New Paltz, NY — After a dramatic, 11th-inning walk off win Tuesday at Loren Campbell Memorial Field, the State University of New York at. New Paltz couldn't duplicate the same magic Wednesday.
 
The Hawks (7-13 overall) lost 16-5 to visiting SUNY Cobleskill (14-11) after a seven-run fourth inning broke the game open.
 
Freshman Dominic Schuch earned his first collegiate start against the Fighting Tigers Wednesday and struggled to open up the first, giving up two straight hard hit line drives to right. He limited the damage, however, only allowing a run to score on a sacrifice fly, securing three-straight outs to end the top of the inning.
 
SUNY New Paltz gave Schuch some offensive help to start the bottom half, as the top of the order, which it did all game long, got the job done to earn a bag. Ortiz led off with a single through the right side of the infield before Nick Harvey struck a base hit to shallow center, advancing Ortiz to third. Ryan Mackle tied the score on a sacrifice fly, hitting a long shot to deep left, easily plating Ortiz. The threat stopped there, however, with the Hawks grounding out and striking out in their next two at-bats to end the inning,
 
Cobleskill re-took the lead in the second, as Schuch gave up a one-out single before hitting a batter then yielding a RBI single to center. He once again stopped the bleeding early though, getting himself out of the jam on a double-play ball to third.
 
 
SUNY New Paltz tied the game in the bottom of the third, as the top of the lineup got the offense going once again. Ortiz smacked a base hit to center, then took second on a balk before putting himself on the corner with a stolen base during a long at-bat for Harvey. Batting in the lineup for the first time this season after finishing 2021 hitting .273, Harvey looked comfortable at the plate and worked through each at-bat. Fighting off pitches with two strikes, Harvey found one he turned on and struck an RBI single to center to plate Ortiz and tie the score at two.
 
Harvey advanced to second on a stolen base and back-to-back walks for Ryan Mackle and Michael Boccarossa loaded the bases with one out, but SUNY New Paltz failed to pile on as a strike-out and pop-up ended the inning, stranding the bases loaded.
 
The insurance runs proved costly, as the Fighting Tigers didn't take long to tack on more to open up the fourth. Following a hard-hit ball to right field for a base hit, Cobleksill homered to deep center field to take a 4-2 lead, it never gave up the rest of the way. Matthew Polestino came into pitch for Schuch and struck out two before giving up a double. The runner advanced to third on a passed ball, but Polestino closed the inning after forcing a groundout and held the score at 4-2. 
The two-run game lasted until the seventh with the Fighting Tigers adding on to their lead. Andrew Ferber came on for Polestino and walked the lead-off batter. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch, then a passed ball and reached home on a miscue at third on a short chopper. The bases cleared in the next at-bat, as Cobleksill recorded its second home run of the game, this time a two RBI shot that pushed the difference to 7-3. Nick Zangara came in for relief and he too struggled to get out of the inning.
 
Following a single, Cobleksill got another batter aboard on an error by Polestino overthrowing a force out to second. With runners on the corners and no outs, the Hawks opted to load the bases on an intentional walk with a sacrifice fly accounting for the first out of the seventh before a triple that got behind Jordan Rios at center cleared the bases. A sacrifice groundout in the next at-bat gave the Fighting Tigers another run before Zangara forced a pop-out to himself to close out the inning with the visitors taking an 11-3 advantage into the bottom half.
 
Harvey led off with a base hit and was later brought home on another SAC fly by Mackle. Leo Alvarez capped the offense for SUNY New Paltz with a single to center, bringing home Joe Patane who earned a base hit following Harvey's lead-off single. After a pitching change for the Fighting Tigers, the Hawks' scoring threat ended with a strikeout and groundout with runners left on second and third.
 
With the score trimmed to 11-5 heading into the eighth, Cobleskill created more breathing room with a three-RBI home run in the inning before tacking on one more in the ninth on a sacrifice fly.
 
SUNY New Paltz totaled 11 hits to the Fighting Tigers' 13 but left 10 runners on base in the game and recorded four errors.

The Hawks' one, two and three hitters had productive days at the plate with Ortiz finishing 3-for-4 with three runs, Harvey going 3-for-4 with one run, one RBI and a walk and Patane hitting 2-for-4 with one run and an RBI.
 
SUNY New Paltz will look to regroup over the weekend, as it will host Fredonia for a three-game series on Loren Campbell Memorial Field Friday and Saturday.

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