New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz continued its three-game SUNYAC series Saturday with a doubleheader against SUNY Cortland on Loren Campbell Memorial Field.
 
The Hawks (22-13 overall) looked to shake off the 11 inning loss Friday against the Red Dragons with its last home doubleheader of the regular season. With powerful hitting from the visitors, as well as solid starting pitching, SUNY New Paltz fell in Game 1, 13-2. With strong hitting from Kreider, and a quality start from Liam Ryan, the Hawks split the doubleheader with a 13-11 win in Game 2.
 
Right-hander James McGovern was on the mound in Game 1 in the hunt for his third win of the year. Cortland came out swinging as the first batter of the game lined a lead-off triple to left field. McGovern then surrendered a walk to the next batter, instantly putting two runners on with no outs. With two on, the Red Dragons cracked a two-run double to grab an early 2-0 lead. Cortland added one more in the opening inning on a SAC fly to Anthony Pericolosi in right.
 
The top of the second was similar to the first with Cortland continuing to get good contact with the ball. Three batters into the inning, the Hawks fell behind 4-0 on a single to Fabian Apicella and a double to Michael Ascanio. Three straight singles plated another run to make it 6-0 in favor of Cortland. Two more runs came across in the second on two straight singles and a hit by pitch to cement an early 8-0 lead for Cortland.
 
Nick Harvey led off the bottom of the third with a hit by pitch as the Hawks looked to get on the board. Tommy Kreider followed with a walk to put on with no outs. Two batters later, Pericolosi stepped up and cracked one to center driving Harvey home, and moving Kreider to third. Michael Boccarossa wanted a chance to shrink the deficit, and lined an RBI single to right, scoring Kreider and cutting the big lead to 8-2.
 
The Dragons cooled off as the game progressed, only scoring one more run until the top of the seventh. Cortland led off the inning with a base on balls. Two batters later McGovern surrendered a single to Kreider as the Dragons continued to hit. A rarity occurred for the Hawks as McGovern decided to give a free pass on an intentional walk to load the bases. That walk paid off for Cortland as another run came in to score, expanding the lead to 10-2. Freshman right-hander Dylan Thomasson took over in his tenth appearance of the season with the bases loaded, and the Dragons looking to continue to add on to its lead. Thomasson committed a balk to push across the second run of the inning, giving Cortland an 11-2 lead.
 

Cortland added two more in the top of the eighth, putting the game out of reach for SUNY New Paltz. Coach Thomas Seay went to his bench to try and get a spark going. Justin Ortiz reached when he was plunked in the bottom half of the inning. Nothing would come of it as Cortland cruised for the 13-2 win in Game 1.
 
McGovern was handed his fifth loss of the season after going six and a third innings giving up 16 hits, 11 runs, all of which were earned, three walks with four strikeouts.
 
The Hawks only mustard five hits in Game 1. Nick Harvey went 1-for-3 with a run scored. Pericolsoi went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Boccarossa went 1-for-2 with an RBI. Justin Harvey went 1-for-3. Fabian Apicella went 1-for-3.
 
Before the start of Game 2, the Hawks honored its graduating seniors on Senior Day. Dillon Ristano, Justin Ortiz, James Trink and Anthony Pericolosi were recognized for their time as a Hawk.
 
Right-hander Liam Ryan was on the mound in the Game 2 looking for his first win of the year.   
 
In the top of the second, Ryan surrendered two back-to-back walks, as Cortland looked to continue its run barrage Saturday. The runners moved to second and third on a groundout back to Ryan. The next batter traded an out for a run, as Kreider threw to first for the out, but a run came in to score. Looking for the final out of the inning, Ryan allowed a single past Boccarossa to plate the second run of the game and give the Dragons a 2-0 lead.
 
The Hawks loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a walk and two Singles. With one out, Ortiz stepped up and cracked a two-run double, scoring Justin Harvey and Boccarossa to even the score at 2. One run away from the first lead of the day, Nick Harvey slugged a double to right to drive in Apicella, giving the Hawks a 3-2 lead. Later in the inning, SUNY New Paltz had a chance to make it a four run cushion. It worked out perfectly as Pericolosi slugged a two-run triple to center to score Ascanio and Kreider to give the Hawks a 6-2 lead.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, the Dragons went to its bullpen for a fresh arm. The change would pay off as Kreider led off with a double to left field. Ascanio walked to give Pericolosi another chance to come up big and extend the lead. That's exactly what he did and promptly cracked another two-run extra base hit with a triple to center to make it 9-2. The Hawks added three more in the inning to have a comfortable 12-2 lead. 
 
Right-hander Jason Wall took over in relief in  his 11th appearance of the season. This inning would be the start of nine unanswered runs that Cortland scored till the ninth inning. Wall successfully retired the first two pinch-hitters, but the Dragons kept the inning going with four-straight singles and a walk, cutting the Hawks lead to 13-4. Thomasson took over with the bases loaded, and could not find the zone, surrendering a walk to make it 13-5. He buckled down and found that that much needed third out.
 
The offensive show continued for both sides in Game 2 as the Dragons lined another batch of four consecutive singles and a bases loaded walk, to slowly creep back and make it a 13-7 ballgame in the seventh. Right-hander Connor Olson took over in his 13th appearance of the season in a bases loaded jam. The first batter faced cracked a SAC fly to Pericolosi to make it a 13-8 game.
 
Olson kept the Dragons scoreless until the ninth when he plunked a batter to lead off the inning. The next batter moved the runner into scoring position with a single. Ascanio came in from center field to pitch. In his first career pitching appearance, he was greeted with an RBI double to left field. Ascanio picked up the first two outs of the inning on a groundout to Bocarossa and a fly out to Pericolosi, albeit at the cost of two runs. With one out away from a big win, Cortland stayed alive with a base knock to left. Ascanio knew it was time to shut down the Dragon's comeback, inducing the Dragon's pinch hitter to pop up to Ortiz in center to secure the huge 13-11 victory for the Hawks.
 
The Hawks win in Game 2 ties a single season win record in the program from the 2000 & 2001 seasons (22). 
 
Ryan was handed his first win of the season after going five innings allowing three hits, two runs, all of which were earned, five walks with four strikeouts.
 
The offense produced 16 hits in Game 2 where eight of the nine starters notched a hit. Nick Harvey went 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Kreider went 4-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored. Ascanio went 0-for-3, with three walks and two runs scored. Pericolosi went 2-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored. Boccarossa went 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. Apicella went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
 
SUNY New Paltz continues its homestand Wednesday with its last regular season game of the year against Mount Saint Mary College. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Loren Campbell Memorial Field.


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