NEW PALTZ, NY- The New Paltz baseball team fell to the visiting Bombers from Ithaca College Thursday evening on Loren Campbell Field by the score of 13-3. The Bombers scored six runs with two-outs in the first inning to pull away from the Hawks. Ithaca upped their record to 11-11 while the Hawks fall to 15-9. The Hawks return to Loren Campbell Field this weekend against conference foe Oswego on Saturday at 12 p.m.
Starter Timmy Chelius retired the first to batters he faced in the top of the first and got the third guy swinging at a ball in the dirt for strike three, but a miscue on a catch opened the doors for the Bombers. After hitting the next to batters, Sean Weber ripped a base clearing double into the right center field gap. Matt Keller and Russ Martens followed with back-to-back RBI doubles. Mike Armstrong drove in Martens from second on an RBI single to give the Bombers a 6-0 lead.
Clinton Boettcher got the Hawks on the board in the bottom of the second with a lead-off homerun. The homerun marks his sixth of the year which ties him for fourth all-time in a season.
In the third, the Bombers T.J. Abone had a sacrifice fly and David Ahonen hit a three run homer over the left field fence. The four runs in the inning gave Ithaca a 10-1 lead.
In the fourth, Weber led off with his third homerun of the year and Armstrong added an RBI single for the Bombers.
The Hawks plated one in the fifth when Mike Sherlock and Dylan Franco had back-to-back singles with one-out and advanced to second and third on a pass ball. Paul Merola had an RBI infield hit, cutting the lead to 12-2.
The Bombers added one more run in the seventh off an error to take a 13-2 lead.
In the ninth, Franco added an RBI fielder's choice for the Hawks to complete the score of 13-3.
Merola finished 2-for-4 with one RBI and Steve Pinckney was 2-for-4. Chris Paulicelli added one hit in two at-bats and Phil Riccio was 1-for-2. Sherlock, Franco, Boettcher and Matt O'Neill all added one hit for the Hawks.
Chelius (2-3) recorded the loss on the mound, going two innings, giving up six runs, zero earned, on six hits and striking out two. Pat Sylvester pitched one plus innings and allowed six runs, five earned, on three hits and walked two batters and Thomas Pinnola went four innings and allowed one run, zero earned, on seven hits and striking out two. Kyle Ochiuzzo continued his success on the mound, going two innings and striking out three and allowing no hits.
Weber finished 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBI and Ahonen was 2-for-2 with two runs and three RBI to lead the Bombers from the plate.
Bryan Thyroff (1-0) earned the victory on the mound, pitching in relief for the Bombers. He allowed one run, one earned, on six hits and struck out three over four innings of work. Starter Aaron Sapp went three innings and allowed one run, one earned, on three hits and struck out one. Trevor Wolf pitched the final two hits, allowing one run, one earned, on one hit and struck out four.
