OSWEGO, UTICA — The New Paltz men’s baseball team dropped three of four this weekend at Oswego and Utica/Rome to hurt their chances for a SUNYAC playoff bid. The Hawks have remaining doubleheaders against Fredonia, Brockport, and Oneonta and currently sit in 5th place overall with only the top four teams advancing.
In game one against Oswego, the Hawks blew a 7-2 lead and the Lakers punched in a run in the 11th inning in a 10-9 loss. The Hawks got things rolling in the third, knocking in five runs on four hits. Paul Schropfer (Glen Oaks, NY) had a 2-RBI single, and Vinnie Perry (Kingston, NY) blasted a three-run shot in the inning. The Hawks got two more in the fifth on RBI singles from Ernesto Sosa (Santa Domingo, DR) and Randy Walters (Collierville, TN) to take a commanding five-run lead. The Lakers stormed back in the 6th and 7th, scoring five runs to tie it, and got a game winning single in the 11th for the win. The Hawks had a runner in scoring position in both the top of the 10th and 11th innings but could not get them home. John Buonamano (Royersford, PA) started the game for New Paltz going 5 and 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs on ten hits. Eric Kantner (New Hampton, NY) took the loss for the Hawks, coming on in the eighth inning. Kantner gave up just one run in 4 and 1/3 innings of work. Schropfer and Mike Bucco (Washingtonville, NY) pounded out four hits apiece to pace the Hawks.
In game two, trailing 4-0 in the 4th, Sosa scored on an error and Kevin Smith (Niskayuna, NY) drove in two runs with a double to put some life into the Hawks and make it a 4-3 game. The Lakers retaliated, scoring five runs in the bottom half of the inning on six hits, giving them a commanding 9-3 lead. Bucco got two back in the seventh with a two-RBI single but the Hawks could get no further, losing 11-5. Jimmy Fisher (Bloomsbury, NJ) took the loss for New Paltz going 3 and 1/3 innings, giving up eight runs on seven hits.
Sunday, against Utica/Rome, things looked bleak in game one as the Hawks found themselves down 8-1going into the last inning. New Paltz mounted a furious comeback, scoring ten runs on ten hits in the inning en route to an amazing 11-8 come from behind win. Vinnie Perry’s (Kingston, NY) solo shot in the sixth was the first run of the game for the Hawks. In the seventh, Bucco’s 2-RBI single, Perry’s 2-RBI double, Jeff Lackaye’s (Woodstock, NY) RBI walk, Smith’s RBI walk, Rich Bizelia’s (Massapequa, NY) RBI single, and Tom Bigler’s (Brewster, NY) RBI double accounted for New Paltz’s flurry of runs. Don Hallenbeck (Fallsburg, NY) got the win for the Hawks, pitching one inning while giving up no runs or hits and striking out two batters.
In game two, the New Paltz bats continued to impress as Tom Bigler opened the game with a solo homerun and Sosa singled home Schropfer for an early 2-0 lead. Smith scored on Bigler’s groundout in the second and Buonamano’s RBI double, and Jeff Lackaye and Kevin Smith’s RBI singles in the third, gave the Hawks a brief 6-5 lead. In the fourth and fifth, Schropfer’s RBI double, Walter’s 2-RBI single, and Sosa’s 2-RBI single gave the Hawks an 11-10 lead. The lead would be the Hawk’s last as the Wildcats got back on top in the fifth and punched in two more for the 14-12 win. Buonamano added a solo homer in the eighth for the Hawks’ final run. Bizelia gave up twelve runs on fourteen hits in five innings for the Hawks and Eric Kantner took the loss.
The Hawks record now sits at 7-14-1 and 1-5 in the conference. Baseball will next be in action Tuesday at home against Western New England at 3:30pm.
