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The top-seeded Oswego State baseball team earned a come-from-behind 6-4 victory over the No. 2-seed University of Southern Maine to advance to the New York Regional Championship Round. Oswego is guaranteed a top-two finish, which will be its best NCAA showing in program history. The Lakers improve to 31-8 on the season as well as 3-0 in the regional, while Southern Maine falls to 32-12 and 2-1.
Following back-and-forth action throughout, Zach Kollar put the Lakers ahead for good in the bottom of the eighth. Eric Hamilton started off the frame with a pop-single to right-center field. Back-to-back singles by Mike Dellicarri and John Barnes loaded the bases. Then on a 2-1 count, Kollar barreled up a ball and dropped it deep in right field gap to score Hamilton and Dellicarri, while Barnes moved from one corner to the other.
Adding an insurance run, Eli Holton drove a sacrifice fly to left, extending the Laker lead to 6-4 as Barnes crossed the plate.
John-Michael Guarino earned the win on the mound with a crucial performance in relief of starter Mitchell Cavanagh. He tossed 2.2 innings, allowing one earned and struck out four. Guarino entered with men on in the seventh and rang up a pair before working out of trouble in the subsequent two frames. Cavanagh went 6.1 innings to open the contest, allowing two earned. He also struck out three.
Earlier in the contest – after the Huskies scored a run in the top half of the first – Barnes smacked a two-run shot well over the right-center field fence, putting Oswego in front. In the second, Kyle Dinges singled and moved to second on an error, which saw Zach Whelan score.
The Lakers tallied 11 hits on the afternoon led by Barnes, who had three. Hamilton, Dellicarri and Kollar each contributed a pair, while Dinges and Whelan had one apiece.
Oswego awaits the winner of Game 9 in the New York Regional Championship Round at 12 p.m. on Sunday. It will face the victor of Southern Maine and the winner of Game 8 (Ithaca College and The College of New Jersey). The undefeated Lakers need just one win to advance to the NCAA Division III World Series.
