The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team is going to Florida for spring break where it will play 64 innings against six different teams in five days at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
 
The Hawks squeezed in four games this season and post a 2-2 overall record heading into the trip. The highlight of their season so far came in the second game of a doubleheader against SUNY Purchase when Julian Francisco jump-started a two-out rally down 2-1 in the last inning with a triple. However, SUNY New Paltz heads to Florida coming off a tough loss to Stevens Institute of Technology, 6-0.
 
"We came out a little flat at Stevens," said sophomore catcher Zach Warenius. "Things just weren't falling our way, but we're looking to come out swinging and have some fun in Florida."
 
The Hawks start out the trip with a doubleheader against Hamilton College, which will have already played three games in Florida by Friday. Less than 24 hours later, the Hawks will be back on the field against UMass Dartmouth, which currently stands at 6-1 overall. The Corsairs have been in Florida since March 9, and will likely be running low on fresh pitchers and SUNY New Paltz will look to take advantage of their tired pitching rotation.
 
The batting lineup for the Hawks has struggled as of late, only hitting .260 as a team. Warenius currently leads the team with a .385 average, while Francisco and Nick DePietro are also hitting over .300.
 
"We're looking to come out swinging and have a good time," said Warenius. "As long as we're having fun we're going to be playing well."
 
SUNY New Paltz will finish the trip with games against Springfield College, Washington and Jefferson College, Babson College, and Western New England University. Similar to UMass Dartmouth, the Pride will play their last game in Florida against the Hawks, which will be their ninth game in six days.

The run of playing a tired roster will end when SUNY New Paltz takes on Washington and Jefferson College in a doubleheader, which will be the Presidents first two games of the trip. The Babson Beavers head into their trip to Florida with a record of 3-1 and boast a solid offense, hitting .315 as a team on the season. The Hawks then cap off the week against Western New England Golden Bears, who also come in 2-2 with a struggling offense.
 
Playing 64 innings in five days means that head coach Arlan Freeman will need to use his entire pitching staff and he will have to plan their rest well, especially with a conference matchup on the horizon against Fredonia State on March 23 and 24.

The Hawks are looking to pick up some big wins in Florida, but Freeman has preached to his team that it's more important to enjoy the games they'll be playing in beautiful weather before heading back to New York.
 
"We want to pull out some close wins," said Warenius. "But if we just play well as a team I'll feel like it's a successful trip. Coach Freeman has been telling us to just have fun because if we're not enjoying it it's going to be a grind, but if we have fun we're going to pull out some wins."
 
To see the full schedule of games for SUNY New Paltz and how to follow along with the games in Florida, click here.

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