Looking to keep its playoff hopes alive for the second straight weekend, the State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team will seek success against SUNY Cortland this weekend with its backs against the wall in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) series.
 
"I think as a team we just have to flush all the bad things that have happened to us," said Hawks senior pitcher Justin Stybel. "I think this weekend could be good for us against a really good Cortland team. We're trying not to focus on the pressure." 
 SUNY New Paltz kept its name in the postseason hat last weekend with a series win against The College at Brockport at home, beating the Golden Eagles 9-5 in game-one and 6-1 in game-three, while losing 9-1 in game-two. The Hawks are now 2-7 in the SUNYAC, and 10-11 overall after their non-conference loss to Skidmore College Wednesday.
 
Starting it's regular season off at 3-5-1, SUNY Cortland finally hit the stride the Red Dragons seem to do every year, now sitting at 19-9 overall and an outstanding 9-0 in the conference. SUNY Cortland earned series sweeps against Plattsburgh State and SUNY Oneonta at home and trumped Fredonia State in three games on the road.
 
Most recently, the Red Dragons had two non-conference games Tuesday and Wednesday on the road against Ithaca College and at home against Cazenovia College. SUNY Cortland got trampled by the Bombers on the road Tuesday, 14-5, but came back home with a 12-1 win against the the Wildcats.
 
The Hawks have found success against the always tough Red Dragons recently, beating the No. 6 team at the time 8-6 in the last game of the series in 2018. SUNY New Paltz was swept by SUNY Cortland in three games in 2017, but earned a series win against the Red Dragons in 2016 when SUNY Cortland was No. 1 in the nation, starting off their SUNYAC schedule that year with 11-2 and 4-3 wins, while losing 15-4 to the top team in the country.
 
"If we can put our focus into one pitch at a time, one inning at a time, one pitch at a time, one situation at a time, we'll be at our best and have our best confidence going into Cortland," said Hawks senior first baseman Justin Ganca. "If we take everyday like it's our last day of playing, come the weekend it'll just be like every day."
 
Game one of the series will start at 1 p.m. Friday. The two teams will resume at 12 p.m. Saturday for the series ending doubleheader. For everything #NPHawks including photos, video, recaps and highlights, be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Facebook and Instagram.