After taking two series in a row by a score of 2-1, the Oswego State baseball team was feeling good about their chances in the SUNYAC standings. Taking down SUNY Cortland and Fredonia with a cumulative record of 4-2 was all they could have asked for. Their next endeavor, however, proved a much greater challenge. The SUNY New Paltz Hawks sat in the N.2 of the SUNYAC, above the Lakers before their matchups. But before that came a short pit stop and a game against the Alfred State Pioneers. 

From just the first two innings, the Lakers were set on stomping the Pioneers. In the first, Matt Carner batted in Dylan Rosenberg and Tishawn Featherstone scored off a sac fly from Patrick May. Next inning, Rosenberg and Featherstone paid forward their efforts batting two more runs in. Alfred managed to score a run in the third, but then came the fourth inning. Ten runs were scored in just the bottom of the fourth by the Lakers. From there it was no looking back. Rosenberg, Featherstone and Daniel Winchester each had three RBIs on the day, with four more individuals tacking on runs of their own. At the end of affairs, 15-4 was the final score and the Pioneers had no chance of taking this one back after that single inning. 

The Lakers then travelled down to the Hudson Valley to take on the Hawks. Game one was on Thursday while Friday was host to a doubleheader. 

Game one was opened by Kirkpatri of New Paltz, batting in a run off a single to right field. Oswego took a short lived lead off a pair of runs in the top of the third, but the Hawks answered in the bottom with an RBI off an error. Joel Hayner was solid on the mound for the Lakers, striking out four of the five innings he pitched. Oswego took back the lead, scoring one in the top of the fifth, but the Hawks equalized in the bottom. Oswego then scored a fourth run in the top of the sixth and kept the Hawks at bay. But in the bottom of the seventh, the Hawks put up two runs off of a home run from Dillon Ristano and that’s where the scoring ended. A scoreless eighth and ninth innings led to the final score of 5-4 in New Paltz’s favor. 

The doubleheader started much the way that Oswego would have liked it to. Jacob Sanders was a stud on the mound, getting seven strikeouts in the five and a bit innings he pitched. It took the Lakers until the third inning to score, but they scored in spades. Featherstone, Rosenberg and May all batted in runs and in the fourth inning, Featherstone did it again, as well as Matt Carner getting one of his own. The sixth saw two more Oswego runs courtesy of May and Thomas Herrington, along with a New Paltz run scored by a hit-by-pitch. To put an exclamation mark on this curb stomping, Felix De Asa Delacruz decided to crush a grand slam to put the Oswego run total to 13. New Paltz only managed one. 

The final game of the series was another closely fought affair. Featherstone opened the scoring for Oswego, but New Paltz eclipsed their lead with two of their own in the third and the fourth. The next inning saw the Lakers take a commanding lead from five RBI scorers, including Featherstone and Rosenberg. But the Hawks made a quick comeback, as Michael Ascanio sent one out for three runs. Ryan Mackle would equalize the score in the eighth and he himself got the go-ahead run in the final inning to take the series for the Hawks. 

Even though the Lakers were the more consistent team overall, the Hawks were just able to get the momentum going for them. The Lakers now sit at fourth in the SUNYAC, behind Cortland through conference play, even though they have a better win percentage. Their next challenges face a slew of different opponents including RIT, St. John Fisher and Clarkson.

Photo by: Oswego Athletics