Entering its final week of the season, the State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team will look to finish strong starting with a familiar foe Wednesday afternoon. The Hawks will travel across the river to take on Vassar College, led by former SUNY New Paltz head coach Matt Righter.

"[Coach] Righter recruited me since high school and was my coach freshman year," said Hawks senior infielder Ryan Frost. "It's all love off the field. He's an important person in my life, but I would love for nothing more than to beat him one last time." 

SUNY New Paltz is coming off a disappointing State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) series with SUNY Oneonta, winning the first game, 11-7, but dropping game-two 14-8 and game-three, 13-2. Now sitting at 11-16 overall and last place in the conference at 3-12, the Hawks were hoping to boost its record one last time on its home field Tuesday against New Jersey City University, but the game was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts.

The cross-town rivalry has been beneficial for SUNY New Paltz, as the Hawks find themselves 24-8 overall against the Brewers in the two teams history together. Last year's matchup was cancelled, but for the first time since 2012 SUNY New Paltz met up with Vassar College in 2017 for a 4-3 victory.

The Brewers are struggling to the finish line as well, currently 13-20 overall with a 7-13 record in the Liberty League. Vassar College most recently split a conference series with Union College, beating the 14-13 overall Dutchmen, 1-0 and 9-1, while losing, 12-3 and 8-1.

The matchup with the Brewers will start at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

"It's like everything's coming full circle for us seniors," said Hawks senior outfielder Danny Campbell. "Coach Righter recruited me and most of the graduating class, and it should be fun to play against him one last time. It was a pleasure to get to play under him for our freshman year."

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