The Oswego State baseball team had their annual spring trip to kick off their season; this year the Lakers headed to Lexington, South Carolina. The Lakers went 3-5 over eight games, averaging around seven runs per game.
The Lakers began their trip with a win against the Trinity University Bantams out of Connecticut. The Lakers dominated the Bantams 15-8, with eight of their runs coming from the fifth and sixth innings. Tishawn Featherstone had a great outing, with three hits, five RBIs and two runs. Pitcher Sean Dertinger also had a day, only allowing one hit with two strikeouts in 2.2 innings played.
The Lakers began their trip with a win and also finished their trip with a win, as their last matchup in Lexington was against the 8-4 Ithaca College Bombers. The Lakers scored five runs in the eighth and beat the Bombers by a score of 14-8. Trey McGowan led the hitting for the Lakers, as he had three hits, two runs and two RBIs on the day. Jelani Hamer also led the day in hits with three. Alex Conrad had the best pitching day for the Lakers, throwing two Ks while allowing three hits in three innings.
After postponing the game against Hamilton College on March 24, the Lakers faced the 6-4 Continentals on March 27.
The Lakers began the first inning with a hit from CJ McCarthy and after a walk, they had two players on base. Two outs later, the Lakers still had two players on base until the next two batters were hit by pitches, resulting in the Continentals gifting the Lakers a 1-0 lead. The Continentals could not get a hit, as the Lakers led 1-0 heading into the second.
Blake VanDreason walked to begin the second inning and wound up getting two steals, as he stood on third base with only one out. Four hits from McCarthy, Daniel Winchester, Hamer and Owen Parliament followed and the Lakers were up 5-0. There were two fly outs after this, and the Continentals could only respond with one run as the score was 5-1 heading into the third.
The Lakers struggled in the third inning, only getting one run and leaving two players on base to end the third. However, the Continentals did not struggle as they began the bottom of the third with a home run. One run became two runs as back to back doubles brought the score to 5-3 heading into the fourth.
After only one run from the Lakers in the fourth, Oswego pulled away in the fifth inning.
The scoring started after two walks and a hit from Winchester brought in two RBIs. After two more walks and a steal from Winchester, Jacob Lavine rifled a pitch into left field, resulting in another two RBIs for the Lakers. A sacrifice fly brought in Featherstone after he reached third on the Lavine hit and after more walks came in Winchester swung the ball into center field to bring in two more RBIs. A fly ball resulted in the inning ending for the Lakers’ offense, and the Lakers left the fifth with eight runs on only three hits. Pitcher Nick Cody finished his day only allowing five hits for three runs as the Lakers led 14-3 heading into the sixth.
The sixth inning kicked off with a Parliament strikeout before the Lakers rattled off three hits and a walk, one of those hits a triple from Dylan Rosenberg that brought in three RBIs. After a wild pitch, Rosenberg scored to make it 18-3. The Continentals only had one hit in the sixth, as the game headed to the seventh inning.
The seventh inning was a lot of nothing as neither team was able to connect with the ball. However, the Lakers scored their last run in the eighth with an RBI single from Emil Sander.
The Continentals saved their best baseball for the bottom of the ninth, as they rattled off five hits for a total of seven runs. It was not enough for them as the Lakers dominated the Continentals by a score of 19-10.
The Lakers move on to face the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons on March 29 and a doubleheader between the two teams on March 30.
Photo by: Oswego Athletics
