Saratoga Springs, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team opened up its 2021 season Sunday with a doubleheader on the road against Skidmore College.

The Hawks (2-0 overall) had two solid outings by their starting pitchers Anthony Amoroso and Nick Harvey to combine with timely hitting all along their lineup, which helped them earn two comfortable victories for the series sweep over the Thoroughbreds (0-2), 6-1 and 7-1, respectively.

"I thought from top to bottom we were really good today," said SUNY New Paltz coach Thomas Seay. "We got two really quality starts from Anthony Amoroso and Nick Harvey and that really, really helps and outside of a half-inning the bullpen did a really nice job of throwing strikes, but we minimized. We didn't give up the big inning. We had big innings ourselves and then after we put up runs we were able to have shutdown innings. That's what we talked about throughout the offseason. We did a really good job on the mound with that today." 
The Hawks had their bats going early in game one of the doubleheader against the Skidmore Sunday. Hosting pitcher Matt McQuaid helped out by giving SUNY New Paltz early opportunities though, as he walked lead-off batter Matt Laurelli and hit Nick Harvey on the following at-bat to put two on with no outs. Dean Stalzer drove in Laurelli on a sacrifice fly two batters later, while Justin Harvey – who had a prolific afternoon at the plate – knocked an RBI single to score twin brother Nick and give his team a 2-0 advantage.

Justin Harvey kept his hot bat going and extended his team's cushion in the top of the fourth. Stalzer started the inning, reaching base off a throwing error and took second on a stolen base, but he didn't need it. Next at-bat, Justin Harvey battled through pitches and eventually thrashed a shot over the fence for his first collegiate career home run to bring his team's lead, 4-0.

After getting a fly out, McQuaid walked the Hawks' Ryan Geraghty on a full count and Thoroughbreds skipper Ron Plourde decided to pull his starter for Thomas Quinn, but their pitching woes continued. Quinn hit Justin Ortiz then gave up a single to Michael Boccarossa, which advanced Geraghty to third, setting the table for Laurelli's sacrifice fly to bring home Geraghty and push the Hawks' lead, 5-0.

Justin Harvey and Stalzer combined once again to help advance SUNY New Paltz's lead. Stalzer kept the inning alive with a two-out walk, staying patient on a full count to get on base for the third time in the ball game. He advanced to second after baiting Quinn on an errant pick-off attempt and Justin Harvey added to his afternoon with another clutch two-out RBI single bringing home Stalzer.
"We definitely preach having our best at-bats with runners in scoring position," Seay said. "I think we'll get better offensively. I thought at times our swings were a little long and a little loopy, but we were able to tighten things up when we had runners in scoring position, especially with two outs and we got a couple really key hits and hard-hit balls that really forced Skidmore to make plays. It's early in the season, sometimes you make those plays and sometimes you don't, but we did a good job of putting balls in play, hard and squaring some balls up."
 
On the mound Scott Wagner (1IP, 1R, 1ER, 3BB) and Billy Moeller (2IP, 4K, 0ER) finished off a gem of a season-opening performance by fifth-year ace Anthony Amoroso. Amoroso, in six innings of work, gave up just two hits, two walks and struck out five of 22 batters faced for the shutout victory.

Nick Harvey earned the game two start on the hill for SUNY New Paltz and also finished with the win after throwing five innings, giving up just four hits one earned run with five strikeouts to finish with a 1.40 ERA on the day.

"It's huge," said Seay of having both Harvey and Amoroso pitch five-plus innings. "We talked about that and they are going to have to do that. We don't have experience in the bullpen yet for those guys not to have quality starts, so to get really good starts from day one is just huge. Both of them did a great job throughout the offseason to get bigger and be able to pitch late in games. I think Anthony gained 50-20 pounds and Nick Harvey has probably gained 10-15 pounds, so having the physicality to pitch deep in games and maintain their composure and maintain your velocity on your breaking ball I think is huge."

Geraghty put himself in scoring position in the top the second, hustling out a grounder to third. Thoroughbreds third baseman threw high, trying to beat Geraghty to the bag and went wide, advancing him to second. McCarrick, earning the start at third base, came up clutch with a two-out RBI double to left center, scoring Geraghty and giving his team a 1-0 lead going into the second.

Skidmore responded in the bottom of the third inning, owning runners at first and third with one out. Nick Harvey gave up a run in the inning, but limited the damage with the help of his brother who threw out Thoroughbreds Brendan O'Neill trying to steal second for the second out, as Boccarossa made a nice tag on the play.  Nick Harvey walked the next batter, loading the bases, but got the next batter to hit a chopper over to Stalzer at first who made the clean play and threw the last out at first.

SUNY New Paltz re-took the lead in the top of the fifth. Geraghty got the inning started with a lead-off double and McCarrick followed with a walk. Justin Ortiz then placed a perfect bunt down the line and beat out the throw to load the bases with no outs for Laurelli. Laurelli got the job done and scored Geraghty and McCarrick after an errant throw landed him on second and pushed Ortiz to third. The Hawks continued scoring runs with situational baseball. Boccarossa hit a sacrifice grounder over to first and scored Ortiz at third to push the lead to 4-1. Stalzer piled on a batter later with a two-run home run scoring Laurelli. After Justin Harvey got on with a single and advanced on a groundout by Jesse Keshner, the sophomore catcher stole third to put himself in scoring position for Geraghty who was back for his second at-bat of the inning. Geraghty delivered on an RBI single to push the lead, 7-1.

"We definitely preach having our best at-bats with runners in scoring position and I think we'll get better offensively," added Seay. "I thought at times our swings were a little long and a little loopy, but we were able to tighten things up when we had runners in scoring position, especially with two outs and we got a couple really key hits and hard-hit balls that really forced Skidmore to make plays. It's early in the season, sometimes you make those plays and sometimes you don't, but we did a good job of putting balls in play, hard and squaring some balls up."

Skidmore was forced to make a pitching change, Christian Giresi for Jack Clark and got out of the inning, but SUNY New Paltz still boasted a six-run advantage heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Nick Zangara and James Trink came in for an inning apiece to relieve Nick Harvey on the hill and secure him the win.

SUNY New Paltz totaled 15 hits on Sunday with four extra base hits on a pair of doubles and homers. Geraghty led the way offensively, hitting .571 with four hits, three runs and an RBI. Justin Harvey followed, going 4-for-8 with two runs, four RBI and a home run. Boccarossa had a quietly productive offensive afternoon, going 2-for-2 with two hits, an RBI and two walks. Stalzer totaled three RBI, three runs scored and a stolen base to go along with his home run in game two.

Overall, eight of 11 players who earned an at-bat Sunday had at least one hit with the Hawks totaling 23 bases and hitting .246 as a team against the Thoroughbreds.

"We definitely hit balls with authority," Seay said. "Justin hit a home run game one and Dean hit a home run in game two, and Geraghty hit a double. John McCarrick had a double, so we definitely squared some balls up and had extra base hits, so I think it's going to continue to get better as we get more at-bats under our belt."

SUNY New Paltz is back on the field Friday when it travels to Cortland, NY for its first SUNYAC action of the season against the Red Dragons. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for noon.

To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.