Union Comeback Sinks Men’s Baseball

NEW PALTZ — The SUNY New Paltz men’s baseball team took an 8-6 lead into the top of the ninth inning but surrendered seven runs to the Dutchmen, falling 13-8. The loss drops the Hawks’ record to 10-19-1.

Trailing 1-0, New Paltz got three runs in the second on John Buonamano’s (Royersford, PA) three-run blast. Union scored five more times in the next two innings and took a 6- 3 lead into the bottom of the fifth. Kevin Smith’s (Niskayuna, NY) sacrifice fly scored Paul Schropfer (Glen Oaks, NY) to bring the game to 6-4, and in the bottom of the seventh, Tom Bigler (Brewster, NY) ripped a grand slam to left center for an 8-6 Hawks’ lead. The Hawks committed two errors and gave up four hits in the ninth though, and were unable to get anything going in the bottom half of the inning. John Miraldi (Denville, NJ) went three innings and Jesus Estaba (Brooklyn, NY) pitched five for New Paltz. Eric Kantner (New Hampton, NY) took the loss for the Hawks pitching 2/3 of an inning, surrendering five runs on four hits.

New Paltz will return to the field Thursday at St. Joseph’s beginning at 3:30pm.