The Oswego State men’s baseball team battled for a doubleheader sweep over SUNY Institute of Technology on Saturday. The Lakers were fueled by a six-run third inning to take the first game, 7-3. The pitching of senior Brady Farkas led the Lakers to a 3-2 victory in the second game.
Laker freshman John Rauseo scored the first run of the day on a single by fellow freshman Brian Hamilton in the bottom of the second inning. Rauseo singled with one out, stole second, and advanced home on Hamilton’s single up the middle.
The Lakers’ offense erupted for six runs in the third inning to take a commanding 7-0 lead. Juniors Matt Miller and Alex Jurczynski were hit by pitches to lead off the inning. Junior Ed Charles then laid a bunt down the third baseline, which was fielded by Wildcats’ pitcher Daniel Wiecek. Wiecek tried to get the lead runner at third, but overthrew the base. Miller scored on the play to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead.
Rauseo got his second hit of the game with an RBI blooper to right field. Jurczynski scored on the play to put the Lakers in front, 3-0. An error by Wildcats shortstop Jhomel Solano let two more runs score to stretch the lead to 5-0. Sophomore Tyler Baker singled to left to drive home the sixth run of the game. Baker advanced to second on the throw to the plate then was bunted over to third. He then scored on a sacrifice fly by junior Mike Stark.
“It’s tough to sit on the bench for a little,” starting pitcher Jon Stevens said. “But I’ll take sitting on the bench any day if the guys are gonna score runs. The junior captain threw five innings of one-run ball and struck out four.”
“It’s huge to have a big inning like that,” head coach Scott Landers. “It gives the pitcher relief when you have a seven run lead like that. We just have to play better small ball and get more timely hits.”
The Wildcats got its first run in the fifth with a single by senior Sam Quinn-Loeb. Freshman Jonathan Saporito walked to lead off the inning, took second on a passed ball, and scored on Quinn-Loeb’s single.
SUNYIT scratched across two more runs in the top of the seventh off Laker junior pitcher Jon Silva. Senior Anthony Surber drove in a run with an RBI double and freshman Phillip Mascitelli singled home the third run.
Silva threw the final two innings of the game, allowing two runs on four hits.
The second game of the doubleheader ended up being more of a pitchers duel. Farkas picked up the win for the Lakers, outlasting SUNYIT’s Patrick Baker. Farkas went six strong, allowing two runs on seven hits, while striking out four. Farkas gave way to senior Mark Schaper to close it out. Schaper fanned two in the final frame to pick up the save.
Junior Ed Charles singled in the fifth inning to drive home David Mazzulo to get the scoring started for the Lakers. Mazzulo led off the inning with a walk before scoring on Charles’ single. Miller singled after Mazzulo’s walk and scored on an error later in the inning to give the Lakers a 2-0 advantage.
The Wildcats answered in the fifth inning with a run of their own on a double by Solano. Devin Frye singled with one out and scored on Solano’s double.
Surber scored on a passed ball for the Wildcats in the sixth to tie the game at two. Surber doubled to lead off the inning, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on the passed ball.
The Lakers took the lead in the bottom of the inning when Rauseo scored on another passed ball.
Miller led off the inning with a clutch double and was pinch ran for by Rauseo. Rauseo advanced to third on a passed ball and scored two pitchers later on another.
“I talked to coach before the inning and he just said to get on base,” Miller said. “With a 3-2 count I was looking for a fastball and that’s what I got. We want to build off of our non-conference games and keep momentum moving forward. We want to be playing our best when conference games come around.”
“We played okay,” Landers said. “We threw strikes and had a couple big innings. We’ve got to get healthy and keep plugging along.”
The wins on Saturday pushed the Lakers’ record to 5-8, and the Wildcats fell to 1-14.
The Lakers will open up conference play today with a game at SUNY Oneonta. They will play two more games in a doubleheader against the Red Dragons on Saturday before returning home to play SUNY Cortland on Tuesday.
