After scoring 20 runs April 17 against Utica College, the men’s baseball team posted another dominant performance on the diamond, this time defeating SUNY New Paltz Hawks 10–4 in a non-conference matchup.

Sophomore pitcher Tyler Hill recorded one of his longest outings of the season, pitching six innings, giving up two earned runs and recording five strikeouts on 97 pitches to get his fourth victory of the season.

“Felt pretty good today,” Hill said. “Had a little trouble locating my curveball and changeup early but I was able to settle down and get it under control.”

Hill started off the game slow, giving up three runs over the first three innings.

When Hill gave up a sacrifice fly in the first inning, the Bombers’ offense responded by scoring three runs of their own. The Bombers scored two of the runs off a single to right field by freshman left fielder Matt Carey, which was followed by a wild pitch that junior third baseman Trevor Thompson easily scored on to help the Bombers go up 3–1 early.

After securing the lead in the first the Bombers would go on a hitting parade. The Blue and Gold scored six runs in three innings, taking advantage of pitcher Luke Christy’s four walks and three errors to get runners into scoring position. Thompson said scoring many runs is just another example of the team’s determination to win as many games as possible before playoffs begin.

“We just want to score all the runs that we can,” Thompson said. “We want to make it to regionals.”

Thompson was noticeable throughout the Bombers’ victory. Thompson went 1–3 with two walks and an RBI while scoring three times to help the Bombers secure their second consecutive victory. However, Thompson stressed that it was the pitching performances of Hill and freshman relief pitcher Zach Zottola, who pitched the final three innings of the victory, that kept the Bombers focused throughout the game.

“It’s easy to come into a game like this where we score a lot of runs early,” Thompson said. “You can get lazy and our pitchers did a good job going out there throwing strikes so they can hit the ball helping our defense make plays.”

Hill and Zottola combined to strike out 10 batters and only giving up seven hits over nine innings. The only batter the Bombers pitchers were unable to figure out was sophomore designated hitter Christopher Moran who drove in three of the Hawks’ four runs.

Hill said that the confidence his teammates consistently play on both sides of the ball was one of the reasons he was able to settle down.

“It’s always good to have a good offense behind you backing you up,” he said. “As well as my teammates playing well defensively.”

With the victory the Bombers remain in third place in the Empire 8 conference standings and increase their overall record to 15–12.

The Bombers return to the diamond 6 p.m. April 20 for a road conference matchup against Elmira College.