After two straight weekends filled with cancellations, the State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team will play its first two games of the season Saturday at Dutchess Stadium against Mount St. Mary College.
 
Although Sunday's doubleheader at Bard College was postponed due to inclement weather, the Hawks are eager to get on the field with a roster filled with 11 new players and their first-year head coach Thomas Seay. SUNY New Paltz is hoping to build off of its 2018 campaign, where the Hawks went 17-18 and earned their first playoff win since 2001.
 
"Some say it was a successful season [last year], but our goal was to win the SUNYAC championship and we came up short," said SUNY New Paltz senior outfielder and utility Danny Campbell. "Our goal is still the same, we still want to come home with that title."
 
The Hawks are familiar with the Knights of Mount St. Mary College, having them on the schedule every year since 2016. Last year's doubleheader against Mount St. Mary College was cancelled due to weather, but SUNY New Paltz has found success against the Knights in the past, winning 11-4 and 2-1 in 2017 and splitting a doubleheader in 2016 9-1, 4-5.
 
Mount St. Mary College started its season on Feb. 23 with a doubleheader against Marywood University, beating the Pacers 5-0 and 4-3. The Knights only other matchup before the Hawks was postponed due to weather on March 6 against Albertus Magnus College.
 
After five consecutive losing seasons, Mount St. Mary College had a successful season last year, going 22-12-1 overall and 13-5 in the Skyline Conference. The Knights season was cut short after losing twice against St. Joseph's College-Long Island and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in the winner's bracket of the Skyline Conference Championship tournament.
 
"We've been trying to attack every drill, every rep with the same energy and focus so it doesn't really matter what the atmosphere is," said graduate first baseman Justin Ganca. "I'm excited to see how this new team molds together and forms once we actually get outside on a baseball field."
 
The doubleheader with Mount St. Mary College is scheduled for an 1 p.m. start at Dutchess Stadium. Game one will be a nine inning game while game two will be seven innings.
 
"We expect to play every game hard honestly," said senior pitcher Ryan Votypka. "We go into every game expecting to win, and we'll see what we can do this year."

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