A day after clinching the No. 3 seed in the upcoming SUNYAC Tournament, the Oswego State baseball team (21-13, 12-6 SUNYAC) closed out its conference schedule Saturday, April 27, with a pair of wins over Plattsburgh (11-23, 4-12), 4-0 in extra innings and 5-2.
The Lakers finish tied for second with New Paltz (16-17, 12-6) in SUNYAC play, but the Hawks hold the tiebreaker after sweeping Oswego State in three games in early April.
Scoring came at a premium in game one as both Laker starter James McKenna (Jr., Bohemia, N.Y.) and Cardinal starter Brian Burns carried shutouts through nine innings forcing extras. The Lakers loaded the bases in the top half of the 10th when Mike Mascari (Jr., Syracuse, N.Y.) ripped a single to center field, clearing the bases with the help of a Cardinal error. Scott Buniak (Jr., Clifton Park, N.Y.), Mike McMullen (Jr., Syracuse, N.Y.), and Tim Smith (Jr., Auburn, N.Y.) came around to score the first runs of the game. The next batter, Andrew Lazzaro (Sr., Oswego, N.Y.), singled home Mascari before being tagged out at second to end the frame.
Pat Brown (Jr., Liverpool, N.Y.) shut down the Cardinals in the bottom of the tenth to secure the 4-0 win.
Smith, Lazzaro, Kyle Liner (So., Milford, N.Y.), and Ed Charles (Auburn, N.Y.) each had two hits in the game. McKenna pitched nine innings, giving up only five hits in the win to improve to 4-2 on the campaign. Burns pitched the entire game for Plattsburgh, going ten innings allowing just one earned run on 11 hits in the hard-luck loss.
In game two, Plattsburgh took the lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly to center field off of Oswego State starter Jon Stevens (Sr., Chittenango, N.Y.) before the Lakers struck for three runs in the next half inning. Oswego State got on the scoreboard after Tom Curry (Jr., Pulaski, N.Y.) scored on a sacrifice fly to center field before a pair of doubles by John Rauseo (So., Mattituck, N.Y.) and McMullen brought home Dan Karleski (Jr., Syracuse, N.Y.) and Rauseo, respectively.
The Cardinals pulled within one with another run in the sixth on Stevens, but the Lakers did not allow any more runs the rest of the way. Rauseo plated Karleski on a sac fly in the seventh to build a 4-2 lead and a ninth-inning single by Jordan Giller (Fr., Toronto, Ont.) brought home Dylan Parmenter (Sr., Bennington, VT) to add another insurance run for the Lakers. Dylan Kohlman (So., Vestal, N.Y.) earned the six-out save, entering the game in the eighth inning and pitching two perfect innings.
Rauseo, Buniak, McMullen, Giller, and Karleski each collected two hits for the Lakers. Stevens allowed two runs on four hits en route to picking up his fourth victory of the season. Plattsburgh starter Steven Corea was handed the loss after yielding three runs on five hits in five innings of work.
Oswego State concludes its regular season with a trip to RIT Tuesday, April 30, for a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.
Click for Box Score 1.
Click for Box Score 2.
