BROCKPORT, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team began its three-game weekend series at The College at Brockport Friday afternoon, losing a tough game by a score of 7-3.
 
The Hawks could not generate enough offense against the arm of the Golden Eagles' Andrew Huffman, who struck out 12 batters over seven innings and picked up his seventh win of the season. On the visiting side, Dominic Schuch pitched four innings, giving up nine hits and five earned runs in the loss. With the loss, he dropped to 5-7. 
 
SUNY New Paltz, while managing 10 hits, did leave four on-base and struggled against the 6-foot, 2-inch right-hander Huffman. He struck out two Hawks in each of the first four innings, allowing just one hit in the process, while Nick Pastore hit his fourth home run in as many games with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to give the home side a 2-0 lead. SUNY Brockport added three more runs in the third inning, including an RBI single from Ryan Voight. 
 
SUNY New Paltz got on the board in the fifth inning, thanks to Matt Laurelli's RBI single that came on the heels of base hits from Jordan Rios and Justin Harvey. Rios and Harvey both had good games offensively, as Rios went 3-for-4 with a double and Harvey 2-for-3 with an RBI. In the same inning, Michael Boccarossa tallied his 25th RBI of the season with a single into right field that cut the deficit to three at 5-2. 
 
However, the Golden Eagles added to their lead in the bottom half when Tom Kretzler, who led his team with a 3-for-4 performance, homered to left field for his ninth home run of the season. Jake Sisto followed up Kretzler's at-bat with an RBI single, giving Brockport a 7-2 lead.  
Huffman continued to roll as the game wore on, striking out Dean Stalzer, Jesse Keshner, and Rios over the next two innings. Overall, he went seven full innings, giving up seven hits and two earned runs. His 12 strikeouts were two off of his season high.
 
The Hawks' Nick Zangara and Scott Wagner, in relief of Schuch, did a good job staying composed and limiting the Golden Eagles in the seventh and eighth innings. Zangara struck out Sisto and Zach Eldred to end the seventh while Wagner struck out Ryan Mansell to end the eighth inning with runners at second and third. 
 
In the ninth inning, SUNY New Paltz was threatening with runners at second and third after singles from Rios and Tommy Kreider. Harvey hit a sacrifice fly that brought Rios around to make the score 7-3, but Laurelli grounded out to end the game. 
 
With the loss, the Hawks dropped to 14-17 overall (6-7 in the SUNYAC), while Brockport improved to 27-6 overall and 9-4 in the conference. Both teams will meet again on Saturday in a doubleheader that starts at 12 p.m. on what is also Senior Day for the Golden Eagles. 

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