New Paltz, NY, — With the rain coming down in the bottom of the ninth in a back-and-forth game between the State University of New York at New Paltz and Fredonia State Saturday at Loren Campbell Memorial Field, grad student Dean Stalzer stepped into the box.
 
Stalzer had already smacked two home runs earlier in the game, both to re-take the lead for the Hawks, and he had another opportunity to do so in his final at-bat in the ninth with bases loaded and his team down by three. He was patient, watching a few go low and outside, before turning on a pitch that sailed onto the tennis courts to end the game in grand slam walk off fashion, 18-17 in favor of SUNY New Paltz.
 
"It's always stressful getting down to the wire of the game, but for me in the back of my mind all I was thinking was sweep," Stalzer said. "In the last five years I've been here, sweeping in the SUNYAC conference hasn't really happened yet, so today was it. My first time in five years, it feels great. It feels really great."
 
Stalzer was the catalyst in an offensive outpouring from both sides. The Shoreham, NY native finished a career performance with a his third three-home run game of the season, while tallying a career-high 12 RBI, which is tied for second-most all-time in Division III history. He ultimately went 4-for-5 with four runs, a walk, 12 RBI and one stolen base.
 
 
"Dean has really been struggling since opening day and quite honestly, I was not going to play him this series," said Hawks coach Thomas Seay. "He hadn't looked good. He hadn't had the maturity at-bats that you want to see out of a graduate student and he just hasn't been good, so we were going to sit him for a little bit. We got to the ballpark yesterday and saw the wind was blowing out and I was like, you know what big guy is going to play. We put him back in the lineup. Unfortunately, he got thrown out of yesterday's game, but game three he got some big at-bats."
 
After the Blue Devils took a two-run lead to open up the first inning, Stalzer quickly re-upped his team's advantage, blasting his first of three homers in the game. Ryan Mackle trimmed the score to 2-1 on a sacrifice ground out to plate Justin Ortiz before Stalzer smashed a three-run shot over the left field fence to push the advantage to 4-2.
 
Fredonia tied the game in the third, but the Hawks once again responded in the bottom half, and they again did damage at the top of their lineup. Nick Harvey walked, and Joe Patane singled to start the inning and was hit in by a sharp shot to right by Michael Boccarossa. Mackle had another sacrifice ground out to plate Patane before Stalzer came up with one of his 12 RBI hits, ripping a single to right with the outfield playing back to score Boccarossa and re-up the SUNY New Paltz lead to 7-4.  
The Blue Devils regained control in the fourth and added on to their cushion in the sixth, as the Hawks struggled to get consistency on the hill. A grand slam placed Fredonia back in front 8-7, which held until a Jordan Rios solo shot in the fifth tied the score at 8-all.
 
The sixth was rough for SUNY New Paltz, as a lead-off walk got the offense going for Fredonia. An error allowed a second runner aboard and two balks had runners in scoring position, forcing the Hawks to intentionally walk the next batter to load the bases with one out. A groundout broke the tie for the Blue Devils, but control on the mound was the Achilles Heel for SUNY New Paltz, as a wild pitch scored the next run, followed by another error in the field, then a double for Fredonia capped the scoring in the inning and pushed the visitors ahead, 12-8.
 
Each team scored a run in the seventh, bringing the score to 13-9 heading into the bottom of the eighth. The Hawks took advantage as the top of the order came up to bat again. Harvey led off with another walk and Patane reached on an error, while Boccarossa loaded the bases on another walk. Following a pitching change for the Blue Devils, Mackle earned an RBI on a walk before Stalzer ripped a three-run homer over the left field fence once again to push SUNY New Paltz to a 14-13 lead.
 
"Coach put a little spark under me," Stalzer said. "I had been struggling, so coach said 'listen, if you don't do something today I'll have to sit you for the next game,' so that lit a little spark under me and got me really competitive in the box today and was able to have some productive at-bats."
 
The Hawks couldn't hang on though in the ninth, as a walks, errors and hit by pitches plagued SUNY New Paltz this time around. Fredonia took advantage with a two RBI double to left, a sacrifice fly and an RBI base hit before the inning ended with the Blue Devils picking up a 17-14 advantage.
 
But, Fredonia had pitching struggles of its own. Patane was walked and Boccarossa was hit by pitch to keep the inning alive with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Mackle then singled to load the bases with Seay holding up Patane at third knowing Stalzer was next at-bat. The fifth-year senior came up clutch and smashed his third ball behind the left field fence to give his team the walk off win and secure the series sweep over the Blue Devils.
 
"Home run is always in the back of your mind, but honestly in a situation like that is just to get your best swing off and that's really what I tried to do and it worked out," added Stalzer.
 
The victory Saturday capped a three-game series sweep of Fredonia, the first SUNYAC sweep for SUNY New Paltz since 2018 and first against the Blue Devils since 2016.
 
"I don't know if you take a whole lot out of today's game other than maybe we're starting to get some things going offensively," Seay said. "Yesterday we were able to do a lot of small ball action to score a bunch of runs and today we were behind a lot, so we weren't able to do any of those things, but we were able to square some balls up. Dean squared balls up, Mackle squared some balls up, Boccarossa continues to square baseballs up and give us big at-bats, Joe Patane has been really good squaring balls up, Rios too. We were able to hit some balls hard today and fortunately, with the conditions, the wind was blowing out a little bit and we put a bunch of runs on the board."
 
The win also improves the Hawks to 10-13 overall and 3-3 in the SUNYAC. They face Vassar Wednesday before heading to Oneonta for a three-game series against the Red Dragons.

Post-Game with Dean Stalzer


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