The Oswego State Lakers baseball team will head to SUNY Cortland this weekend, starting May 3, looking to defend its title at the SUNYAC championships.
Following last season’s SUNYAC tournament, the Lakers find themselves in a similar situation. They will once again travel to SUNY Cortland for the four-team, double-elimination tournament and will enter, once again, as the No. 2 seeded team.
The team has had a successful 2019 campaign, boasting a 14-4 record against conference opponents. Despite the four losses, head coach Scott Landers is happy with the success.
“We’ve played great,” Landers said. “We’ve only had the Cortland hiccup that weekend. But, other than that, we are 14-1.”
That “Cortland hiccup” came back in April, when the Lakers got swept in a three-game set on the road. But, despite being 0-3 against SUNY Cortland this year, Landers was still confident that if they played well, they could still get the job done.
“We just have to play good baseball in all facets of the game,” Landers said. “We have to play defense. We have to pitch. We have to do a lot of things offensively that we didn’t do the first time.”
Even with the three losses to SUNY Cortland, there is still a reason that the Lakers are in the position that they are. It has been the pitching and defense that the players have credited as an improvement from years past that has helped get the team into the position they are in. Senior outfielder, Mike Dellicarri, was pleased with the pitching and defense.
“Our pitching and our defense has been a lot better than its been in the past,” Dellicarri said.
Dellicarri was not the only one talking about the pitching and defense. Senior pitcher Nick DeMarco also had high praises for them.
“Our fielding has been very well this year, our pitching as well too,” DeMarco said. “Great guys out of the bullpen, obviously our conference starters are very strong this year.”
The numbers back up the strengths listed by the players as well. This year, the Lakers’ pitching staff currently boasts a 2.90 ERA against conference opponents, which is good for second in the conference, only behind No. 18/15 SUNY Cortland.
DeMarco, a starting pitcher for the squad, holds a 1.80 ERA against conference opponents himself. He explained that his few struggles this season were due to small mistakes.
“I just try to take it game by game honestly and not look back,” DeMarco said. “When I look at my numbers on the year, its kind of been a couple bad pitches that have ended up getting myself in sticky situations, but going on a pitch-by-pitch basis. Just throw, just go out there and throw as hard as I can and locate, hit [my] spots.”
With all of these strengths that have been on display throughout the season, it has led the Lakers to have one goal in mind when returning to the SUNYAC championship: repeat as champions. When asked what his expectations were for the team heading into the tournament, Landers said he is focused on victory.
“Win the tournament,” Landers said. “That’s about it.”
To do so, there is an approach that the coach, and the team would like to employ. Staying relaxed during these high pressure moments seems to be the focus.
“Loose, confident, those two words kind of sum it up,” Landers said. “Loose and confident, and we can go win the thing.”
Landers was not the only one who wants to stay cool in the big moments. DeMarco echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“We need to play like coach said: very loose and confident,” DeMarco said. “We can get kind of nervous in certain situations.”
The team would like that attitude to lead them to victory, but they may need some leadership to do so. Dellicarri spoke on how he will try to accomplish this.
“I’m going to just try to lead by example,” Dellicarri said. “That’s just how I’ve been throughout my career. I’m not much of a vocal guy, so I just to set the example for the younger guys on the team.”
With any luck, all these factors will result in the goal that Dellicarri has set for the team in the upcoming tournament.
“I want to dog pile on Cortland’s field,” Dellicarri said.
Photo by:Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian
