New Paltz Sport Information Department
Windham, CT — Another historic win in the books for the Hawks.
In its first NCAA tournament matchup, the State University of New York at New Paltz defeated the No. 2 seeded and No. 22 nationally ranked Eastern Connecticut State Warriors, 5-2, to secure its place in the regional round's winners bracket.
"I thought our pitching staff was outstanding," said Hawks coach Thomas Seay. "Xavier Zykoff was really good today, his change-up and two-seam were really effective against a left-dominant hitting team, and then Jeff Lundstedt came in and threw a strikeout out of the pen."
Zykoff had a day on the mound, as the sophomore struck out five batters in seven innings pitched. He notably kept the first three innings hitless. Zykoff was relieved in the final two innings by sophomore Jeff Lundstedt, who tacked on two strikeouts in six batters faced.
"It felt very good to go out there today and get a great team win with the guys," said Zykoff. "Pitching well is a bonus, but the fielders making the plays behind me, and the guys swinging well in the box make my job easy."
SUNY New Paltz could not produce any offensive opportunities until the fourth inning. At the top of the fourth, Tommy Kreider was hit by a pitch, which was quickly followed by an errant pick-off attempt by the Warriors that allowed Kreider to steal third, an effort that ignited a Hawks rally.
Next at-bat, Michael Ascanio walked to put runners on the corners. Michael Boccarossa came through to force the game's first run with a single, which sent Kreider home and Ascanio to second.
Dillon Ristano continued the threat with a dinger to left field, which gave Ascanio room to go home. A sacrifice grounder from Justin Harvey followed to occupy the infield for Boccarossa to score to extend the led to 3-0. The scoring stretch terminated soon after, as a fly out to center field ended the Hawks' fourth-inning success.
Two hits in the bottom of the fourth led to a scoring play for Eastern Connecticut, and the Warriors secured one run before the teams headed into the fifth. But that would be the last time Eastern Connecticut State would score for the remainder of the contest.
Harvey started the sixth on first after being hit by a pitch. Fabian Apicella followed with a hit and reached on fielder's choice. However, an error by the second baseman left Harvey safe and two runners still on.
The next play was successful for the infield, as they chose to tag Apicella out on second after a hit from Wallace Kirkpatrick, to put up SUNY New Paltz's second out of the inning. Handling the pressure, Nick Harvey connected next at-bat on a hit toward the mound to send his brother home and advance Kirkpatrick to second. A ground out ended the inning, but SUNY New Paltz then sat on a comfortable 4-1 lead.
As the contest came to a close, the Warriors were desperate to create some offense in the final inning. The Hawks, however, closed out the ninth in a dominant fashion as Lundstedt and the fielding team secured three consecutive outs to silence the Warriors, and to take Game 1.
"We had a lot of momentum going into this game which I believed carried over into the at-bats and fielders," said Zykoff. "When you have the full support of the guys behind you it adds a level of comfort when I'm on the mound [and] I know at the end of the day that these guys are dogs. No matter how I perform, they are hungry for more."
Boccarossa was the offensive catalyst with two hits, one run, and one RBI. Ascanio followed with two hits and a run. Justin Harvey and Kreider added one run apiece.
Zykoff had a day on the mound, as the sophomore struck out five batters in seven innings pitched. He was relieved in the final two innings by Lundstedt, who tacked on two strikeouts with six batters faced.
"[The] game plan tomorrow is the same as it's been all year," Seay said. "We need to get some rest tonight, enjoy the win, and then turn our attention to Endicott — they will be a tremendous opportunity for us and we're excited.
"We are just really enjoying the moment, not taking it for granted, and [we are] just pumped we get to show up to the ballpark as a team."
The Hawks will advance to the regional semifinals where they will face No.1 nationally ranked Endicott University Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
