, while Todd Hughes added two hits and a RBI.
"Welch, Hughes and Jarvis are swinging the bats real well for us," Doorey said. "But, we need to get other people involved as well.
Plattsburgh State plays Millikin University in a 1 p.m. doubleheader today in Altamonte.
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Plattsburgh St. 5, Albright 2
Albright 001 010 0 -- 2 3 1
Plattsburgh St. 100 022 x -- 5 9 5
Stein and Kozlowski. Noonan, Davis (5) and Welch. WP- Davis. LP- Stein. 2B- Hughes (PSU), Pack (PSU).
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Albright 6, Plattsburgh St. 3
Plattsburgh St. 003 000 0 -- 3 8 2
Albright 301 200 x -- 6 9 2
Kelley, Johnston (2), Painter (4) and Humphrey. Thomas, Butler (6) and McGee. WP- Thomas. LP- Johnston. 2B- Welch (PSU) 2, Boyer (A), Althouse (A). 3B- Welch (PSU).
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