Oneonta, NY. The SUNY Oneonta baseball team fell in a pitching duel, 3-1 against New Paltz to open their last conference series. The Red Dragons dropped to 6-10 in the SUNYAC and the Hawks improved to 8-7. On the day the Red Dragons they had eight hits and worked the New Paltz pitching staff for four walks.

The Red Dragons struck first in the nine inning matchup. In the bottom of the 2^nd inning, junior Mickey Mullins (Vestal/Vestal) led off the inning with a single through the left side. He then was advanced to 2^nd base on a Mike Graves (Bethlehem/Bethlehem Central) sacrifice bunt. The next batter sophomore James Ceparano (Melville/Half Hollow Hills East) singled up the middle to plate Mullins to give the Red Dragons a 1-0 advantage.

The next inning the Red Dragons had a threatening situation, the bases loaded with one out after both Dalton Beatty (Atwater, CA/Atwater) and Jonathan Lezette (Saugerties/Saugerties) singled while Brandon LaVenture (Schenectady/Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons) was struck by a pitch. New Paltz pitcher Luke Christy was able to work out of the situation with a strikeout followed by  foul out.

The Red Dragons conceded their first runs of the game in the 5^th inning when Chris Moran singled down the right field line to score Nick Depietro to tie the game 1-1. The next run came around on a wild pitch scoring Moran to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead.

The final run of the game was scored in the 6^th inning to give the Hawks a 3-1 advantage, which was enough for the Hawks pitching staff of Luke Christy and Ryan Votypka. Christy earned his third win of the season and Votypka locked up his third save.

For the Red Dragons senior Thomas Bond (Somers/North Salem) pitched five innings allowing six hits and three earned runs with three strikeouts. In relief for Oneonta classmate RJ Lyman (Mohegan Lake/Walter Panas) didn't concede a hit in four innings while striking out two batters.

The Red Dragons are back in action tomorrow morning at 10am in a doubleheader at Damaschke Field against the Hawks.