Cary, NC — The State University of New York at New Paltz traveled down to Cary, North Carolina to play William Peace at the USA Baseball National Training Complex Thursday.
 
The Hawks (0-4 overall) got down early in the first and climbed back in the top of the sixth but gave up four runs in the bottom half that was the difference as they fell, 10-3.
 
After getting down by five heading into the fourth, SUNY New Paltz got its offense going into the top of the inning thanks to a leadoff double by Dillon Ristano. Fabian Apicella brought him home on a no-out RBI single to center, then put himself in scoring position with a steal on the next at-bat. The Hawks got two aboard with no outs as Justin Harvey walked on a wild pitch that moved Apicella to third. However, they couldn't take advantage as the inning ended on three-straight strikeouts to keep the score at 5-1 in favor of the Pacers.
 
SUNY New Paltz trimmed the difference to two in the sixth. Chris Thorne followed a walk by John D'Innocenzo with a single through the left side of the infield. D'Innocenzo touched home on an error by the catcher and Michael Boccarossa plated Thorne on an RBI single two batters later.  
The offense stalled there for the Hawks with William Peace adding four insurance runs in the bottom half to put the game away. Liam Ryan was on the mound for SUNY New Paltz, coming in in the bottom of the third for starter Matt Sarni. He got the leadoff batter out on a groundout to short, but a hit-by-pitch and walk extended the inning, as the Pacers followed with a two-RBI double. Ryan struck out the next batter for the second out of the inning before Nick Zangara came in for relief. After walking his first batter, Burke Sheehan threw to the following three batters. An error at first allowed another run across with the Pacers hitting an RBI base hit before Ristano threw out the runner at second on an attempted steal.
 
Boccarossa went 3-for-3 with an RBI, a walk and a stolen base, while Thorne (2-for-5) and Apicella (2-for-4) were the only other Hawks to register a multi-hit game. Sarni was given the loss following 2.2 innings.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Friday for a doubleheader against Alfred State at Historic Durham Athletic Park and Elmira College back at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.

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