After losing a strong conference pitching rotation last season, the Oswego State Lakers have rolled with familiar starters for the 2018 baseball season. Currently on an eight-game win streak, the Lakers’ pitching staff have pitched well, especially during the weekend against SUNY New Paltz.
Robert Donnelly, Brian Nolan and Reston Pettit have claimed their spots in the weekend conference rotation. Donnelly, a senior, is the only returning pitcher from the main starting rotation after making his mark in a strong New York State Regional Tournament appearance.
Throughout the weekend against the Hawks, the trio allowed only one run in 20 innings. Donnelly and Pettit both pitched seven innings, and Nolan went for six innings. Donnelly went the distance in his game. The three were all named Laker Athletes of the Week for the week ending on April 2.
Despite potential concerns coming into the season, head coach Scott Landers is now confident going into the rest of the season with his rotation.
“We knew what we had coming back,” Landers said. “The question mark was going to be experience.”
Pettit, similar to Donnelly last season, is the only junior in the weekend rotation. He is hoping to use his experience from this season as he learns and watches his two teammates during the rest of the weekend. He is almost near his 40 innings pitched, with 24 innings in only four games played so far.
“We just need to keep doing what we’re doing,” Pettit said.
Nolan, also a senior, has been in and out of the weekend rotation, and Pettit was originally placed in the rotation last season before being placed in the bullpen, Landers said.
Donnelly is also a unique situation for Landers, as he plays both in the infield and on the mound. He said he has the most personal improvement as a pitcher.
Of the trio, Donnelly has the lowest earned runs against average and batting average with 1.80 and .185, respectively.
“I try to attack all batters,” Donnelly said. “I’m also aware of what’s happening around me.”
Landers said his biggest concern with the pitching rotation is the amount of hits the team has accrued. They have 168 hits in 149.2 innings, about 1.13 hits per inning. Landers hopes to be around one hit per inning.
He has been pleased with strikeout to walk ratio throughout the early
stages of the season. On average, for every walk, the team has fought back to throw three strikeouts.
“We’ve limited the walks, but we have too many hit by pitches,” Landers said. “But overall, we’re throwing strikes, which means we’re throwing strikeouts.”
Pettit has been a large contributor to the amount of strikeouts. He leads the team with 22 of 135 strikeouts. He only had 34 last season in 40 innings pitched.
“Last year, there were a lot of 2-1 and 3-1 [counts,]” Pettit said. “This year, I’ve been in a lot of 1-2 [counts] where I can wipe a guy out with a changeup.”
However, the defense in general has been an issue for the Lakers. They have given up 107 total runs, with only 66 of them being earned. The Laker defense has amassed 46 errors over 18 games, compared to the 57 they earned in 43 games last season.
“We were atrocious early in the year, and now we’re just bad,” Landers said. “Hopefully we can get to average and above average by the end of the year.”
The team is now preparing for a weekend series against SUNY Oneonta, who is 7-13 on the season, with a 3-5 SUNYAC record. The Red Dragons are coming off of a weekend where they were swept by SUNY Cortland. SUNY Oneonta got swept by the Lakers at the end of last season.
“[We want to] win games,” Landers said. “We’ve got to pitch, play defense, and we’ve got to hit. That’s our goal every time out.”
For the rest of the SUNYAC season, Landers said the team is hoping for a sweep every week. The sweep against New Paltz helped, Landers said, but the Lakers expect similar results all the time.
“We think we’re the best team in the country or one the top teams in the country,” Landers said. “That’s how we’re going to play.”
Graphic by Ryan Zalduondo | The Oswegonian
Headshots provided by Oswego State Sports Information
