The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team bounced back in a big way in SUNYAC play last weekend taking two of three from the College at Brockport, but will need to keep the winning ways going with three more games against Plattsburgh State. Both teams enter the weekend needing to pick some wins to improve their standing in the conference, with the Cardinals at 1-8 and the Hawks at 2-4.
 
SUNY New Paltz played tough competition last time out against No. 7 Rowan University and almost squeaked a victory, but ended up falling 5-4. The Hawks used smart and aggressive base running to manufacture a majority of their runs and they will look to keep the same pressure on Plattsburgh State.
 
"I think playing aggressive on the base paths is a big part of our game," said senior outfielder Brian Brenton. "Getting dirt ball reads is something we've been working on in practice and I think we're going to look to get a jump on Plattsburgh and get some stolen bases this weekend."
 
Although the Cardinals enter the weekend at 7-14 overall, they still pose a threat to SUNY New Paltz. The SUNYAC is one of the toughest baseball conferences in the country so no weekend series can be taken lightly. Plattsburgh State took one game from SUNY Oneonta in a tightly contested series and competed in all three games against the College at Brockport as well.
 
The Cardinals have four batters hitting over .300 on the season, including junior Jon Craft and freshman Anthony Maag who lead the way with .355 and .353 averages, respectively. Although Craft and Maag lead the way in batting average, Plattsburgh State gets its clutch hitting from two different hitters in Stephen Bryant and Mori Kentaro, who lead the team in RBIs with 14 and 12, respectively. The deep lineup from the Cardinals will test the tough pitching staff from the Hawks.
 
"For us, it's really just doing your job," said junior right-handed pitcher Michael Delio. "Our defense has performed impeccably over the years so as long as we just let them make plays for us and let our bullpen throw strikes and relieve the starters well we should be fine."
 
Delio has emerged as one of the top pitchers for SUNY New Paltz this season, with his best performance coming last weekend against the College at Brockport throwing six innings and only allowing two hits. Senior right-handed pitcher Luke Christy is also scheduled to start this weekend after a solid performance against the Golden Eagles where he threw seven innings and only allowed one run.
 
Offensively, senior third baseman Jake Williams leads the way with a .347 average and 20 RBIs. Williams was on fire last weekend and earned SUNYAC Baseball Player of the Week for his efforts, which included a .615 batting average, 1.000 slugging percentage, and a 1.000 fielding percentage. Other key contributors include seniors Chris Moran, Ryan Frost, and Anthony Pantano. All three seniors average over .300 at the plate and Pantano is second on the team in RBIs with 13.
 
Defensively, the Hawks are one of the best in the conference with .964 fielding percentage. Comparatively, their opponents are averaging a .943 fielding percentage as a result of the pressure they apply with small ball and aggressive base running.
 
"Pitching and timely hitting, that's it comes down to," said Brenton. "Clutch hitting is just the right man in the right spot getting a big hit for us."
 
SUNY New Paltz takes on Plattsburgh State on Friday at 3 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12 p.m. The doubleheader can be streamed through the NewPaltzHawks Facebook account and you can follow along with the game on Friday through in-game highlights at nphawks on Twitter. Both games will have live stats at portal.stretchinternet.com/nphawks.