When Tommy Kreider stepped foot on campus in 2021, the Hawks baseball program was in a rebuild.
 
A new culture was being cultivated with head coach Thomas Seay in his second year at the helm. Krieder was brought into the program to play an integral part of what would be a new era of SUNY New Paltz Baseball.
 
The New City, NY native continued growing with a breakout sophomore year that bled into the best season anyone who's suited up in the blue and orange ever had. It all culminated in the most improbable run in Division III sports with Kreider leading the charge.
 
"The seniors were here since I was a freshman, [and] they really just wanted to make the playoffs. That was the main goal, and obviously we wanted to win it all, but we had never been to the playoffs the first two years so once we got there, we knew anything could happen," Kreider said. "We just grinded every game to make the dreams come true."  
 
The team earned their coveted spot in the conference playoffs, and once there, they believed. At the tail end of the historic season, they collected wins in 10 of the last 13 games, including five straight to get into the postseason for the first time since 2018. They won a record 31 games — the most memorable being in the SUNYAC Tournament, where they overcame a 10-run deficit against Oswego to push their way to the championship bracket. 
 
 
The Hawks took their first loss of the tournament against the top-seeded Cortland Red Dragons but moved back into the championship round after eliminating the Lakers following a 4-3 victory to pit themselves in the finals against Cortland. But the Hawks encountered another challenge, as they needed to defeat the Red Dragons twice to claim the 2024 SUNYAC title. SUNY New Paltz had never, since the inception of the program, beat Cortland on its home field.
 
But, in Game One, they rolled the Red Dragons. The Hawks routed Cortland 11-3 with Kreider going 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBI, including what ended as the game-winning run.  
 
Confident, the Hawks looked at a winner-take-all finale on Wallace Field against the hosts. Cortland held a 3-0 lead before an explosive seven-run fourth inning for SUNY New Paltz broke the game open. Kreider stayed hot, following Justin Ortiz with an RBI single to knot the score at 3-all and later was brought home to help in a 7-3 advantage. Kreider added another RBI in the fifth to extend the lead to 9-3 and added one more RBI in the eighth to broaden his team's cushion to 10 at 15-5.  
 
Cortland started to scrape back and got within five heading into the ninth, but the Hawks destiny was set to become champions.  
 
The final out will remain in SUNY New Paltz baseball history forever and in the mind of Kreider and each and every Hawk in attendance. All-Region III Gold Glove recipient, Michael Ascanio came in from his centerfield spot to get the final three outs. He forced a ground out to Kreider against his first batter faced but allowed the next two on before getting the second out on a fly to left. Cortland managed two runs across to make the game more heightened, but on five pitches, on a 1-2 count, Ascanio fanned the final batter to solidify the championship title for the Hawks. 
 
A sea of orange rushed the field after the Hawks dethroned one of the best programs in Division III baseball on their home field, doing so for the first time ever in a storybook ending to the team's first ever championship victory 
 
"It was an insane moment. At shortstop, Mike Ascanio struck him out — everyone was getting a little nervous," Kreider recalled. "I mean bases loaded, we were up four, they were coming back slowly, so it was a little nerve-wracking, but I believed in Mike and once he struck him out everyone just dog piled and rushed right to him. It was insane. It was a great high." 
 
Kreider proved himself as the best player in the tournament. He went 9-for-20 with four extra base hits, including a home run, five runs scored and seven RBI. In the final two games against the No. 20 nationally ranked and No. 1 team in Region III Red Dragons, Kreider went a staggering 7-for-11 with two doubles, four runs and five RBI — a resounding resume that led him to be named as the program's first ever SUNYAC MVP.  
 
"The main thing was a SUNYAC Championship. I never really thought about the MVP," Kreider said. "I honestly didn't even think I was going to make it. I had a bad first few days I think, but I guess not." 
 
The 2024 campaign was off the heels of a tough 2023, where SUNY New Paltz finished 14-24 overall, losing 13 games of three runs or fewer while having blown six late inning leads across the season. They ended the year only 4-14 in the SUNYAC and missed out on the postseason for the fourth-straight year.
 
Kreider was a bright spot individually, as the then sophomore hit .365 on the year with 38 hits, 27 runs, 16 RBI with 24 walks and 16 stolen bases, striking out just 16 times all year with a slugging percentage of .413. He was named to his first All-SUNYAC recognition, earning a trip to first team, while also garnering an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Region nod, landing on fourth team to become just the fourth Hawk to earn the honor.   
 
His numbers jumped from his freshman season where he hit .310 with a slugging percentage of .338 with 22 hits, 12 runs, seven RBI and two doubles in 26 games played. Kreider was determined to put more work in entering his second season, getting in the gym to get stronger and preparing his body for Division III baseball. In turn, Kreider saw his numbers jump especially in extra base hits with seven combined in his first two seasons to 25 in 2024.  
 
"Freshman year I slacked off in the gym a lot. I came in really small, and I remember I'd barrel up some balls and it would be a routine fly-out and I was like, 'What's wrong with me?' So that summer I really invested into the gym, running, eating just to get bigger and sophomore year I ended up getting First-Team All-SUNYAC and my game just developed," Kreider said. "I always tell myself that I'm better than the pitcher. The pitcher is terrible. The approach doesn't really change. It's always to win the game, but I just have confidence in myself. I don't really get nervous. I get excited because I want to be in those moments. I want to beat you, basically against the pitcher." 
 
The individual success was a focal point of an even better junior campaign, galvanizing Kreider's confidence as he became one of the best in the batter's box. He started the season hot, going on an hitting streak in the opening eight games with 16 hits, 12 runs, three extra base hits and seven RBI. He ended the year with a hit in 39 of 46 games played.  
 
"Tommy had a special year. Not too many guys can say they have ever had a year like that. For the bulk of the season, he was at or above .500 and at one point in the season he was second in the country in hitting," said SUNY New Paltz head coach Thomas Seay after Kreider was named an All-American last spring. "I think the transition from second base to shortstop, the grind of being a shortstop affected his production at the plate, but there's no secret once we made that defensive adjustment, we started to go on our run. Once we started to play better at the shortstop position, we started to roll and win games, and a lot of that is a testament to Tommy's selflessness."  
 
Kreider's hot bat helped the team overcome early difficulties, and with an experienced roster that featured five fifth year and one sixth-year player, the Hawks embodied resilience. They lost four early matchups in their first five games but showed their potential as they went on the road and rattled off three-straight after earning their first win of the season against Virginia Wesleyan.
 
"My sophomore year we had a very young team… I feel like that was one of the reasons why we blew so many games, but I think that's really what shaped us," Kreider said. "The next year we went down to Virginia and beat Virginia Wesleyan. We were all stressing, even all the parents, like are we going to hold onto this lead or blow it? I think that was a big change in that season just because after we won that game and held onto the lead in those last few innings, we kind of knew we could do it. We were older and more mature."   
Proving they grew from their disappointing 2023 campaign, the Hawks slowly started building more momentum while Kreider was quickly accumulating MVP-type numbers. Two weeks into the year, Kreider knew his season was just getting started, as he'd become a near automatic bag every time he stepped into the batter's box. 
 
"After Hartford that second weekend, I remember that was my best played baseball weekend," he said. "I didn't miss a barrel… I was just thinking I was going to have a great year. I had to keep it up, keep grinding and keep getting better." 
 
SUNY New Paltz entered SUNYAC play against Plattsburgh where they dropped two of three at home. The series was the turning point. In year's past, disappointing early-series losses had defined the Hawks season, but with a group of veterans who had been there over the course of their careers, the team re-grouped, re-focused and answered with an extra-inning victory over Maritime before putting together a historic outing in their next SUNYAC matchup against Fredonia State.  
 
The result was one of the most lopsided victories in program history with SUNY New Paltz rolling the Blue Devils, 30-2 in Game One. Kreider led the way and went 7-for-10 with eight runs and two RBI's in the two-game stretch.  
 
Although the Hawks lost the next outing, they won game three to take the tie-break over Fredonia before going on the road for another pivotal series against rival SUNY Oneonta. SUNY New Paltz dropped the first matchup but again showed its resiliency and came back strong to win game two and three, 6-2 and 14-7, respectively, to clinch another conference series.  

 
 
The outcome put SUNY New Paltz in great positioning to garner a spot in the postseason with only Brockport, Oswego and Cortland series left to play. The Hawks went on the road and defeated the Golden Eagles in two of three and maybe more importantly, won a game against the Red Dragons on Loren Campbell that left a nugget of belief that a future upset was looming.  
  
The win over Cortland started what was a six-game winning streak, including a first sweep since 2013, on the road no less, over the Lakers that cemented SUNY New Paltz the No. 2 seed in the conference playoff, its highest regular season finish to date.   
  
The team was confident. They were playing some of their best baseball with Kreider at the helm, but they still needed to solidify some spots in the field. Despite earning All-Region recognition at second base, Seay needed Kreider to move over to short and help fill the gap on the left middle infield. He was capable, an athletic talent with a good arm, but the position came at a taxing cost. Kreider's batting numbers dipped, but the team as a whole became better because of his defensive sacrifice. He started the last 20 games at short and during that span the Hawks won 13 of their matchups before going into their first NCAA Tournament.  
 
SUNY New Paltz owned the mantra of 'Why not us?'" as it went into its first postseason appearance since 2018. It had to go through a brutal schedule that included three regionally ranked teams and two former conference champions. However, they never faltered and became the scariest team to face in the postseason.  
 
The championship victory over Cortland solidified SUNY New Paltz a spot in the national tournament for the first time ever. It was sent just two hours west to hosting Eastern Connecticut State where they were in a pod with the Warriors, Husson University and the No. 1 nationally ranked Endicott Gulls.  
 
SUNY New Paltz took another win in the opening game against Eastern Connecticut State with Kreider going 1-for-3 with a run scored, which pitted a matchup against Endicott in the winner's bracket.  
 
Due to inclement weather, the game was moved about 45 minutes to the University of Connecticut at Elliott Ballpark for a night game. Rain continued into the night, but nothing could cool off the hot bats of the Hawks as they went toe-to-toe with one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. SUNY New Paltz out-hit the Gulls 13-12 with Kreider going an unbelievable 3-for-4 with four runs, two RBI and two walks, as the team nearly pulled another upset, but came up just short in a 19-12 loss. 
 
On short rest, the Hawks were dead in a quick turnround game the next morning. Their magical run came to an end against the Eagles with the offense sputtering in a 6-2 loss. Despite the early exit, the program earned notoriety with the offense ranking 19th in hits, 18th in runs, 16th in doubles and 36th in the country in runs per game.  
 
Kreider was the leader, as he finished with a team-best .463 batting average, OPS of 1.216, 62 runs, 82 hits, 19 doubles, 36 RBI, 116 total bases, a slugging percentage of .655, on-base-percentage of .561 with 39 walks and 21 stolen bases, while striking out just 21 times all season. He broke single season program records for games played (46) and games started (46), runs, hits, doubles, total bases and on-base-percentage. 
 
During the national tournament he went 5-for-9 with six runs, two doubles and two RBI en route to an All-Tournament team honor. The first of many accolades that came down the stretch in the final weeks of his junior campaign.  
 
Kreider was named an ABCA All-Region first team selection, a fourth-team D3Baseball All-American and an ABCA first-team All-American — the first in program history. He also added academic honors as the SUNYAC Scholar Athlete of the Year selection, and most recently, heading into the 2025 campaign was named as the program's first D3Baseball First Team Preseason All-American.  
 
"I was very grateful, but I felt like it was a team award," Kreider said. "They helped me get better and they supported me nonstop even when I was struggling a bit during the season. I put so much time and effort, and my team always had my back. I was grateful and thankful, and I always thought it was more of a team award, because they helped me throughout it."  
 
A special run that was spent with his parents at virtually every game since he started playing for the Hawks, it was his dad who shared the news of his All-America selection.  
 
"My dad actually found out before me, because he loves this stuff," he said. "I think I was just outside reading a book, and my dad just came up and was like, 'someone texted me you won All-American.' I checked it out and my phone was blowing up. My dad was hype. It was pretty funny, and it was just a great experience." 
 
With a year still left in his college baseball career, Kreider hopes to further his legacy and lead the Hawks to another title entering 2025. Despite how the year turns this spring, the 2024 run will remain as one of the most special seasons of his lifetime.  
 
"The greatest moment of my life. SUNYAC Champions. Win record — there's so much to say. 
 
"The goal is to win championships and personal records come along," Kreider added. "It was nice to get the All-Americans, All-Regions all that, but the championships are the best part about it. That's something you'll never forget with that team, especially breaking all the records like the wins record and all that. It was an incredible season, and I will never forget it."  

New Paltz Athletics Features: Tommy Kreider
(edited by Xavier Calderon & Riley Phillips/Athletic Communications)
 

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