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Box Score 2 New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team fell in both games of a doubleheader against No. 6 SUNY Cortland. The Red Dragons boast one of the top pitching staffs in the country as they are second in all of Division III with a 1.96 ERA. The Hawks got some offensive momentum in game one after a sluggish start, but were unable to complete the comeback and fell 6-3. SUNY Cortland came out firing in the second game and held the SUNY New Paltz offense to three hits as they finished the sweep with a 5-0 victory.
GAME 1:
After giving up five runs in the first three innings, head coach
Arlan Freeman told his team that they needed to stay calm and slowly chip away at the lead. With two outs and senior catcher
Dwayne Page on second base, reigning SUNYAC Athlete of the Week
Chris Moran stepped up and delivered the clutch hit that the Hawks needed with a single up the middle.
In the bottom of the fourth, SUNY New Paltz was looking to close the gap again after senior center fielder
Nick DePietro led off the inning with a single. DePietro, the team leader in steals, took off for second base right away and put himself in scoring position. After sophomore outfielder
Julian Francisco advanced him to third base, junior shortstop
Ryan Frost drove a single to left field to close the gap to 5-2.
The Hawks manufactured another run in the bottom of the fifth after an error by the third baseman allowed senior
Jake Williams to score from second base.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher
J.T. Carroll took over on the mound in the third inning and shut down the Red Dragon offense. Carroll threw 5 2/3 innings in relief and only allowed one run and two hits against an offense that averaged .307 at the plate entering the weekend series.
Page and DePietro finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate, each scoring a run. DePietro also swiped two bases in the game.
"I am proud of the way we bounced back in the first game," said Freeman. "When J.T. came in and he was shutting them down we started to chip away, which was great to see. However, we didn't do a very good job of situational hitting and they did."
GAME 2:
The Hawks got off to a slow start in the second game, but after the second inning junior right-handed pitcher
Michael Delio found his groove and shut down the SUNY Cortland offense. Delio was able to keep the Red Dragons on their heels as the game went on as he tallied a game-high six strikeouts in the performance.
SUNY New Paltz struggled offensively, but in the bottom of the third junior outfielder
Danny Campbell led off with a single to start a rally. Two batters later, senior second baseman
Anthony Pantano ripped a double over the center fielder's head. However, the Hawks were unable to bring Campbell or Pantano across the plate and the lead held at 5-0 for the Red Dragons.
The highlight of the day came from Delio on the mound in the top of the sixth. After picking up a strikeout for the first out, the second batter rocketed a ball right back up the middle. Delio was able to react quickly to get a piece of the comebacker, but the ball knocked his glove off and started to roll away from the mound. Delio scrambled towards first base for the ball and made a diving flip to barely beat the runner for the second out of the inning.
The momentum from the great defensive play didn't transfer to the offense and SUNY New Paltz was unable to mount a comeback and fell 5-0.
"Mike did a good job after the second inning, he settled down and started to pitch really well," said Freeman. "I told the guys to lick their wounds and salvage a win and start our own history tomorrow. I think Conor is going to come out and pitch a great game tomorrow on senior day. Hopefully the Hawks will soar and we'll slay the Dragons."
SUNY New Paltz will celebrate its 10 senior members before tomorrow's game against SUNY Cortland at 12 p.m.
