By Benjamin Diamond

The Oswego State baseball team has had an unexpectedly long hiatus between games after coming home from Florida. 

The Lakers last played a game on March 19 versus No. 13 Johns Hopkins University in Auburndale, Florida. They were set to  play SUNY Cobleskill on March 30, but due to poor weather conditions the game was rescheduled for a later date. 

Although it has been a while since they last played, many players are prepared to come out hot when they play their next series versus SUNY New Paltz on Friday. 

Shortstop Paul Tammaro has been a force for the Lakers offense early in the season. So far this season, Tammaro is batting .426, with a 1.271 OPS, a .741 slugging percentage and a .530 on-base percentage. He also has four home runs, 10 RBI’s, with five doubles and he is seven for seven on stolen base attempts. 

Starting pitcher Kieran Finnegan has also provided the Lakers with strong play, but from the mound. Finnegan has a solid 2.78 ERA, to go along with a 1.41 WHIP, 24 strikeouts and 27 hits in 22.2 innings pitched. Although he has had a hard time keeping the amount of hits down, he has avoided walking too many batters, only walking five in four starts. 

Utility player Julien Drew is continuing where he left off after the 2021 season, becoming one of the better hitters in the Lakers lineup. In 2021, Drew only played in 20 games, starting in 11 of them. During that season, he bat .401, a .965 OPS,  .534 slugging, and .434 OBP.  He also had one home run and 17 RBI’s. This season, he has gotten regular playing time, starting all 13 games to start the season. He is batting .395 with a .945 OPS, .465 slugging, .480 OBP, 15 RBI’s and two stolen bases.

Drew still has a lot of season left to further entrench himself as an everyday starter for the Lakers.

Kyle Lauria has also been a big piece of Scott Landers lineup. Like Drew and Tammaro, Lauria has started every game for the Lakers. He is batting .354, with a 1.046 OPS, .563 slugging and .483 OBP. He is also second on the team in stolen bases with 10. Lauria has hit one home run, but he does have 14 RBI’s on three doubles and two triples. 

As a returning graduate student, Lauria has brought back his top-tier bat to complement the rest of the batting order.

Catcher Lukas Olsson, like Lauria, is a returning graduate student this season. Olsson started all 43 games for the Lakers back in 2019, but was not present during the canceled 2020 season and the 2021 season. But with his return, he has provided the Lakers another big bat in their lineup.

This season, Olsson has started nine of the teams 13 games, splitting time with sophomore catcher Anthony Barone, and he is batting .409 with a 1.461 OPS, .818 slugging and .643 OBP. Olsson also has 12 runs, six stolen bases, two home runs and 11 RBI’s. 

Tony Poveda has been a big surprise coming out of the Lakers bullpen. Poveda, who is a senior, did not play in both 2019 and 2020 due to injury and only pitched 1.1 innings in 2021. But this season, Poveda has been given the chance to prove himself, and he has done just that.

Poveda has a 2.35 ERA, 0.52 WHIP, two earned runs and nine strikeouts in 7.2 innings pitched. He has started to prove himself as a pitcher that can handle his role coming out of the bullpen, and he could be a valuable piece for Landers to use down the stretch. 

To break their game drought, the Lakers will take on the SUNY New Paltz Hawks. These games will be their first home games of the 2022 season. All-time, the Lakers are 42-19 versus New Paltz and they are 20-3 at home. The Lakers have also won twelve straight games versus the Hawks. This series of games will also be Oswego State’s first conference games of the 2022 season. The Lakers played the Hawks twice in 2021, beating them by the scores of 24-12 and 11-3. 

They look to replicate their success against New Paltz this weekend.

Following New Paltz, the Lakers will then face St. John Fisher College in Rochester on Wednesday. All-time, the Lakers are 12-11 versus the Cardinals, but they have dropped the last two games they played against them 13-8 and 11-5. Oswego State is also only 5-6 when they play at St. John Fisher. The Lakers have not played the Cardinals since April 2019.

Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics