New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz's baseball program enters the 2022 campaign searching for its first winning season since 2016 and first SUNYAC postseason berth since 2018.

After the 2020 campaign came to a quick halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SUNY New Paltz entered 2021 with the expectation of getting back to the SUNYAC Tournament. It began the season with back-to-back wins at Skidmore College, but did not enter conference play with the same success. It went 2-4 in six games between Oswego State, Oneonta and Plattsburgh, respectively, before suffering four consecutive losses to eventual NCAA Division III Tournament semi-finalist SUNY Cortland. A loss in the second leg of the April 27 doubleheader at Plattsburgh clinched a fifth straight non-winning season for the program.

Still, even with a conference record of 3-9, with the division format in play for the shortened season, the Hawks had a chance to make the postseason. They found their form at SUNY Cobleskill with back-to-back routs on April 28, then battled for a doubleheader sweep at Oneonta on May 1. They entered the season finale against the Cardinals with a chance to clinch a ticket to the postseason, but two heartbreaking one-run losses, 5-4 (in 11 innings) and 4-3, left the program just one win short of the playoffs.

SUNY New Paltz finished the season 9-11 overall, but just 5-11 in conference play.

"As a group we felt we underachieved last year, we let some opportunities slip through our fingers," said Hawks coach Thomas Seay of his team's season. "Losing five one-run games is tough, so on one hand we know we aren't too far off from where we want to be, but on the other hand, we need to close games out." 

Seay, alongside returning pitching coach Brandon Rivera and new assistant coach Reid Oreste, have prepared for the upcoming season for a long while, starting with the fall season.

"The biggest thing we've addressed is our mental approach to the season and how we approach our preparation," he said. "I felt it was very important to play a lot in the fall, so we utilized our fall schedule to intrasquad every day. We structured our developmental work during pre-practice skill groups so when we got to practice, we could focus on competition. Every position player had at least 40 plate appearances and the pitchers had around 15 innings pitched. Those opportunities are going to serve us well this year."

The program saw three seniors graduate from the program: right-handed pitcher Anthony Amoroso, who earned first-team All-SUNYAC honors in the most prolific season of his collegiate career, utility player Matthew McGee, and infielder John McCarrick. However, it returns a talented group of players, including senior designated hitter Jesse Keshner, who led the team in batting average (.380), on-base percentage (.456) and on-base plus slugging (.956) last year. It also brings back junior right-handed pitcher and infielder Nick Harvey and graduate students Bobby Ramsey and 2019 All-SUNYAC First Team member Dean Stalzer, among others.

The Hawks also brought in seven new freshmen and four transfer student-athletes, for a total recruitment class of 11 entering the season. According to Seay, all of their new players, especially freshman Ryan Mackle and sophomore transfer Jordan Rios — who led the team in all offensive categories in the fall season — and freshman transfer Joe Patane, have impressed during the preseason.

"Having some veteran guys in this league is always important," Seay said. "The league as a whole will be very experienced, so returning a couple guys who've been through the gauntlet is a plus. But at the end of the day, players graduate, they don't stick around forever, and I'm really excited about the young guys in our program. It's by far the most versatile, dynamic and athletic we've ever been positionally.

"I'm really excited about this group. All of them have already made a positive impact in our program. We're deeper than we've ever been, and that level of competition is making everyone better…our recruiting classes over the last three years have yielded some really good players, we're looking forward to putting all those pieces together in 2022."

After starting the shortened season last year in mid-March, SUNY New Paltz will begin its campaign in February for the first time since 2017 when it travels to St. Mary's City, MD for a three game weekend trip. Its first opponent will be Mount Saint Mary College on Saturday morning at 11 a.m; the two programs last met at the Knights home in Fishkill in 2020, splitting the opening doubleheader at Dutchess Stadium. It will then face hosting St. Mary's City College, a team it has not faced since 2007 and hasn't beaten since 2006, later at 3:30 p.m, and will conclude the trip with a second game against the Seahawks on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The Knights were 12-11 in 2021, while the Seahawks went 9-15. 

Following the opening series, the Hawks will travel again to Virginia Beach on Feb. 26 for another three game weekend trip where they will face Ithaca College once and host Virginia Wesleyan twice. That trip will be followed by consecutive Saturday doubleheaders against the Knights and Centenary University on March 5 and 12, respectively.

"We're pretty used to it," Seay said of the 11-game road stretch to start the year, "Every baseball program in the Northeast deals with stretches like this. We're just excited to get on the field and play games, getting back to a sense of normalcy and having a traditional college baseball season is what I think all the players are looking forward to."

They will play their first home game against New Jersey City on March 15, go back on the road against Purchase the next day, then play their final out-of-conference doubleheader before beginning SUNYAC play on March 25 at home against Plattsburgh.

Seay isn't much of a goal setter, saying that he doesn't want to put limitations on his team's accomplishments, but he noted that his group has lofty expectations to begin the 2022 season.

"I've stressed that our level of preparation must match or exceed our level of expectations," he said. "If we can prepare properly, focus on the tasks within our control, then we'll be fine…we're more experienced on the mound this year and more dynamic positionally. I like where we are at as a program and excited to see what these men can do this year."

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