Oneonta, NY - The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team defeated their conference rivals SUNY Oneonta, 6-4 Friday.
 
Dean Stalzer continued his impressive season with a solo home run in the second inning, putting the Hawks up 1-0. He then struck again in the Sixth after Joe Patane doubled to center and Michael Boccarossa was hit by a pitch. Stalzer hit his second home run of the game, this time a three-run home run, giving New Paltz a 4-0 lead. With those two home runs on the day, Stalzer put himself second on the SUNYAC home run leaderboard with nine dingers on the year.
 
Oneonta fought back in the bottom half of the sixth, scoring three runs on an error, a double and a home run. 
 
The Hawks offense followed up their three-run sixth inning with two more runs in the Seventh. 

Dillon Ristano led off the inning with a single to right, Leo Alvarez reached first in the next at-bat on a fielder's choice (Ristano out at second). Alvarez reached second on a ground out by Justin Ortiz, and reached third on a passed ball. Tommy Kreider, pinch hitting for Nick Harvey, doubled down the right field line, scoring Alvarez. Joe Patane then singled up the middle scoring Kreider, giving New Paltz a 6-3 lead.
 
The Red Dragons scored one run on two consecutive hits in the eighth inning, but were shut down after James McGovern relieved Billy Moeller. 
 
Billy Moeller had another solid outing on the mound. He pitched seven innings, giving up three earned runs on 10 hits. He had seven strikeouts, putting him first on the SUNYAC strikeout leaderboard with 64 strikeouts so far. 
 
"We have full confidence in Billy and what he has been doing for us and [he] has been outstanding. If he gets ahead of batters, locates his offspeed in advantage counts, he will continue to be one of the top arms in the SUNYAC." said Pitching coach Brandon Rivera.
 
Moeller was the winning pitcher for the game.
 
James McGovern got his first save on the year, striking out two over two innings pitched. 
 
Head Coach Thomas Seay was not able to attend the game today as he and his wife Melanie celebrate the birth of their third child, but Coach Seay had this to say to his team, "Today's win just adds to the good vibes. Super proud of this team and how they keep playing hard and battling through adversity. Big congratulations to those men today, they were outstanding."
 
The Hawks take on SUNY Oneonta again on Saturday for Game Two of their three game series. Preparing for tomorrow's doubleheader, Coach Rivera said, " We just need to keep playing our game, at our speed, our way. Jobs not done, looking forward to going out and competing in Game One tomorrow."

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