The Oswego State baseball team has seen both overall success and individual players excel in their careers as Lakers. Junior Mike Dellicarri is no exception to that trend. He has been a key part in the rebuilding of the program that went to the NCAA Div. III College World Series last season.

Dellicarri was given a lot more playing time during his sophomore season due to his impressive talent level. He finished the year with a .358 batting average and 33 runs batted in.

Scott Landers, the head coach of Oswego State, said that Dellicarri has enough talent to be selected in a future Major League Baseball Draft. He has “a lot of tools” that make him a top prospect, Landers said.

“He came in as a talented young man and he’s gotten better year after year,” Landers said. “His demeanor and the way he goes about his business, I can’t ask anything more of him.”

Oswego State, according to Baseball Reference, only has one player in history that has played professional baseball. Scott Bartucca, who played for the Newark Barge Bandits of the North Atlantic League, graduated in 1994. Bartucca was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1991 and retired after his lone season with Newark.

Landers said Eric Hamilton, who graduated last year, should have been drafted, but he has high hopes for Dellicarri.

“Dellicarri has that opportunity,” Landers said. “But, obviously, with winning and better players coming here, the opportunity to get drafted is greater.”

During the Congers, native’s first two seasons, he earned All-SUNYAC honors. He was second-team his freshman season, and first-team during his sophomore campaign. Dellicarri said that those accolades were major confidence-boosters coming into his third season.

“I kind of feel like since I did it the past two years, that I’ve got to keep it up,” Dellicarri said. “I feel like I could definitely do it.”

During the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational over spring break, Dellicarri excelled, propelling the team to a 6-4 record throughout the course of the week. He had 20 RBI and was batting a .426 by the end of the week.

After the week in Florida, Landers knew that Dellicarri would be a strong leader both on the bench and statistically for the Lakers.

“He knows he’s a good player. His skills are something you don’t see very much at this level,” Landers said. “He knows he has to be a catalyst for this team. He knows he’s sitting in the middle of the order for a reason.”

For the past couple seasons, Dellicarri was in the shadows of Hamilton’s limelight during his illustrious career. Dellicarri can now take over Hamilton’s role with the Lakers in the middle of the batting order.

In the most recent series against SUNY Fredonia, Dellicarri went third in the lineup.

“I think he knows that he’s got to be a guy that steps up and takes the opportunity to be a leader,” Landers said.

Dellicarri, who was named the SUNYAC Baseball Athlete of the Week on March 18, is looking to go deeper in the postseason and use his experience from the College World Series to get back to that point.

Landers said in all of the years he has been at Oswego State, his team has improved every year by “getting their feet wet” and then expanding from there.

“I want to build off of last year and keep doing what we’re doing,” Dellicarri said. “I want to be right back in that position that we were last year. We need to take what we learned last year to push us for this year.”

In that same series against SUNY Fredonia, Dellicarri was a top performer during the three games. He was involved in 42 percent of the 28 runs that Oswego State earned during their first conference series. Dellicarri went 7-13 during the weekend.

Their next SUNYAC weekend starts March 30 against SUNY New Paltz. The double header on Friday will be played at Monroe Community College, while the Saturday game will be played at the Laker Baseball Stadium.

“I feel like I’m seeing the ball very well,” Dellicarri said. “I just need to keep doing what I’m doing to help my team win.”

The rest of the season will not be a breeze for the Dellicarri. As long as he stays strong and keeps the game simple he should improve even more this season, Landers said.

“He’s got to take his at-bats and take what they give him and try not to do too much,” Landers said. “If he does that, he’s going to be a great player all year.”

Cole Parzych | The Oswegonian