Brockport, Fredonia mark return of SUNYAC baseball
By Tom DiCamillo, Commissioner
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Late March along the northern border of New York State easily could produce feet of snow and a jigsaw puzzle schedule with no logical underlying plan.
But on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, it won't matter as baseball returns to the State University of New York Athletic Conference.
After the pandemic picked off the 2020 season before it could even get a walking lead off of first base, the sweet ring of college aluminum bats will echo from Fredonia to Plattsburgh to New Paltz and across the fields in between that dot the seven SUNYAC schools that sponsor baseball in the conference.
Brockport senior OF (Nick Pastore Wynantskill, NY/Troy) will get first crack at a conference game and is reveling in the return of baseball.
"There is no better feeling than getting to play the sport I love again, especially being able to play it with a bunch of guys that have been working for the past year for a season. Like my teammate Jake Sisto (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) said, we can do school online but can't hit a fastball online."
The fastballs will come at a frenetic speed as the unique schedule with two divisions and an intriguing playoff format will ratchet up the importance of every regular-season game.
The West Division features three teams in Brockport, Fredonia and Oswego, while the East is constructed with Cortland, New Paltz, Oneonta and Fredonia.
Each club will play 16 conference games with some cross-divisional scheduling that will count in the standings. All dates will be doubleheaders consisting of a nine-inning opener and a seven-inning second contest.
The best description of the schedule is something akin to Major League Baseball's geographic interleague play. The East will play each other four times plus some targeted cross-divisional games.
Cortland will face Brockport and Fredonia in doubleheaders, while Oneonta will take on Brockport and Oswego. Plattsburgh and New Paltz will play an additional divisional twinbill against each other and will each face Oswego, while neither team will play Brockport or Fredonia.
Fredonia will play just three different conference teams – Brockport (8 times), Oswego (6) and Cortland (twice). Oswego and Cortland will play every team in the SUNYAC except each other, while Brockport and Oswego will tangle in home and home doubleheaders.
The SUNYAC Championship has been modified to a best-of-3 Semifinal on May 15 and 16 with the division winners hosting the opening round. A doubleheader will be played on the first day with the "if necessary contest" scheduled for the second.
The SUNYAC Championship also will be a best-of-three format on May 21-22 with a doubleheader slated for the first day of action. All post-season games are nine innings in length.
Division winners will claim the top two seeds followed by the next two teams with the best records. The SUNYAC has built-in additional tiebreakers, as well as plans to address scenarios where teams have played an inequitable number of games.
Unfortunately, there are no spectators at SUNYAC contests this spring as visitors are not permitted on campuses; however, all baseball games are being streamed live by conference member institutions.
The SUNYAC conference schedule is spread out allowing for schools many opportunities to be showcased as the primetime game in the league for that day.
New Paltz will travel to Cortland on Friday, April 2, for the second league doubleheader of the young season which will yield an interesting matchup early in the schedule.
"After losing our season last year it shows you really can't take anything for granted," New Paltz senior 3B John McCarrick (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham-Wading River) explained. "This year we are more excited than ever to get back on the field."
Hawk senior pitcher Anthony Amoroso (Monroe, NY/Monroe-Woodbury) believes the patience and hard work over the past year will pay off.
"The guys have been itching to play for more than a year," he said. "We've been working the hardest we ever have and just can't wait to shock everyone."
The appreciation of the student-athletes is readily apparent while the excitement continues to percolate to the surface.
"Beyond grateful and excited to finally be able to get back on the ball diamond and represent Cortland Baseball," junior infielder Andrew Michalski (Buffalo, NY/St. Francis) said. "You can feel the boys' excitement every day we show up to Wallace Field - and that feeling has been greatly missed."
"It's been a long wait but it's extremely exciting to get back onto the baseball field," Red Dragon junior 1B Matthew Krafft (Cornwall, NY/Cornwall) added. "Everyone is more than happy to be playing and doing their part to continue with the 2021 season."
Oswego will visit Brockport on Saturday, April 3, to commence its conference schedule, while Plattsburgh will visit Oneonta on April 6 as the Red Dragons and Cardinals meet for their first SUNYAC conference games of the season.
"I'm very excited to be able to compete with such a great group of guys," Oneonta junior OF Mike Sabatine (Fairport, NY/Fairport) said. "It's been a tough process but I'm confident that the university and our team took the necessary precautions to have a safe season."Oneonta senior pitcher Michael Losak (Merrick Sanford, NY/H. Calhoun) appreciates being able to return to the field after a challenging year for every SUNYAC student-athlete.
"As the President of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at Oneonta and the SUNYAC, seeing the impact Covid-19 had on all of our student-athletes hurt; however, over the course of thepast year we all have worked hard to get to the point where we can play, and I can see that everyone, including myself, is beyond happy. I am lucky to play in a conference where all of our faculty, staff, and student-athletes are dedicated to staying safe and I want to thank everyone who made our seasons possible. Playing my last season at Oneonta is a blessing and I will leave everything out on the field."
