This past weekend, the St. Lawrence University Baseball team headed east to take on the Plattsburgh State Cardinals. Coming off losses from Wells College and Clarkson University, the Saints knew how important these games would be. Since last season was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this set of wins was the first for interim head coach Kenny Collins and the first wins of the season for the Saints. 

The Saints faced a double-header on Saturday was mainly led by the work of Andrew Circelli ‘22. After trailing for a few innings in the first game, Circelli hit a grand slam and the momentum of this kept St. Lawrence going through the rest of the day. Though the Saints were only trailing 1-0, they were able to add on runs after Circelli’s grand slam to a final score of 9-1. 

After Circelli’s blast, the Saints tacked on five more runs and the bullpen held the Cardinals’ lineup in check. Drew Courtwright  ‘22 and Brian Comerford ‘22 snuck in RBI singles around a bases loaded walk by Cristian Forgione ‘22 in the ninth. Pitching for the Saints was  Jack Sylvia ‘23  who allowed one run on five hits and Cam Morissey ‘21 who allowed only one walk with two strikeouts.

Game two of the double-header looked very much like that of the first. The Saints were able to hold on to the momentum and come away with a 13-2 win. Both Comerford and Courtwright went 3-for-4 on RBIs to lead SLU in the second game. Recording RBI singles in the first were Nicholas Butler ‘22, Forgione and Courtwright. Later in the innings, Jimmy Liberatore ‘23, Jake Delaney ‘22 and Michael Goretti ‘23. On the mound for game two was captain Andrew Matthews ‘22 who only allowed one run on four hits, five strikeouts and no walks in this four innings he pitched.

Coach Collins was quoted after the game saying, “The guys came ready to play today…We had contributions all throughout the lineup and pitching staff. After a couple good weeks of practice, we were all itching to get back on the field and our energy was great.”

St. Lawrence will face another two day double-header against Route 11 Rival, Clarkson. Friday’s game will be at 1:15 pm in Potsdam and Saturday’s will be 12 pm at Tom Fay Field here at St. Lawrence University.