SUNY New Paltz Baseball Split Doubleheader Against Mount Saint Mary and St. Mary's College

St. Mary's City, MD - The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team split its doubleheader Sunday against Mount Saint Mary College and hosting St. Mary's College (MD), defeating the Knights, 7-3 before falling to the Seahawks, 8-5 to finish its season opening weekend at 2-1 overall.

Coming off a dominating performance Saturday in their season opener against Mount Saint Mary, the Hawks once again defeated the Knights Sunday backed by another strong outing at the plate. Justin Ortiz and Dean Stalzer each produced two RBI for SUNY New Paltz with Ortiz going 2-for-4 with two runs. Matt Laurelli also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

James Trink got the start and earned the win for the Hawks, allowing just four hits and two earned runs with four strikeouts in four innings of work. Bobby Ramsey and Kyle Gaertner closed out the win, combining to allow just four hits and one earned run with Ramsey tallying five strikeouts in three innings pitched.

SUNY New Paltz kept its offense rolling against St. Mary's in game two, scoring in the first when Oritz reached first on an error. He then stole second base, and later scored on a wild pitch. The Seahawks scored four in the bottom of the inning and remained in the lead the rest of the game. The Hawks fought back, putting up four runs in the eighth inning on big hits from Ortiz and Willie Veras, but the Seahawks shut the door on the rally to claim the 8-5 win.

"We bounce back by getting back to work in practice," said SUNY New Paltz coach Thomas Seay. "Good programs have short memories. They evaluate their mistakes and learn from them, but they don't allow a loss to impede on their progress."

Seay said winning the series in the previous two games against Mount Saint Mary's College (NY) was "good to see" showing the team is optimistic about their upcoming schedule despite Sunday's loss. "We'll evaluate where we need to make adjustments and hope to have a good week of practice into the weekend coming up."

The Hawks are back in action next weekend when they travel to Virginia Beach to face hosting Virginia Wesleyan and Ithaca College Feb. 26 and 27.