NEW PALTZ, NY — Jordan Rios' big solo home run into left field gave the State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team a thrilling 5-4 win in 11 innings over Ramapo College of New Jersey at Loren Campbell Memorial Field on Tuesday evening. 
 
The team has been fighting somewhat of a seesaw all year, but head coach Thomas Seay said that Tuesday's win represented some of his group's resilience. ""I thought the day was a microcosm of the season up to this point, finding a way to win a game," he said. "Earlier in the year, we weren't winning that game. Today we did, which is a good sign." 
 
Billy Moeller was great in two innings of work, and SUNY New Paltz was able to get the victory after relinquishing a 4-2 lead. 
 
"We threw our better arms today," said Seay of a group that included Moeller, Bobby Ramsey, James Trink, Nick Harvey, James McGovern, Nick Zangara and Andrew Ferber. "We've got a big conference series coming up this weekend against Fredonia, so I wanted to give them some work."
 
Moeller struck out the side in inning number one while registering two more strikeouts in the second inning, the latter after giving up a single.
 
Roadrunners pitcher Jared Haag, who went six innings giving up six hits with three strikeouts, was also strong early. He got Justin Ortiz, Tommy Kreider and Ryan Mackle to ground out and Joe Patane to strike out in the bottom half of the first. He also retired the Hawks in order in the second. 
 
 
Ramsey, pitching for Moeller to begin the third, allowed a two-run shot to Tyler Guadagno after walking TJ Roman. Ramsey, however, was able to get out of the inning by getting Brian Baranok to pop up to prevent further damage. 
 
In the bottom of the third, Matt Laurelli doubled into left field with one out after Dillon Ristano flew out. Justin Ortiz then promptly drove in Laurelli with an RBI single, making the score 2-1 in favor of the visitors. Mackle flew out to end the inning. 
 
SUNY New Paltz also threatened in the fourth, when Rios stole second and advanced to third base on a bad throw, but Ristano grounded out for the third out. 
 
Ramapo had another chance to tie the contest in the top of the fifth, but Trink, on to pitch for Ramsey, regrouped after getting into a jam. The Roadrunners' Harold Calero doubled into center field, but Roman hit a chopper up the middle that caught Calero in a rundown, and he was tagged out at third base. 
Two innings later, the Hawks put themselves ahead with an offensive flurry. Laurelli first reached on a bunt single, and after Ortiz popped up, Laurelli stole second base. Kreider then singled into right field, bringing Laurelli to third with just one out. Patane, batting .270 coming into the contest with seven RBI, picked up his eighth with a single into right field. After Mackle grounded out, Boccarossa walked, bringing Stalzer to the plate. The graduate student brought in Kreider and Boccarossa with an RBI single, putting the home side ahead 4-2. The team had a good opportunity to add more runs in the eighth after Ristano and Laurelli both singled to lead off the inning and Ortiz was walked, loading the bases. However, the team was unable to capitalize, as Kreider flew out, Patane grounded out, and Mackle popped up. 
 
"We had runners at second base or third base with less than two outs, or times we had the bases loaded and nobody out, and we just couldn't come away with any runs," said Seay of his squad's inability to score runs at times. "Fortunately enough, we pitched and played quality defense and minimized Ramapo's opportunities to score." 
 
The scoreless eighth set the stage for a ninth inning that saw James McGovern in to close out the Roadrunners, but the team out of Mahwah, NJ had other ideas. 
 
Sean Donaghue hit a solo shot off McGovern to begin the inning, cutting the lead to one at 4-3. McGovern quickly shook it off though, consecutively striking out Matt Carovillano and Dominick Ciani. However, the visitors started to do damage with two outs. 
 
Nick Danbrowney doubled into center field, bringing Christian Alonso to the plate. Alonso hit an RBI single, but McGovern was able to get out of the inning when he struck out Guadagno. 
 
In the bottom of the ninth, Boccarossa was hit to start the inning. However, consecutive outs followed, and although Ristano was walked, Laurelli popped up to send the game into extra innings. 
 
Zangara pitched a great 10th inning, striking out Baranock, getting Justin Garthaffner to fly out, and striking out Matt Lalomia. 
 
In the bottom of the 10th, SUNY New Paltz had a chance to win it once again, after Tommy Kreider hit a chopper to the mound and beat out the throw and stole second. Patane walked to put runners at first and second with one out, but Leo Alvarez popped up to first and Boccarossa flew out. 
 
After getting by unscathed in the top of the 11th, with Ferber striking out Joe Wisniewski and getting Alonso to fly out with runners at first and second, Rios ended the game in clutch fashion. Stalzer flew out to center to begin the frame, but the outfielder stepped up to the plate and sent the visitors home for good with his third home run of the season. The solo shot deep to left field sent the dugout into a frenzy, putting the cherry on top of a long, grueling game. 
 

WALK OFF!! JORDAN RIOS SOLO SHOT WINS IT!! @NP_BaseballD3 WIN 5-4!! LET'S GO!!!! @newpaltz #NPHAWKS pic.twitter.com/qRJ8Mp8lyM

— New Paltz Hawks (@nphawks) April 12, 2022

 
"I got a couple fastballs early, and I sat on the breaker," said Rios, going in-depth about his final at-bat. "I made contact and I knew it was going out when I hit it. This is my first real walk off homer. It's pretty fun." 
 
"It's huge," added Rios of the victory. "We were fighting the whole game, 11 innings, really long. We had guys tired that were battling through it the whole game. To come up and get a win is huge." 
 
Ferber picked up his first win, while Ramapo's Garrett Van Alstyne took the loss. 
 
"We got some good efforts out of guys that weren't originally scheduled to throw today," continued Seay of his staff. "Ziggy [Zangara] threw well, and Ferber came in and threw really well. We continued to play quality defense." 
 
Meanwhile, on the offensive side, Kreider led SUNY New Paltz, going 4-for-6 with one run. For the Roadrunners, Donaghue was 3-for-4 with one RBI and one run. Ramapo dropped to 10-13-1 with the loss. 
 
"Offensively, we didn't really do much," admitted Seay. "We got a big hit out of Joe Patane, we got a misplaced ball from their shortstop and we were able to take advantage of it. But we've got to have a better approach offensively with runners in scoring position. We're doing some really good things to give us opportunities to score, but right now we've got to be able to capitalize when we are in those situations." 
 
The Hawks, who improved to 7-12 with the victory, are back in action at home on Wednesday against SUNY Cobleskill. 
 
"This is two games won in a row," concluded Rios. "We're going to use nothing but this momentum in the next game and try to make it three in a row when we play Cobleskill tomorrow."

Post-Game with Jordan Rios


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