The No. 9/10 Oswego State Lakers baseball team entered this weekend’s series against the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons needing two wins to clinch the SUNYAC regular season title.
With the title, Oswego State would also get home-field advantage for the conference tournament next weekend, which no other team besides SUNY Cortland has done since it started in 1998.
“We have to stay focused, we can’t slack off when playing a mediocre team like this,” said senior Eric Hamilton. “We can’t let them stay in the game and try and take two wins.”
Oswego State didn’t allow SUNY Oneonta to stay in the game for very long Friday afternoon.
Mitchell Cavanagh for the Lakers was given the ball for game one of the series, and Thomas Bond had the ball for the Red Dragons.
Bond, the ace of the Oneonta staff, faced the Lakers last season. He went 6.1 innings, allowing just three runs on seven hits.
However, today would be different for Bond.
Cavanaugh cruised through the first inning and let the Oswego State bats take over.
When Oswego State came to bat for the first time in their half of the first inning, senior centerfielder Wes Randall returned to the lineup with a leadoff walk. Hamilton followed with a single to left and the Lakers were immediately threatening Bond.
After Eli Holton walked with one out, Zach Kollar, also returning from injury, hit a two-run, two-out, single to give the Lakers an early 2-0 lead. Alex Brown was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in another run for the Lakers to make it 3-0.
Next batter, Zach Whalen, hit a two-run single to center to bring in two more. It was quickly 5-0 Lakers after one inning.
After Cavanagh easily finished the second inning, the Lakers bats didn’t let up.
Hamilton led off the bottom half of the second inning with a double. Then, Mike Dellicarri and Holton hit back-to-back home runs to make it 8-0 Lakers. It was Dellicarri and Holton’s fifth homerun each on the season.
Kollar then hit an RBI double, which made it 9-0 Lakers after two innings.
A nine-run lead would be more than enough for Cavanagh. The junior went seven innings, allowing two runs, on five hits, and four strikeouts, improving to 8-0 on the season.
“My fastball was on today. I was trying to live low and try and get ahead in the count throughout the day.” Cavanaugh said. “It’s a lot better to pitch when you have a nine-run lead out there after two innings.”
In the sixth, Hamilton hit his fourth hit of the day. Dellicarri followed that with his second home run of the afternoon, his sixth of the season.
“I felt like I had a pretty good day in batting practice so I mainly tried to just carry it into the game.” Dellicarri said when discussing his two home run day.
The return of Laker seniors Randall and Kollar was huge in multiple ways for the Lakers. Both players were returning from ongoing hamstring injuries.
Randall went 1-2 with a single and a walk. Kollar went 2-3 with a single, double, and three RBI. With those two in the lineup, and in the field, the Lakers are even more lethal.
Hamilton continued to roll for the Lakers. The senior went 5-5, with two doubles. The big day improved his batting average to a whopping .431 on the season.
“I was just seeing the ball well and tried to do whatever I can to drive it up the middle,” Hamilton said. “I was focused on just getting on base to help [Dellicarri] continue to produce.”
After a couple of late runs for both sides, lefty Patrick Gosney finished the win for the Lakers with a final score of 12-2.
The Lakers now sit just one win away from clinching the SUNYAC regular season title, as well as home-field advantage for the SUNYAC Championship tournament next weekend.
“We have to flush today when we play tomorrow and just focus on the game,” Hamilton mentioned. “If we think about today’s big win then we could slip up tomorrow.”
Oswego State Lakers improved their record to 26-8 and 13-3 in SUNYAC. SUNY Oneonta fell to 14-18, and 5-11 in conference.
Tim Cronin will take the mound for the Lakers tomorrow for Senior Day. He’ll look to keep his perfect 8-0 season going.
The No. 9/10 Oswego State Lakers will face the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons in a doubleheader tomorrow with first pitch set for 12:00 p.m. at Laker Field.
