Oswego men’s baseball has all the momentum as they look to finish the season strong. 

On April 25th, they played a doubleheader against Clarkson. 

In the first game the Lakers came out swinging. The second inning started off with a score from Jacob Levine, brought in from a single from Emil Sander. Later, with men on first and third Julian Drew hit a single to score Blake VanDreason. A wild pitch later in the inning would score Sander, putting the Lakers up 3-0 in the second inning. The Lakers held that lead thanks to good pitching. 

Sean Dertinger got the start in this game and he did not disappoint. Dertinger threw four shutout innings giving up no runs while striking out four. The Lakers won this game 4-1. Another notable performer from this game was Julian Drew who went 2-3 with an RBI. 

In the second game, the Lakers again started strong scoring two runs in the first inning. Clarkson was shut down offensively the first four innings behind a good outing from starter Thomas Peccia who gave up no runs, only allowing one hit and getting two strikeouts. 

Late in the game the Knights mounted a comeback, tying up the game in the sixth inning making it 2-2. The Lakers bounced right back as they scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Tishawn Featherstone was the main factor in this rally hitting a single with two men on to get both the runners in. The final score of this game was 6-2 Oswego. 

After the sweep of Clarkson, the Lakers have seven games left and six of those are in conference games. Coach Landers says that the team just needs some final touch-ups to really compete.

“I think we’re heading in the right direction. I think we got guys in the right places now, we’re starting to get better defensively,” Landers said. “We gotta hit better timely, and we gotta pitch a little better at times but I think we’re heading in the right direction and we got two winnable weekends to set us up for the SUNYAC tournament.” 

Playing in these conference games is the time when a player will need to step up and make a difference to set them up for success. In a recent conference game against Plattsburgh State, CJ McCarthy was this player and he talked about what it means to be able to help his team.

 “It feels really good, especially early in the season I was struggling for sure and then just over time I started finding my swing and feeling much more confident and comfortable at the plate,” McCarthy said. “I feel like that showed the past couple weeks and especially to do it in a conference game where we really needed to win that third game to win the series. It felt awesome.” McCarthy went two for three with three RBIs and two runs scored. 

Top hitter, Owen Parliment, talked about how the team feels as their season comes to a close. 

“We’re just trying to go out there every day and win,” Parliament said. “We treat every game like it’s a playoff game and we have six games left in conference left. I think each time we go out every weekend we keep getting better and better and I think at the end of the year we’ll prove it.” 

Parliment also says the key to success is just focusing and playing the game. 

“I mean I don’t think we’re putting any pressure on ourselves, we’re just trying to go out there and play our best baseball,” Parliment said. “Hopefully by the end of the season as we proved it along the way we’re getting better each time we step on the field so I don’t think there’s any added pressure. I think we just gotta go out there and play our game and we’ll be fine at the end of the day.”

Within their last few games, the Lakers have a three game series against SUNY Oneonta at Laker field on April 28 and April 29. They will then close out their season with a three-game away series against SUNY Brockport on May 6 and May 7. The Lakers are ready to go and looking for the chance to show that they are the best in the conference. 

Photo via: Oswego Athletics