Newburgh, N.Y. – Following five straight postponed games, the Mount Saint Mary College Baseball team finally returns to action for the first time in two weeks on Saturday afternoon as the Knights play host to SUNY New Paltz. The doubleheader with the Hawks is scheduled for an 1 p.m. start at Dutchess Stadium. Game one of the twinbill will be a nine inning contest and game two will be a seven inning game.

At A Glance: The Knights started the season 2-0 after a non-conference sweep of Marywood on February 23. Game one finished in a 5-0 shutout for the Knights and then the Mount won game two by a score 4-3 in an eight inning contest.

In game 1, senior Christian Spano (Mahopac, N.Y.) finished with 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, four walks and three strikeouts to earn the victory.
Sophomore Steven Mirra (Wallingford, Conn.) was 2-for-3 with a RBI and two runs scored, freshman Dominick Marzigliano (Highland Falls, N.Y.) had two hits, including a double, and a RBI and junior Matt Barbieri (New Paltz, N.Y.) was 1-for-2 with a double, walk and 2 RBI's.

In game 2, Michael DiGiovanni (Shirley, N.Y.) put down a sacrifice bunt in extra innings and reached on an error as Marzigliano came around from second to score the winning run. Barbieri threw 5.2 innings, giving up five hits, two earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts. Robert Brust (Shirley, N.Y.) earned the win as he finished with 2.1 innings pitched, one hit, one unearned run, two walks and one strikeout. Barbieri added a hit, RBI and two walks at the plate and DiGiovanni had a double, walk and a RBI.

Mirra and Marzigliano lead the team in hits with three apiece as Marzigliano leads in doubles with two. Barbieri finished with three runs batted in in the doubleheader as the Mount held a 0.97 earned run average after the twinbill.

A Look At New Paltz: The Hawks are playing their first games of the season as eight games have been already been postponed this season.

The Hawks look to build off a 17-18 (9-8 SUNYAC) 2018 season in which New Paltz won a SUNYAC tournament game against Brockport while also dropping two tight contests to SUNYAC champion Oswego in the conference tournament.

The Hawks lost two pitchers who logged 39 or more innings last season but do return four pitchers from last season who contributed significant innings, including Anthony Amoroso, Michael Delio, Justin Stybel and Ryan Votypka.

The Hawks will look to replace three of its four infielders who landed on either first or second team All-SUNYAC. SUNYAC First Teamer shortstop Ryan Frost returns for the Hawks as Danny Campbell, Justin Ganca, Zach Warenius and junior transfer Matt McGee look to pick up the load left by the departing seniors.

First year head coach Thomas Seay has brought in six freshman as well as five transfers for the 2019 season.

What's Next: The Mount will travel to Port Charlotte, Fla. to take part in the Snowbird Baseball Classic next week. The Knights will play five games in Florida, starting on March 16 against and concluding the trip on March 19. Mount Saint Mary will take on Ohio Wesleyan, Vassar, Denison and SUNY Cobleskill twice during the Florida trip.