The SUNY Oneonta baseball team completed its three-game series today against Plattsburgh and came away with a split.  Sophomore James McCarty (Stony Brook/Chaminade) earned his first win of the season and career for the Red Dragons in game 1 of the twin bill.
 
GAME ONE: Oneonta 5, Plattsburgh State 4 (7 inn.)
Despite the combined nine runs between the two teams, there was not much offense as errors played a key part in deciding the first game.
 
Both Plattsburgh State's Andrew Kramer and Oneonta's James McCarty (Stony Brook/Chaminade) were dealing early, as neither allowed a base runner through the first two innings of play.
 
A pair of defensive miscues plagued the Cardinals in the top of the third inning, all coming with two outs. After Kramer walked the first batter of the inning and retired the next two, Casy Kies (Apalachin/Vestal) sent a fly ball to center field that at the last moment eluded Kilvio Garcia, allowing a run to score. Jack Burns (Endicott/Union Endicott ) followed with a base hit up the middle, giving the Red Dragons a 2-0 lead.
 
Still with two outs in the third, Matt Mastroianni (Somers/North Salem) flied one to deep left that Billy Rombauts reached, but couldn't make the catch as the ball kicked off his glove. Burns would score on the play, staking Oneonta to a 3-0 lead.
 
After not allowing a Plattsburgh State batter to reach base the first time through the order, McCarty seemed to unravel in the bottom of the fourth.
 
With one out, Jon Craft reached base on a fielding error by Oneonta second baseman LJ Gizzarelli (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy). Following a T.J. Montalbano groundout, Billy Rombauts singled to right field for Plattsburgh State's first hit of the game, plating Craft and getting the Cardinals on the board.
 
McCarty would then lose his control by walking three of the next four batters, beginning with Trevor Markey on four pitches. With runners on first and third, the Cardinals caught a bad break as Ray Flynn smashed a line drive up the middle that struck the field umpire, making the play dead and not advancing Rombauts from third.
 
The unfortunate sequence wouldn't hurt Plattsburgh State though as Frank Finkbeiner and Eric Rock both walked with the bases loaded to tie the game up at 3-3.
 
Still with runners at every base, McCarty threw a wild pitch with Ryan Whalen up at bat that allowed Flynn to score, giving the Cardinals a 4-3 lead. McCarty gathered himself up as he struck out Whalen to escape the frame down by just one run.
 
The Oneonta offense picked McCarty up by scoring two runs in the next half inning as the Red Dragons took the lead right back. Burns drove in Michael Grudzinski (Islip/Islip), who had walked to begin the frame before Mastroianni delivered the game changer; a two-out double down the right field line that put the visitors up 5-4.
 
After a rough fourth inning, McCarty returned to solid form, setting down the Cardinals in order in both the fifth and sixth innings.
 
Erik Johansen (Rosendale/Rondout) came on in the bottom of the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning to earn the save and give Oneonta the 5-4 victory.
 
Although Plattsburgh State scored four runs, the team only managed two hits in game one, both of which came in the fourth inning.
 
GAME TWO: Plattsburgh State 7, Oneonta 5 (9 inn.)
Senior Ross Levinson got the start in the second game, and pitched well his first three innings of work, allowing just a run on two hits.
 
Casy Kies (Apalachin/Vestal) singled to start the game, was sacrificed to second on a bunt, and stole third before being driven in on a sacrifice fly by Matt Mastroianni (Somers/North Salem).
 
T.J. Montalbano starred in the second game batting leadoff, reaching base four times and going 3-for-3 at the plate with an RBI. The Dix Hills, N.Y., native doubled to the gap in left center to start the bottom of the first before stealing third. Plattsburgh State took the risk by sending Montalbano home on a suicide squeeze attempt, and it paid off as Billy Rombauts got the bunt down to tie the game at 1-1.
 
The Red Dragons would go back ahead in the fourth with a two-out rally. Brandon Torres (Highland Mills/Monroe-Woodbury) singled, stole second, and then scored on an infield single to second base, making it 2-1 in favor of the visitors.
 
Plattsburgh State started off hot in the bottom of the fifth. Frank Finkbeiner and Ryan Whalen each reached base to begin the inning before Montalbano sent a line drive to center that scored Finkbeiner to tie it up at 2-2. On that play, Whalen attempt to score after the original throw home got away, but was thrown out after Oneonta pitcher Robert Ottaviano (Nanuet/Albertus Magnus) fed first baseman Dylan Stamile (Long Beach, NY/Bowie (Austin, TX)), who as covering the plate.
 
With Montalbano advancing all the way to third on the play, the Cardinals would then successfully sac-bunt a runner home for the second time as Jon Craft pushed a bunt down the first base line that Stamile had no choice but to step on first to retire the batter, giving Plattsburgh State its first lead of the game at 3-2.
 
As they had done in the first game, the Red Dragons immediately responded in the next half-inning, as Oneonta scored twice in the sixth to re-take the lead, an inning that featured three Plattsburgh State pitchers.
 
After Fumiya Nakano allowed back-to-back one-out singles, the Red Dragons would score two runs on a wacky play. With runners on second and third, Michael Grudzinski (Islip/Islip) lined one to left that Billy Rombauts caught for the second out of the inning. Sean Mullins (Vestal/Vestal) tagged and scored from third, while Sage Cheren (Bronx, NY/Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy) tried to advance to third. Cardinal pitcher Matt Fox, who was backing up the throw to home, picked up the ball and wildly threw it to third, allowing Cheren to score as well. The two runs put Oneonta back up, 4-3.
 
The Cardinals battled back with a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the sixth to jump back on top. Eric Rock started it by working out a walk. Ray Flynn doubled deep to left field that scored Rock to tie the game at 4-4. Now with runners on first and third, Finkbeiner started towards second on a pitch to Whalen. After stopping to try and get into a rundown when the catcher fired to second, Flynn broke towards home plate, and scored after the second baseman threw the ball away.
 
Plattsburgh State would put up two runs for the third consecutive inning in the home seventh. With runners on second and third and one out, Rombauts chopped a grounder toward first base. With T.J. Montalbano breaking towards home, Stamile underhanded the ball over catcher Sean Mullins (Vestal/Vestal)' glove, allowing both Montalbano and Jon Craft to score and extend the Cardinal lead to 7-4.
 
Oneonta inched closer in the eighth with one run and threatened to tie the game in the ninth, but Fox held his ground for Plattsburgh State.
 
The Cardinals found themselves in the same scenario as they had on Wednesday against Middlebury as their opposition had the tying run on second base with two outs in the ninth inning.
 
Fox would make an incredible play to seal the victory for Plattsburgh State, coming off the mound on a pop foul between home plate and third base and diving to make the catch. The Shoreham, N.Y., product earns the win in relief and improves to 4-3 on the season.
 
Rombauts finished with two RBI while Craft and Flynn each picked up an RBI and scored a run.

The Red Dragons are back in action Tuesday at Union College at 6pm.

Information courtesy of Plattsburgh Sports Information Office - Zach Novick, Assistant Sports Information Director