With a record-setting regular season under its belt, the State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team looks to extend the magic of 2024 as it opens its quest for a SUNYAC Baseball Championship and its first ever invitation to the NCAA DIII Tournament.

The 2024 SUNYAC Baseball Tournament, from Thursday, May 9 - Saturday May 11, will be again at the Robert H. Wallace '53 Field on the campus of SUNY Cortland. SUNY New Paltz will be joined by first seed SUNY Cortland, third seed SUNY Oswego, and fourth seed SUNY Plattsburgh.
 
The Red Dragons, ranked first in the SUNYAC Coaches Preseason poll, lived up to their billing this season, playing a challenging cross-country schedule, compiling 28-10-1 overall mark. Cortland is currently ranked 20th in the nation and first in NCAA Region III. Sporting a 16-2 SUNYAC record, the Red Dragons won their season series against all three tournament opponents. The Red Dragons only two SUNYAC losses were to Oswego, 7-6, on April 21 and SUNY New Paltz, 13-11, on April 27. Cortland has won 36 SUNYAC baseball championships since 1959 and has appeared in 29 consecutive NCAA DIII tournaments.

Facing Cortland in the first round at 12 noon Thursday will be the fourth seeded Cardinals of SUNY Plattsburgh. This will be the Cardinals 10th appearance in the SUNYAC Tournament and first since 2022. Currently ranked fifth in the latest NCAA Region III poll, Plattsburgh sports an overall record of 24-14, with a 10-9 SUNYAC mark. In the regular season, Plattsburgh lost its three-game series against Cortland (3-6, 1-12, 0-3), lost two of three games to Oswego (9-4, 5-7, 0-14), and won the series against SUNY New Paltz (16-11, 2-12, 21-4).
SUNY Oswego opens the tournament at 3:30 p.m. against No. 2 seeded Hawks, a team it lost a three-game series to just last weekend. The Lakers have a long and storied SUNYAC history, having won the SUNYAC baseball championship 15 times since 1959, including back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019. The Lakers have earned a trip to the NCAA DIII tournament 12 times, the last being in 2022. This season Oswego, currently ranked third in the NCAA Region III poll, finished with a 22-15 overall record and a 10-8 mark in SUNYAC, for a third seed in the tournament. The Lakers lost the season series to Cortland (2-5, 6-8, 7-6), won the season series against Plattsburgh (4-9, 7-5, 14-0) and lost the season series to SUNY New Paltz (7-10, 6-7, 5-8).

The Hawks, picked in the SUNYAC Coaches Preseason Poll to finish fifth among the conference teams, landed the No. 2 seed in the Thursday's SUNYAC Tournament on the strength of their 11-7 conference mark, for a second-place finish in SUNYAC regular season play. The Hawks' 26-13 season overall record breaks the program's previous season high of 22 wins set in 2001. Their 11 SUNYAC wins ties them with the 11 wins set by the 1975 team (11-3) under ABCA Hall of Fame coach George Valesente. The team also landed their first ever appearance in the NCBWA/D3Baseball.com NCAA Region III rankings, placing sixth.

SUNY New Paltz will make its eighth appearance in the SUNYAC Baseball Tournament and its first since 2018. The best the Hawks have ever placed in the tournament was in 2000, when the Hawks, seeded third, lost to SUNY Cortland in the championship game, 6-0. Against this year's tournament participants, they lost their season series, 2-1 to Cortland, (9-10, 7-6, 11-13) and Plattsburgh (11-16, 12-2, 4-21) and won the series against Oswego (10-7, 7-6, 8-5).

To see the complete SUNYAC Baseball Tournament schedule, click here.


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