Write a comment
The nationally-ranked and top-seeded Oswego State Lakers completed multiple improbable comebacks to walk off on the sixth-seeded Ithaca Bombers 11-10 in the first game of the 2017 NCAA Division III Championship Regional Round. Oswego improves to 29-8 on the season and 1-0 in the tournament, while Ithaca falls to 28-12 and 0-1.
Heading into the ninth inning, Oswego trailed the Bombers 10-7. After the Lakers were able to load the bases, Josh Hoagland came to bat as a pinch hitter. He earned a walk to force home John Barnes from third and bring the score to 10-8. During the next at-bat – with Kyle Dinges at the plate – an Ithaca pitch went wild and Eli Holton scored.
Two at-bats later, Wes Randall came to the plate with the bases once again full of Lakers. Following a first-pitch strike, the senior laced a ball over second base, driving in Hoagland and Zach Kollar to win the game.
Oswego jumped out of the gates first, with a trio of runs. In back-to-back at-bats, Barnes and Holton doubled and tripled into the outfield gaps, respectively. Subsequent to the three runs scoring, Ithaca bounced back. In the top of the third, the Bombers scored twice before adding three runs apiece in the fifth and sixth frames.
As Ithaca held an 8-3 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Lakers began to chip away. Zach Kollar led off the frame with a solo shot. Alex Brown followed that up with a double before a Randall single drove him home.
Eric Hamilton kept the inning going as he took a ball off the left shoulder area on a 1-2 count, reaching first. He would make it around the horn and score on a wild pitch after Mike Dellicarri drove in Wes Randall prior.
Oswego returns to action against the loser of No. 3 The College of New Jersey Lions and No. 4 Tufts Jumbos at 2:30 p.m. on Friday at Onondaga Community College.
