Oswego, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz split its doubleheader Saturday against hosting Oswego to open up the three-game SUNYAC series.
 
The Hawks won Game 1 Saturday, 7-4 but dropped Game 2, 11-7 to move their record to 13-10 overall and 4-4 in the SUNYAC, while the Lakers got back to .500 at 12-12 while holding a 9-2 record in conference play.
 
Kiran Paingankar was the Game 1 starter for SUNY New Paltz and had a solid outing after throwing six innings, giving up just two hits, one earned run and four walks on 105 pitches.
 
The game was scoreless until Louis Kaleb ripped his second home run of the year on the first pitch he saw to give the hosts the initial 1-0 lead. SUNY New Paltz's offense got going in the seventh as it started finding success against starter Mason Sands. Joe Scarabino got the rally going as he singled to the left side with two outs, allowing Kaleb to come back up to the plate with the junior transfer confidently knocking a two RBI double to center scoring Scarabino and Joe Richetti. Matt Sarni brought Kaleb home on a base hit through the left side but tried stretching the play to put himself into scoring position and was tagged out to end the side.
 
Sarni came in to relieve Paingankar following a lead-off walk to begin the bottom half of the stanza with Andrew Asaro taking over at shortstop for Sarni. The senior yielded a walk and then a two-RBI single but limited the damage there to keep the score at 4-2 entering the eighth.
 
Oswego continued the momentum in the bottom of the eighth inning, tying the game at 4-4 on RBI singles. However, the offense answered for the Hawks with Scarabino coming up with a lead-off single to ignite his team. Kaleb's hot bat continued despite the pitching change from the Lakers as he hit a single to left. An error allowed Scarabino to score during an at-bat by Sarni with Tommy Poggi plating Kaleb on a base hit to left. Another error on Johnny McHugh's at-bat brought a run home with SUNY New Paltz taking at 7-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth.  
Sarni closed the game out. He got Oswego swinging for a strikeout to lead off, then a ground out two batters later before another strikeout sealed the 7-4 win.
 
Kaleb was the catalyst in Game 1, going 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBI. Scarabino followed going 2-for-4 with two runs, while Fabian Apicella and Garrett Grathwohl each added two hits.
 
Linus Oudom earned the start in Game 2 and suffered the loss after yielding six hits, six earned runs and three walks with three strikeouts in three innings pitched. The Lakers took the lead with two runs in the bottom of the first and answered again after the Hawks took the lead in the top half of the third with a four-run inning to go up, 6-3 resulting in a pitching change to Robert Gregory who started the fourth.
 
SUNY New Paltz worked back to within one in the fourth inning, thanks to a two-run home run by Joe Richetti to cut the deficit, 6-5.
 
Oswego continued being efficient offensively, however, and answered in the fifth. A leadoff walk opened the frame, followed by a base hit and a fielding error, which drove a run across. A sacrifice fly by the Lakers allowed them to take an 8-5 lead with Gregory getting out of the inning on a fly-out to keep the difference to three, stranding the bases loaded.
 
The Hawks couldn't sustain enough offense though to climb out of the hole. Sarni scored on an error after getting on with a bunt-single in the seventh and Apicella capped the afternoon with an RBI double that platted Poggi, which brought the score to 11-7. The rally ended there, as Kaleb flew out for the final out of the game.
 
SUNY New Paltz generated five hits in Game 2. Sarni was the main catalyst as he added a hit, two runs, a walk and two stolen bases. Poggi also provided a base hit and two runs scored. Richetti went 1-for-2 with a run, two RBI and a stolen base.
 
The two teams conclude their three-game series Sunday for a nine-inning single game slated for noon at Laker Baseball Field.  


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