New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz collected a much-needed doubleheader sweep of visiting SUNY Plattsburgh Saturday to open up the series 2-0.
 
After losing a tough series on the road to SUNY Oneonta over the weekend, the Hawks (14-15 overall, 6-5 SUNYAC) came back to earn the 8-7 game one win before holding off a rally from the Cardinals in game two, closing out a 9-6 victory.
 
"We're at the point of our season where every game matters," said SUNY New Paltz coach Thomas Seay. "We had an opportunity to the take the series this weekend at Oneonta and unfortunately, we couldn't finish a couple innings that came back to hurt us and then today in game one we had a couple innings that we couldn't finish out and they scored some runs. We kept fighting, kept tacking on some runs late. We knew being on short rest both teams would struggle in the backend of a game closing things out, because bullpens are depleted, and the season is long. Both teams had three games the previous weekend, so we knew if we could keep it tight and close, I felt like offensively we would be able to push across enough runs. We're just hoping we could collect enough outs along the way."
 
Plattsburgh (14-14) got ahead early in game one, tacking on two runs against starter Dominic Schuch, but the Hawks added run support in the bottom of the inning after Justin Ortiz led off with a double to left field. Joe Patane hit him in two batters later on a chopper to short. Michael Boccarossa then tied the game up in the third after smoking a liner just above the right field fence for his first career home run.
 
The Cardinals re-gained the lead though in the fifth with a run and added another in the sixth before taking a five-run advantage after a three-run seventh inning. A two-out double just over the glove of Matt Laurelli at short capped the sequence for Plattsburgh with Brandon Bernard coming in to get the final out and holding the score at 7-2 in favor of the visitors. The offense picked up in the bottom half though, piling on six to earn their first lead of the day.
 
 
Jordan Rios started the rally with a lead-off single to short. After a throwing error by the pitcher allowed Ryan Mackle to reach, Dillon Ristano plated Rios on a tough hard hop to second, as he reached on the hit. Laurelli then did his job, plating Mackle on a sacrifice groundout before a walk and a hit by pitch on consecutive at-bats loaded the bases. Dean Stalzer continued his dominance in the box, as the fifth-year senior delivered with a two-RBI base hit, cutting the game to 7-6. Following a pitching change, Leo Alvarez officially pushed his team ahead by placing a soft blooper just inside the right field line over the head of the first baseman, which brought two more runs across for the go-ahead run at 8-7.
 
"After that tough Oneonta series, taking the first game and then losing those second and third games, it was tough on us," Alvarez said. "We knew we had to come back here and really battle and take this series so we make sure that we can make the playoffs when it comes around."
 
James Trink and James McGovern then finished off the last two innings, with McGovern earning the save as he finalized the last four outs of the game with Bernard earning his second win of the season.
 
Ortiz finished 1-for-3 with two runs, while Boccarossa went 1-for-4 with two runs, a walk and an RBI on his solo homer. Stalzer went 1-for-4 with a run and two RBI, while Alvarez had two RBI and a stolen base in game one.
 
Bobby Ramsey was handed the ball to start game two and gave his team five-plus much needed innings to earn the win. He tossed 5.2 innings, gave up five hits, four runs with six strikeouts, and helped his team out of jam in the fifth with his final strikeout of the game.
 
"Hats off to Bobby Ramsey. Pitching on two days rest, he did a really nice job for us," Seay said. "I didn't know he was going to throw until today. He said he wanted the ball. He said he felt good and Bobby typical bounces back pretty quickly after a start, so it was his scheduled bullpen day. I didn't know we'd get six innings out of him but credit to the offense to be able to tack on some runs, which extended his outing which was really good."
 
SUNY New Paltz jumped out in front early with Mackle getting the scoring started with a two-out two-RBI double down the right side, scoring Alvarez easily from third and bringing Stalzer home who was on first, as he hustled home to beat the relay throw. Alvarez then created a three-run cushion in the third, as he hit another that roped just inside the right field line to score Tommy Kreider. Alvarez then put himself in scoring position, taking second on a stolen base with no one covering and then stealing third on heads-up base running before Joe Patane brought him home on an RBI base hit. Stalzer doubled in the next at-bat, scoring Boccarossa who got on following a walk and the Hawks took a 5-0 advantage into the third.
 
The Cardinals earned a run back in the third on a solo home run, but SUNY New Paltz countered with another run across to hold a 6-1 lead before Plattsburgh cut the advantage to just two in the fifth. Plattsburgh threatened to take the lead in the sixth, as it opened up the inning with a lead-off double. Ramsey forced a sacrifice flyout in the next at-bat, but advanced the runner to third with the tying run at the plate. Seay then called Connor Olsen from the bullpen to work the final two outs of the frame. He was huge, as a heads-up play to check the runner at second led to the runner at third trying to steal home with Laurelli making a good throw to Justin Harvey at the plate who tagged the final out of the inning, getting his team out of the jam and holding onto the two-run lead.
 
"Connor did a really good job of doing what we talked about of when you have a runner leave early from first base," Seay said. "He just stepped off checked the runner at third, made a good throw to the shortstop and Laurelli threw the guy out at the plate. That was straight textbook."
 
The play re-ignited the Hawks offense in the bottom half, as they took advantage of costly errors by the Cardinals. Laurelli got on base following an error at short with Alvarez following with a base hit, but the biggest play came in the next at-bat with Boccarossa in the box. The senior captain laid down a bunt slowly back to the mound and forced Plattsburgh's pitcher to make a decision on where to go on the throw. He decided to try and get the force at third, although Alvarez got a good jump on the bunt. The throw sailed high of the third basemen's glove and allowed Alvarez and Laurelli to score, placing Boccarossa on third. Patane then got Boccarossa across with an RBI base-hit and the Hawks created a comfortable 9-4 margin.
 
"I think that's college baseball. In those situations, especially today where you have some young guys on the mound both for Plattsburgh and for us, those execution things, those fundamental type things are critical," Seay said. "Then Bocca right there, you have runners on first and second with nobody out, he needs to get a bunt down… [the pitcher] comes up throws the ball up the line at third and in that situation, it clears the bases. It just comes down to execution and sometimes you make plays sometimes you don't and fortunately today we made enough plays."
 
The Cardinals added on two runs in the seventh, but Olson made sure to stop the bleeding as he earned a groundout to end the game.

"Connor pitches with a lot of confidence and credit to him," Seay said. "This year, he hasn't pitched a whole lot but when he's gotten his opportunities, he's maximized them and he shows up to practice every day… and today he picked up a big save for us."
 
Alvarez, who earned the start and was slotted into the leadoff spot with Ortiz sidelined due to an injury, stepped up and had another huge game. He finished 4-for-4 with three runs, two RBI, a double and four stolen bases. He set career-highs in hits, runs, RBI and stolen bases in the win.

"I'm always ready." Alvarez said. "It doesn't matter, whenever they put me in I'll be ready. Whenever coach wants me to play, I'm ready to play. Today was just about picking up a teammate, Tito [Justin Ortiz] wasn't able to play, so I just went out there and did my thing for him. Had to pick him up that's it."
 
Stalzer, Patane and Kreider also had a multi-hit game, as Stalzer added an RBI, run and walk, Patane added two RBI and Kreider had a run and a stolen base, as he earned the start at second in game two.
 
The Hawks are back in action Tuesday to complete their three-game series against the Cardinals. A win is crucial for playoff standing, as they aim for their second SUNYAC sweep of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.
 
"Tomorrow is just go out there and attack them," Alvarez said. "Don't take any pressure off them and just keep doing what we're doing, keep attacking, keep hitting. We just need Billy [Moller] to go out there and do Billy things. Be a wizard, that's all he has to do."

Post-Game Interview with Leo Alvarez


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