ONEONTA, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team managed to split Tuesday's doubleheader at SUNY Oneonta, falling in game one 2-1 in nine innings before pulling out a 4-2 victory in 12 frames in game two at Red Dragon Field.
New Paltz moves to 7-19, 4-11 in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action and plays at Brockport this weekend, April 24-25, in a three-game series. Oneonta, meanwhile, moves to 7-19, 4-11 SUNYAC, and hosts Ithaca tomorrow at 4 p.m. before taking on Fredonia this weekend.
Every game of the three-game series was extended to extra innings as the first meeting on Wednesday, April 15 in Saugerties, N.Y. went to 13 frames.
Game One: Oneonta 2, New Paltz 1 (9 innings)
Senior Tyler Mitts (Nanuet, N.Y./Don Bosco Prep) threw a great game, going 6 2/3 innings while scattering eight hits and striking out three but the Hawks were hurt by two costly errors that handed New Paltz the loss in the opener.
Mitts earned his second start against the Red Dragons in less than a week as the righty threw six frames of one-run baseball on April 15. The senior threw 90 pitches in the no decision.
The Hawks entered the bottom of the seventh with a slim, 1-0 lead and Mitts quickly earned two groundouts. But the next two batters reached on a single and double to give Oneonta runners on second and third with two outs. Unfortunately for New Paltz, the Red Dragons knotted the game up at 1-1 by scoring on an error to send the game to extra innings.
In the eighth, junior Taylor Anderson (East New Market, Md./Cambridge-South Dorchester) singled to center and stole second to give New Paltz a runner in scoring position with one out. But the next two batters could not drive Anderson home and the contest continued.
Senior pitcher Shaun Hansen (Southold, N.Y./Greenport) worked out of a jam in the bottom of the eighth with two runners on and two outs by forcing the next batter to fly out to left field and keep the game tied at 1-1.
New Paltz looked to threaten in the top of the ninth with two outs as senior third baseman Mike Sparacino (Commack, N.Y./Commack) singled to center and Hansen followed with a hit by a pitch. But again, the Hawks could not get on the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Red Dragons started the frame with a leadoff single and with two outs Oneonta took advantage of another New Paltz error and scored to hand the Hawks the extra-inning loss.
Offensively, the Hawks finished with seven hits with junior Tyler Bell (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) leading the way with a 2-for-4 outing. Sophomore first baseman Anthony Diana (North Amawalk, N.Y./Somers) picked up an RBI single to right field in the top of the sixth to score freshman Jake Williams (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford). Freshman right fielder Ryan Bowser (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) picked up the other hit for New Paltz.
With his infield single in the sixth, Williams extended his hitting streak to nine games and has hit safely in 12 of the last 13 games.
Three players recorded two hits each for Oneonta as senior center fielder Mike Cruz, sophomore catcher Sean Mullins and junior second baseman Dillon Merola paced the Red Dragon offense.
Game Two: New Paltz 4, Oneonta 2 (12 innings)
In the nightcap, the Hawks managed to record nine hits against the Red Dragons including a two-run home run by Hansen in the top of the fourth. Despite allowing the tying run to cross in the bottom of the eighth, New Paltz was able to plate two runs in the top of the 12th to hang on for the conference win.
Oneonta jumped out to a 1-0 lead after one inning of play and this remained the score until Hansen cracked a 3-1 pitch over the left field fence, scoring Sparacino, to hand the advantage to New Paltz, 2-1, in the fourth.
Neither team could get on the board for the next few innings, however, until Oneonta managed to knot the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth on a bases loaded fielder's choice.
The Red Dragons looked to end the game in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on second and third but junior pitcher Andrew DiNardo (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay-East Fishkill) got out of the jam as the game headed to extras.
Again, neither team could get any offense going until the top of the 12th when Sparacino led off with a double down the left field line and was brought in to score by an Anthony Pantano (Farmingdale, N.Y./Farmingdale) single to right. After Pantano stole second, Anderson came through with an insurance RBI single to right to hand New Paltz the 4-2 edge.
Hansen finished game two 2-for-4 with two RBI and Sparacino recorded a pair of hits and two runs. Freshman right-hander Conor Donachie (Garden City, N.Y./Chaminade) earned the start and threw 6 2/3 innings of one-run baseball. Freshman lefty Brian LoRusso (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) and DiNardo appeared out of the pen, with DiNardo earning the win in his four innings of work.