SUNY Oneonta and New Paltz entered the ninth inning of today's SUNYAC contest tied at 2-2, but it was the Red Dragons who left town with a 6-2 victory thanks to a four-run final inning.  A safety squeeze and a three-run bomb lifted Oneonta to the hard fought win, as Oneonta moves to 5-10 overall and 1-0 in the SUNYAC.  The loss for New Paltz dropped them to 9-13 overall and 1-5 in the conference.

Casey Kerdesky started the ninth with a leadoff walk and went to second on a throwing error by the pitcher on a failed pick-off attempt.  Kerdesky then was moved over to third base on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Billy Riedel.  LJ Gizzarelli (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy) was the next batter and he walked to give Oneonta runners at the corners with one out.  Freshman Casy Kies (Apalachin/Vestal) then executed a perfect safety squeeze to score Kerdesky with the go-ahead run while moving Gizzarelli to second base.

After a double steal, Oneonta had two runners in scoring position for senior Christopher Orlando, deposited a 3-2 pitch over the left-centerfield fence to give Oneonta a 6-2 lead.  It was Orlando's second home run of the season.

Junior Alex Mastrianni had his strongest outing of the season for Oneonta on the mound, as he picked up his first win of the season.  Mastrianni went eight innings allowing seven hits and two runs while recording four strikeouts.

Oneonta scored two runs in the top of the first inning and led 2-1 at the end of the first.  A throwing error by the Hawks allowed both of Oneonta's runs to score.

Kies singled to leadoff the game and then beat a throw to second base, which allowed David Wright to reach first base.  The throwing error came when Matt Mastroianni beat out a bunt back to the pitcher, who threw it by the first baseman allowing both Kies and Wright to score.

New Paltz's runs came in the bottom of the first and bottom of the eighth innings today.  Roy Missall took the loss for the Hawks, as he was charged with three of the four runs in the ninth inning.

Oneonta will play a doubleheader versus Ithaca College tomorrow at Cornell University beginning at 2pm.

BATTING:  Oneonta
2B: Billy Riedel
HR: Christopher Orlando
SH: Casy Kies (Apalachin/Vestal) 2; Dylan Stamile 1; Billy Riedel 1

Pitching
Alex Mastrianni (W, 1-5)
Roy Missall (L, 1-1)