New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz hosted Russell Sage College Tuesday on Loren Campbell Field, falling 13-7 with a seven-run third inning propelling the Gators to the win.
 
Robert Gregory earned his first career start, pitching the opening 2.2 innings, giving up five hits and four earned runs with three walks and a strikeout. He got through the first two innings with a shutout, but errors in the field plagued the young right-hander in the third.
 
The Gators led off with a single before Gregory earned a flyout on the ensuing at-bat for the first out of the third inning. Sage followed with a hard-hit single through the left side, but a muffed ball in the outfield allowed the runner to advance to second and pushed the first run across for the visitors. Gregory struck out the next batter for the second out but couldn't get out of the inning as a fly ball to right was misjudged and landed just inside the left field line for an error, which allowed another run to score. Gregory then gave up a two-run home run before another error at short prolonged the inning with Gregory then suffering back-to-back walks, which led to a pitching change as Liam Ryan came in for relief. Ryan balked on the first batter faced, pushing Sage's lead to 7-1 before a strikeout finally ended the top of the third.
 
SUNY New Paltz earned a run back in the bottom half, as Christopher Sais got on with a one-out single to center. Justin Harvey walked a batter later with Michael Boccarossa loading the bases following an error at second. Ryan Mackle pushed Sais across on bases-loaded walk to cut the score, 7-2.
 
 
The Gators took an 11-2 lead in the top of the seventh as more errors by the Hawks allowed Sage to keep the inning alive once again with two outs. A nice play at right by Justin Ortiz forced a double play, as he made an athletic catch down the right field line before throwing out the runner trying to get back to first.
 
A hard hop at third allowed two runs to score for the Gators, adding another on a single after a passed ball advanced their base runner over to third.  
An error at third in the eighth with two outs allowed the inning to continue for Sage, as it ended the top half with its largest lead at 13-2. SUNY New Paltz answered in the bottom of the inning with Justin Harvey getting the rally started with a rip to the center field wall for a double. Boccarossa earned a walk in the following at-bat with both moving over two batters later before Garrett Grathwhol came through with a two-RBI double to left to bring Harvey and Boccarossa home.
 
The Hawks kept fighting in the bottom of the ninth, as Justin Ortiz and Nick Harvey knocked back-to-back doubles with the latter recording the RBI after bringing Ortiz home. Sais scored Harvey on an RBI single. Mike Ascanio knocked a base hit through the left side to push Sais to third on the play. Justin Harvey plated Sais but allowed Sage to turn a double play on the grounder. Matt Sarni recorded a pinch-hit single before Mackle followed up with a base hit, but a groundout by Grathwohl closed out the rally.
 
SUNY New Paltz suffered six errors in the field, which proved as the difference with both teams in double-figure hits — the Gators with 12 and the Hawks not far behind with 11.
 
Grathwohl went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Sais finished 2-for-5 as well with two runs and an RBI, while Mackle hit 2-for-4 with an RBI and a walk with Justin Harvey going 1-for-3 with two runs and two walks.
 
The Hawks (7-19 overall, 0-12 SUNYAC) are back in non-conference action Wednesday, going on the road to face Vassar College at 4 p.m.

Hawks vs. Sage Game Highlights

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