Box Score Cortland, NY —The State University of New York at New Paltz baseball team picked up its first playoff win since 2001 in dramatic fashion Friday, as Justin Ganca hit a two-RBI, walk-off single in the 11th inning to vault the Hawks over the College at Brockport, 2-1. Senior right-handed pitcher Conor Donachie got the start in the game and threw 10 1/3 innings on 155 pitches with no earned runs and seven strikeouts. 
 
"I just didn't want to stop throwing," said Donachie. "My teammates made it easy, they were rooting for me the entire time. I just felt like I could keep going. My arm didn't give out on me and I wanted to see how many pitches I could throw."
 
Donachie found himself in trouble early with two runners on base in the first inning, but he was able to strand the runners with a fly ball to center field. In the top of the second, Donachie allowed a lead-off single, but once again stranded the base runner and keep the game scoreless.
 
Senior catcher Dwayne Page picked up the first hit for SUNY New Paltz by laying down a sneaky bunt in the bottom of the second. Page continued to play heads up baseball, as he tagged up on a foul ball to the catcher to get in scoring position. However, the Golden Eagles made a defensive stand of their own and left Page at second base to end the inning.
 
The pitching duel had begun as Donachie only allowed two more hits through the seventh inning and the College at Brockport held the Hawks hitless.
 
The offenses started to heat up in the eighth inning as the first batters for the Golden Eagles got on base. However, Donachie remained laser-focused and struck out the next two at the plate and got the third out on a ground ball right back to him to strand two runners and keep the score tied at zero.
 
SUNY New Paltz came up to bat with energy after the big defensive stand and after Danny Campbell walked, John McCarrick and Ryan Frost came up with back-to-back singles to load the bases with one out. However, the College at Brockport came up with two big plays of its own and kept the score tied heading into the ninth.
 
Donachie kept dealing for the Hawks and struck out the first batter. After a ground out to shortstop made it look like an easy 1-2-3 inning for Donachie and the Hawks, the Golden Eagles got their next two batters on. Once again in a tough situation, the Garden City, NY native forced a ground ball right back up the middle to get out of a jam and SUNY New Paltz entered the bottom of the ninth with a chance to walk off for the win.
 
Unfortunately, the Hawks couldn't get a rally going and the game went into extra innings. Despite being over 100 pitches, head coach Arlan Freeman trusted the senior captain and let him go back out in the top of the 10th. The decision paid off as Donachie delivered a 1-2-3 inning on the mound.

"My thought process with Conor was that he was still throwing strikes and he wasn't really taxing his arm," said head coach Arlan Freeman. "I asked Conor multiple times if he wanted to come out and he told me no. He's a senior captain and deserved the chance to go out and give up a run on his own. It was arguably the last game of his career and he wanted to leave it all out there. I care about my guys, but I had to trust in Conor and he pitched incredibly."
 
SUNY New Paltz still wasn't able to buy a hit and the game went into the 11th inning. Donachie remained on the rubber and recorded the first out on a fly ball to left. However, up 1-2 he slipped up and hit the batter. After a failed pick-off attempt moved the runner to second base, an error on a fly ball allowed the first run of the game to cross home plate. Freeman then turned to sophomore right-handed pitcher J.T. Carroll to hold the Golden Eagles at one run. Carroll retired the next two batters and the Hawks were down to their final three outs to keep their season alive.
 
Frost got the rally started with a hard line drive to the outfield to lead off the inning. Senior centerfielder Nick DePietro then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Frost to second, but the speed of the senior forced a throwing error that moved DePietro over and gave the Hawks runners on second and third with no outs. Looking to keep the force play alive, the College at Brockport chose to walk senior second baseman Anthony Pantano and face junior designated hitter Justin Ganca.
 
Ganca returned to the field for the first time this season on April 18, after undergoing ACL surgery about nine months ago and delivered in arguably his biggest at-bat in his collegiate career, taking the first pitch he saw and hitting it the opposite way for a single. Frost hustled around third to score easily and DePietro followed for the game-winning walk-off run to mark SUNY New Paltz's first playoff victory since 2001.
 
"It means a lot to me," said Ganca. "I've gone through two surgeries in the past nine months and I've had a lot of time off to do visualization. I've pictured this moment in my head at least a million times and it's nice for it to finally come true. I've put a lot of work into battling to get back on the field and I could not be happier how it paid off."

The momentum wasn't able to transfer over into the next game for the Hawks, however, as they got off to a sluggish start against Oswego State. The game was postponed in the top of the sixth inning with SUNY New Paltz trailing, 4-0.
  
"I'm proud of the way the guys battled for 11 innings," said Freeman. "Conor and Brown were absolutely dealing out there and for us to come up with that win is huge. Ganca came up with a huge — arguably the biggest hit of the program in the last 17 years. I told the guys I'm not satisfied with one win and hopefully we can come out with more fire tomorrow."

SUNY New Paltz and Oswego State will resume play Saturday at 10 a.m. Dwayne Page will pick up the game at the plate for the Hawks, dealing with a full count with Moran on first base and two outs. The winner will move on to face host SUNY Cortland in the championship game. 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.