To open up their 2023 season, the Oswego State baseball team went on the road to Pennsylvania to take on Washington and Jefferson College and No.9 in the nation, Baldwin Wallace University. 

Getting the start in the first game of the season against the Presidents would be Kieran Finnegan.The Lakers would get on the scoreboard with graduate student Julian Drew, knocking in the first run of the game as he drilled a double to left field, scoring Jelani Hamer. 

Senior Blake VanDreason would add to the Lakers’ 1-0 lead as he doubled to score a run and soon crossed home plate himself after Tim Schinto singled to the shortstop. The bats would stay hot as Oswego State would tally two solo home runs in the fourth and fifth inning from Schinto and Jacob Levine to take a commanding 5-0 lead and force the Presidents to go to their bullpen early in the game. 

Heading into the seventh inning Oswego head coach Scott Landers would turn to the bullpen and look to freshmen Jonah Shearer. In his first collegiate outing, Shearer would go 1.1 innings pitched along with two hits allowed and giving up one earned run from the bat of Presidents’ Jacob LaDuca. Oswego would close out the game with a 5-2 win. Finnegan would earn the win after a stellar six scoreless innings, nine strikeouts, three hits allowed and one walk. 

After their win against the Presidents, the Lakers were back on the diamond to take on Baldwin Wallace University. The Yellow Jackets would get to starter Anthony Van Fossen early as they scored six runs on five hits and three walks after 2.2 innings pitched. Oswego would cut the deficit to two runs after a four-run sixth inning led by a wild pitch and followed up by RBI hits from Sam Allen, Hamer and Drew. 

Landers would turn to the bullpen early and look to right-hander Ryan Paige. The Yellow Jackets would regain their big lead after a pinch-hit triple from Carl Pennington that drove in two runs. Oswego would tally one more run in the eighth inning off of a Brett Myer sacrifice hit, but that would not be enough. Despite the Lakers having more hits, the Yellow Jackets’ pitching would combine for 15 strikeouts which would help hand Oswego a 12-5 loss. 

Coming off a tough loss the day before, Oswego would look for revenge against the Yellow Jackets with junior Jacob Sanders on the mound. Like the previous day, Yellow Jackets bats would bounce on Oswego early, scoring three runs in the first two innings. 

Down 3-0 in the bottom of the second, Levine would cross home plate for the Lakers after a throwing error. 

Schinto would add to the scoring party and drill a two-run home run to right field to tie the game at three. The Yellow Jackets would retake the lead 5-3 after a single off Sanders and a solo home run off Oswego relief pitcher Jake Danyluk. 

Oswego would cut the lead to one after a solo home run from Hamer in the fifth inning, but the Yellow Jackets would answer once again with two more runs to take a 6-4 lead. The Lakers would put on their rally caps and Colin Williams would deliver with a two-RBI single to force extra innings. Despite the comeback, one run in the top of the tenth by the Yellow Jackets would be enough to secure the 7-6 win.

After the first weekend of the season, the Lakers sit at 1-2 with 30 total hits and 16 runs scored. Owen Parliment and VanDreason lead the team with a batting average of .500. Schinto leads the team in RBIs with four along with his two home runs. Coming off the mound, Finnegan leads the team with the best ERA (0.00) and strikeouts (9). 

Looking to bounce back after two straight losses, Oswego will travel to Virginia for the Mr. V Memorial Classic to play against No.24 ranked Shenandoah University at 10 a.m on March 4. They will also play Susquehanna University and Shenandoah again the following day.

Photo via: Oswego Athletics