Men’s Baseball Season Ends With Loss To RPI

TROY — New Paltz men’s baseball ended their year Saturday with a 13-4 loss to RPI. The Hawks close out their season 14-24-1.

The Hawks got on the board in the top of the 2nd inning. After John Buonamano (Royersford, PA) walked and Jeff Lackaye (Woodstock, NY) doubled to start the inning, Kevin Smith (Niskayuna, NY) grounded out to second base scoring Buonamano. Trailing 1-0, the Engineers exploded for three runs in the 3rd inning, three in the 4th, and seven in the 5th to take an insurmountable 13-1 lead. New Paltz attempted to claw its way back in the top of the 6th as they got runs off of Lackaye’s sacrifice fly that scored Randy Walters (Collierville, TN), and Smith’s RBI- groundout. In the top of the 7th, the Hawks got one more on Tom Bigler’s (Brewster, NY) solo shot to right field. Buonamano took the loss for the Hawks going 4 and 2/3 innings and scattering nine hits.

After the game, Coach Juhl praised his team for their work and was optimistic about next season. “I am very proud of the way this group battled the whole season dealing with 11 injuries to key players,” Juhl remarked. “We are looking forward to 2003 and hope to be back at the top of the conference.”

Randy Walters finishes the season with a school record 53 hits, and the Hawks’ season batting average of .338 is the 2nd highest in school history.