Hosting the SUNYAC tournament in early May is all but a dream now for the Oswego State baseball team after losing both games of the doubleheader to SUNY Cortland on April 27.

With the losses, the Lakers also fell out of contention to claim first place in the SUNYAC. The team now has second place clinched, finishing above The College at Brockport, who did not have any SUNYAC matchups this weekend.

The Lakers had chances in both games to come back late in the game, but were not able to take advantage of the minor mistakes the Red Dragons made. Oswego State fell to SUNY Cortland in game one 8-6, and also fell to them in the seven-inning game two by a final score of 1-0.

In the first game, Reston Pettit got into some trouble in the second and fourth innings, allowing five runs and tallying only one strikeout. Mike Dellicarri was able to score, as well as tie the game later at six with a one-run homerun. It was his sixth of the season and his second conference homerun.

The Lakers came up short, however, during extra innings. SUNY Cortland’s Dan Schweitzer had a two RBI single in the top of the 10th inning to take an 8-6 lead. The Lakers were not able to recover in the bottom, losing the opening game.

Head coach Scott Landers was impressed with how his team came back, but was not happy with the end result.

“We didn’t play very good defense. Cortland put some pressure on us,” Landers said. “We just didn’t do what we needed to do. We clawed back, but it was a little too late.”

After the first game, which lasted nearly four hours, both teams took time to recover before the next game started around 4:45 p.m. The team huddle for the Lakers did not last long, but Landers said he did not have much to say.

“[I said] we’ve got to move forward, and we can’t dwell on the past at this point,” Landers said.

During the 7-inning game, like the rest of the season, Robert Donnelly was given the starting nod and, once again, went the distance for the Lakers. It was a pitcher’s’ duel between Donnelly and SUNY Cortland’s Mike Harrington, keeping the game scoreless until the top of the sixth inning.

Schweitzer, again, put the Red Dragons on the board after hitting a single to bring Marcos Perivolaris home. It would be the only run scored during the game. The run was not earned for Donnelly.

The Lakers had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of sixth when the bases were loaded. Dellicarri had a fly ball to left field when Josh Hoagland attempted to tag up, but hesitated before running down the line in full force. The Lakers were not able to convert in the bottom of the seventh either.

“We just didn’t execute,” Landers said. [SUNY Cortland] executed in the one opportunity they had, and we just didn’t.”

With the third game remaining on Saturday, April 28, the Lakers will be playing for pride now that hosting the tournament and winning the series are out of reach. This is the second series the team has lost this season, after losing to The College at Brockport earlier in the season.

Before then, the Lakers had not lost a series since 2016, where they were swept by SUNY Cortland, also at the Laker Baseball Stadium. That same season, Oswego State also lost to SUNY Fredonia. The Lakers will try to avoid repeating history on Saturday.

“We’ve got to go in and win and salvage a little bit of the series and get ready for next week,” Landers said.

After the series concludes with the Red Dragons, the Lakers will take on St. John Fisher College on May 1 to close out the regular season. Oswego State fell to the Cardinals on April 10 in a tight 3-2 loss that ended after 11 innings of play.

However, starting May 3 the Lakers will have to now travel to Cortland for the SUNYAC tournament where Oswego State will be the No. 2 seed. The rest of the seeds are yet to be determined due to cancellations and postponed games. SUNY Oneonta, SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Fredonia all have games remaining.

“We’ve just got to go to Cortland and win the tournament there,” Landers said.

Photo: Ben Grieco | The Oswegonian