NEW PALTZ, NY — Freshman Justin Buonamano (Royersford, PA) smacked two home runs and freshman John DeKams (Kings Park, NY) pitched seven shutout innings to lead SUNY New Paltz to a 9-4 win over local rival Vassar College in their season finale.
The Hawks (14-24-1) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with a two out rally. Sophomore Vinny McAdams (Little Falls, NY) was hit by a pitch and stole second to move into scoring position. Sophomore Jeff Cote’ (Mechanicsville, MD) extended his hitting streak to 15 games when he drove home McAdams with a single to center field.
New Paltz continued their offensive explosion by scoring two runs in each of the next three innings to take a 7-0 lead. Their lead extended to 9-0 when Buonamano hit his second home run of the game, a two-run shot to right field, in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Vassar (14-19) broke up the shutout when freshman Adam Gallari (Levittown, NY) hit a two-run homer to left center field with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. The Brewers scored two more runs in the ninth inning on a two-run single by sophomore Paul Noonan (Middlebury, CT).
DeKams allowed seven hits and struck out five in seven innings to even his record at 2-2. He was also 3-for-4 at the plate with a run and an RBI. Buonamano went 2-for-3 with two runs and four RBI’s. Cote’, sophomore Josh Gutes (Hauppauge, NY), and senior Silvestre Castro (New York, NY) all had two hits and scored a run for the Hawks. McAdams finished the season with a New Paltz single-season record 56 hits.
Gallari went 2-for-4 with two RBI’s and freshman John Mandel (Pembroke Pine, FL) went 3-for-5 with a run. Freshman Matt Elias (Brooklyn, NY) allowed seven runs on nine hits to take the loss.
