CORTLAND — No. 3-seeded College at Brockport defeated nationally ranked No. 2-seeded Oswego State in the opening round of the SUNYAC tournament at Wallace Field in Cortland, 10-8, on Friday.
The Golden Eagles were led by their offense from the start, as well as a strong outing from their starting pitcher Austin Spindler, who went seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits.
Brockport’s offensive onslaught which produced 18 hits started from the beginning with a run in the top of the first off a defensive error by the Lakers and they never looked back.
Lakers starting pitcher Brian Nolan was tagged for nine hits in what was a short outing, as he went 3.2 innings and allowed five runs with three of them earned.
Nolan was taken out in the fourth and replaced by Bobby Zywicki after Brockport scored its fifth run of the game and the second off a Lakers defensive miscue to go up 5-0.
Like Nolan’s, Zywicki’s strong performance out of the pen was overshadowed by more defensive errors behind him, as Brockport scored two more unearned runs in his three innings of work.
Despite Oswego State scoring a run in three straight innings from the fourth to the sixth inning, including a five-spot in the eighth, the Lakers comeback fell short.
Oswego State head coach Scott Landers admired his team’s comeback effort, but that it was a matter of too little too late.
“I think we swung the bats well,” Landers said. “We just didn’t get enough hits early. We were hitting the ball hard, but right at guys in big situations where we could have put some runs on the board.”
When the Lakers did start getting those hits, they came in bunches.
Oswego State produced 12 hits, with five hitters having multiple hit games including Wes Randall, Eric Hamilton, Myles Kutscher and Zach Kollar. Hamilton, Barnes and Kollar led the way in run producing, as each had two RBI on the day.
One of the two runs that Kollar drove in came off a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth, which was his first home run of the year. This homer came after a few defensive miscues in the field that resulted in Brockport runs, which he says he tried to make up for at the plate.
“I always say that if I make an error in the field I’ll make up for it at the plate,” Kollar said.
With some positives to take away from the loss, the Lakers will look to bounce back from the negatives and avoid elimination on Saturday when they play SUNY Fredonia in the second matchup of the SUNYAC tournament.
The Blue Devils will also be looking to avoid elimination, as they are coming off a tough 8-1 loss in their opening matchup against SUNY Cortland on Friday.
