Sports Information Department – 112 Dods Hall
Phone (716) 673-3100 / Fax (716) 673-3136

CONTACT:Matt Palisin,
Sports Information Dept.

DATE: Wed., April 27, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Baseball

Heath and homers power Devils

FREDONIA, N.Y. – Fredonia State received complete-game pitching and struck twice for solo homers to defeat SUNY Plattsburgh, 3-1, in the second game of a SUNYAC doubleheader.

Craig Heath (Watkins Glen/Watkins Glen) pitched a five-hitter with five strikeouts and allowed one unearned run to notch the Game 2 victory.

In doing so, Heath managed to stop the Plattsburgh offense which scored 38 runs Tuesday in a doubleheader sweep over Brockport.

Mike Austin (Buffalo/City Honors) and John Papierski (Dunkirk/Dunkirk) homered for the Blue Devils (5-23, 3-9 SUNYAC).

Plattsburgh (20-10, 8-6) won the first game, 9-2.

The homer by Austin, who also had a double, curved inside the Ludwig Field left-field foul pole to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead. The Blue Devils took a 2-0 lead in third asTrey Johnson (Gerry/Cassadaga Valley) singled and advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw by the Plattsburgh catcher. Johnson scored on a single by Kyle Adams (Naples/Naples).

Plattsburgh made it 2-1 with an unearned run in the seventh inning. Paul Strang (Montrose/Hendrick-Hudson) reached on an infield error and later scored on a single by Matt Kahan (Levittown/MacArthur).

Papierski's homer in the last of the eighth made it 3-1, and Heath closed it out by pitching a scoreless ninth.

In the opener, Jon Dumas (Burke/Franklin Academy) led Plattsburgh with three hits, including a ninth-inning home run. Mike Bergman (Plattsburgh/Plattsburgh) pitched a six-hitter for the win and struck out five over nine innings.

Shawn Ridgway (Ontario/Wayne) was the losing pitcher. He recorded seven strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings of work.

The loss ended the Blue Devils' post-season hopes for the SUNYAC Tournament. They have an off day Thursday, play a doubleheder Friday at Medaille, and return home Saturday for two games against LaRoche starting at 1 p.m.

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