Hawks Rally Comes Up Short Against Union

NEW PALTZ, NY — The SUNY New Paltz baseball team fell behind 6-1 after four and a half innings and fell 7-5 to Union College this afternoon.

The Dutchmen got a two-run homer from senior James Griglun (Southington, CT) in the top of the first to highlight a three-run inning. Union (10-12) added three more in the top of the fifth off SUNY New Paltz starter Marc Smith (New City, NY) to take a five-run lead into the bottom of the sixth.

Trailing 6-1, the Hawks pushed home a run in the bottom of the sixth and an RBI single by sophomore Blake Crocitto (Lake George, NY) in the bottom of the seventh cut the their deficit to 6-3.

Junior Mike Flanagan (Oxford, NY) homered in the ninth to complete a 2-for-5, two RBI day and gave Union a 7-3 lead.

SUNY New Paltz (12-22-1) scored twice in the bottom of the ninth and a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore Josh Gutes (Hauppauge, NY) made it 7-5. The Hawks did bring the tying run to the plate but sophomore Eric Mapplethorpe (Oceanside, NY) retired the Hawks to lift Union to its third straight win.

Sophomore Vinny McAdams (Little Falls, NY) went 2-for-3 to push his season hit total to 51. McAdams became just the third Hawk to eclipse the 50-hit mark and is now three shy of breaking the single-season record of 53 set by Randy Walters in 2002.

Sophomore Jeff Cote’ (Mechanicsburg, MD) went 1-for-4 with an RBI single in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 11.

Freshman John Moore (Westport, MA) pitched three and a third innings out of the bullpen to earn the victory. Smith pitched five innings, gave up nine hits and struck two to take the loss.