Box Score

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team fell 9-2 to No. 3 SUNY Cortland on Saturday afternoon in the final contest of a three-game series to begin State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play and conclude its annual spring break trip to Florida.

The Hawks fall to 3-10 overall, 0-3 SUNYAC and will prepare to play at Ithaca College on Thursday, March 26 at 4 p.m. The Red Dragons improve to 14-1 overall, 3-0 SUNYAC and are also scheduled to play at Ithaca on Tuesday, March 24 at 3:30 p.m.

New Paltz managed to record eight hits in total against the Cortland staff as senior third baseman Mike Sparacino (Commack, N.Y./Commack) and junior right fielder Taylor Anderson (East New Market, Md./Cambridge-South Dorchester) both notched two hits apiece.

For the contest, the Hawks used three pitchers as junior left-hander Jamie Fox (Calverton, N.Y./Riverhead) was charged with the loss despite not allowing an earned run. Junior righty Christian Huertas (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) appeared for a long-relief stint and tossed 5 1/3 innings with three strikeouts. Freshman southpaw Jordan Deitch (Commack, N.Y./Commack) threw one inning for New Paltz.

The game was scoreless until the top of the third when the Red Dragons plated five runs on five hits and three costly errors to put the Hawk in a 5-0 hole. Cortland scored another run in the fourth with two outs to go ahead 6-0. New Paltz was plagued with eight errors in the game.

New Paltz was able to break the shutout in the bottom of the fourth as freshman Jake Williams (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) led off the inning with a double to right center. Senior first baseman Shaun Hansen (Southold, N.Y./Greenport) cracked a double down the left field line to score Williams and Sparacino followed with the Hawks' third-consecutive double, but Hansen had to hold at third. Junior shortstop Andrew DiNardo (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay-East Fishkill) came through with a sacrifice fly to score Hansen and cut into the Cortland lead, 6-2.

Anderson managed to reach base in the fifth and the seventh innings with singles but could not come around to score as the New Paltz offense struggled to get anything started. The Hawks had two runners on with one out in the eighth but again failed to produce any runs.

Cortland tacked on runs in the top of the fifth and ninth frames to take a 9-2 edge. For the Red Dragons, junior starter Alex Weingarten earned the win, going five innings with four strikeouts. Four pitchers appeared out of the bullpen for Cortland.