New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz had an impressive doubleheader sweep of visiting Fredonia Friday.
 
Game one was highlighted by a 15-strikeout performance from ace Billy Moeller who led the Hawks to an 8-4 win, before the offense took over in game two to propel a 10-2 win.
 
"Billy was good, and he's been good all year," said SUNY New Paltz coach Thomas Seay. "When he can get his fastball going it's got life on it. He was able to pitch it up in the zone and they were going after it. He still really hasn't gotten his breaking ball going in his last couple starts, so we're going to really need to work on that this week… He's been good. We needed him today. He's a senior and that's what seniors are supposed to be."
 
After Moeller struck out the side swinging on three-straight batters at the top of the second, the Hawks gave him run support in the bottom half. Michael Boccarossa led off with a hard hit double in the gap in right center and Ryan Mackle followed with a single up the middle, advancing Boccarossa to third. Dean Stalzer then plated Boccarossa with a double and Jordan Rios plated Mackle on a bunt single. Dillon Ristano hit a sacrifice fly to bring the lead to 3-0 before a passed ball pushed the cushion to four once Rios touched home.
 
 
SUNY New Paltz had the opportunity to blow the game open in the third, as the Blue Devils' pitching staff struggled with walks and its location, hitting two batters in the inning. The Hawks had the bases loaded and one out all by walks or hit-by-pitches. Mackle eventually scored from third on a balk, but SUNY New Paltz couldn't add on, as a strikeout by Stalzer and groundout by Rios ended the inning and limited the damage to just one run.
 
Getting out the jam gave Fredonia some momentum, as it was helped by an error from Laurelli at short on a hard-hit grounder. Moeller got the next two outs on a fielder's choice and strikeout, but the next batter knocked a double into right and then he gave up a two-RBI single to center to cut the score, 5-2. Seay kept with Moeller, though, and the senior grinded out the next two at-bats, giving up a double but holding the Blue Devils without another run before grounding out the last batter of the inning to end the threat.
 
Ristano helped Moeller with another run, as he started the inning with a single to shallow center after battling back down in the count. He advanced on a balk and then scored on an RBI base hit to right field by Nick Harvey.  
The Blue Devils earned back a run in the fifth, but SUNY New Paltz provided two more insurance runs in the sixth to create a comfortable, 8-3 advantage. After Ristano hit a double to lead-off the inning, Laurelli bunted for a base hit, perfectly placing the ball down the third base line, advancing Ristano to third while beating the throw to first. Justin Ortiz brought home Ristano on a fielder's choice and then landed on second following another balk. Harvey moved Oritz to third on a single to left and Patane got the job done on a sacrifice ground out to plate Ortiz.
 
Moeller had a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh and completed the eighth by fanning three of four batters. James McGovern closed out the ninth, giving up a run but holding onto the lead to give the Hawks their first SUNYAC victory of the season.
 
Moeller was the catalyst in the win, pitching eight innings, giving up six hits, three earned runs, three walks and a career-high 15 strikeouts.
 
Harvey and Stalzer each went 2-for-3 with a run and RBI in game one. Rios finished 2-for-4 with a run and RBI, while Ristano went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.
 
The win set the tone for game two and although Seay had to make a pitching change early in the first inning, sophomore James Trink came in and had three solid innings to earn the win and help hold off a Blue Devils threat in the fourth inning.
 
"I thought throughout the season, we've played really good baseball," Seay said. "We just needed to figure out what type of team we are. If we can get good pitching performances like we did from Billy and the bullpen in game one and then James in game two… if we can get really good defense like we've been able to play, get some things going like we did today, clicking on all cylinders with action and small ball, moving guys, speeding the game up on our opponent, that's the type of team we are."
 
After starting at second base in game one, Harvey earned the start on the mound in game two but struggled early. He gave up a solo home run on just his second pitch thrown and after striking out the second batter, he let up a hard-hit single to left. He worked himself out the jam, though, getting the next two batters to flyout to end the top half.
 
SUNY New Paltz answered immediately, as Ortiz rocketed a solo home run of his own to lead off the inning, while Tommy Kreider followed with a double to left. Patane then plated Kreider on an RBI single to right, but the offense stalled there in the first. 
Trink came in to relieve Harvey in the second and had relatively clean innings in the second and third but had to pitch out of a jam in the fourth. The Blue Devils started the inning with two straight hits and a walk to load the bases with no outs. Seay came out to the mound to chat with Trink and he proceeded to strikeout the next batter, then forced a pop-out to second and earned another strikeout to end the inning, stranding the bases loaded.
 
"I'll just leave what I said to him between him and myself, but James will have success when he's able to get ahead of hitters early," Seay said. "The sharpness of his breaking ball needs to be thrown in an advantage count, because that's when he's going to get [batters] to chase. If he's not ahead of the count, he can't throw that pitch with enough consistency. So, for him to have continued success he is really going to need to be able to throw strike one. If he has success, he's able to do that and when he doesn't have success, he's not able to get ahead of hitters early."
 
Trink's ability to get out of the top half of the fourth was the turning point, as the energy was swung toward the Hawks who quickly jumped their one-run advantage to five, scoring six in the bottom half of the fourth.
 
John Reece helped the inning get started, hustling down the first base line on a hit back to the pitcher, beating the throw to earn the bag and then advanced to second on the throw. Leo Alvarez came in to pinch run for Reece and he was quickly brought home with more clutch hitting from Jordan Rios who struck an RBI base hit to shallow center. After Justin Harvey reached on an error by the shortstop, Laurelli loaded the bases on a blooper to right, which set the table for Ortiz who lined a shot over the glove of the left fielder for a two-RBI double.
 
The Hawks took advantage of some Blue Devils miscues. Kreider hit a soft grounder back to the pitcher who threw back to the plate to try and catch Laurelli coming home, but the catcher never made the tag on the play, making Laurelli safe. Boccarossa then smacked the first pitch he saw to deep center to bring home two more runs, pushing the advantage to 8-1.
 
McGovern and Matthew Polestino then closed out for SUNY New Paltz, pitching the final 2.2 innings, giving up just one hit with Polestino conceding one run in the seventh, but the lead was enough for the Hawks to shut the door on a 10-2 win.
 
Ortiz had himself a game, going 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBI, including a double, home run and stolen base. Patane had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Justin Harvey had a hit, two runs scored and a stolen base.
 
Trink was awarded the win after giving up two hits, three walks, no runs with three strikeouts in three innings of work.
 
"Like I just told the guys, I understand we've asked them a lot to sacrifice their individual, personal numbers offensively for the betterment of the team and to win games and play team baseball is what we have to do if we're going to compete in the SUNYAC," Seay said. "We did that today and got two much needed wins."
 
The two victories improve the Hawks' record to 9-13 overall and 2-3 in SUNYAC play, as they eye their first series sweep of the season when they conclude their three-game slate against Fredonia Saturday at 11 a.m. on Loren Campbell Memorial Field.
 
"I think every game in this league is important. You've got two really, really competitive national brand teams in the SUNYAC with Oswego and Cortland with Brockport putting together a solid year, so you need to be able to win games and close out a series when you have an opportunity," Seay said. "I told the guys to really enjoy the fact that we won two games today and we haven't showed the maturity to close out days like this in the past, so it was nice to see but job is not done. Tomorrow when they wake up, it's all about winning one game and that game is important."

Post-Game with Billy Moeller & Justin Oritz


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