No. 1 Oswego State Lakers baseball falls to the No. 2 Southern Maine Huskies 7-6 in the first game of the Div. III NCAA New York Regional Round Championship.
The Lakers not losing a game going into today get another chance to advance to the NCAA Div. III World Series with a sudden-death game against the Huskies that will start at 3:45.
In the bottom of the fifth inning Hoagland drew a walk with one out and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Zach Whelan’s bunt towards the pitcher would pay off as he would reach for a single as Hoagland made it to third base. The freshman Lukas Olsson with the third basemen Matt Bender playing in would chop a ground ball over his head to bring the first run of the game across for a 1-0 Laker lead. Wes Randall’s bloop single increased the lead to 2-0 as Whelan came in to score.
Southern Maine responds right away as Quintal and Olszak both single to lead off the sixth inning. With one out, Hapworth would work a walk to load the bases for the Huskies.
Kip Richard’s ground ball would bring in two runs as Whelan’s throw attempt turning a double play would get passed the first basemen Hoagland to bring in the unearned run. Dexter’s fielder choice ground ball would end the inning for the Huskies as the Lakers still led 3-2.
Huskies starter on the mound Dalton Rice day would end quickly in the 6th inning as Kollar’s lead off walk would bring in Jake Dexter in to pitcher.
The first batter Dexter faces in Eli Holton would smack a deep home run to left field to give the Lakers a 5-2 lead. Dexter then settled in to force Hoagland, Whelan, and Olsson to ground out and end the 6th inning.
Southern Maine responds again in the seventh inning with Devin Warren coming around for a inside the park home run after Randall’s dive attempt in the center field would be unsuccessful.
Next batter Hillier would single to end Nolan’s day and bring in Lakers reliever on in to pitch with no outs. Morano’s stint would be short as Olszak’s single with two runners on brings in another Husky as the Lakers lead would only be 5-4.
Charles Arcuri would take over on the mound for the Lakers with one out and runners in scoring position at second and third base. Arcuri would get his first batter Bender to ground out, but the tying run for the Huskies came across to make the score 5-5.
Bottom of the seventh and the game tied 5-5 the Lakers had runners on early with one out after singles from Hamilton and Dellicarri and Barnes getting hit by a pitch. Kollar would chop a ground out to bring in Hamilton to score and regain the lead 6-5.
Tim Cronin took over in the 8th inning and got a terrific play from Hamilton at third base as he turned the 5-3 double play.
After the Lakers got nothing going in the bottom half of eight, Cronin went out with chance to seal the deal with a 6-5 lead.
After McDonough reached on a walk to lead off, Zach Quintal took a deep fly ball over the fence to give the Huskies a 7-6 lead.
Quintal’s home run would come as the game winner as the Gage Feeney closed it out for the Huskies in the bottom of the ninth to force another game in the regional.
