The Oswego State baseball team closed out its conference schedule with a pair of losses to host Oneonta by the scores of 13-0 and 12-3 on Saturday. The Laker offense was limited to 11 combined hits during the doubleheader, while recording 20 strikeouts. Oswego State, which dropped to 17-15 overall and 2-10 in the SUNYAC standings, will host Clarkson in a non-conference doubleheader on Monday at 2 p.m. The Red Dragons improved to 26-9 on the season and 7-4 in the league.
Oneonta jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with two runs in the first and two more runs in the third, but the Red Dragons broke the game open in the fourth when four hits led to three more runs and a 7-0 advantage. Oneonta continued to extend its lead in the seventh scoring two runs and the eighth with four more runs crossing home for the 12-0 lead. Oswego State mounted a rally in the ninth as it had a base runner reach second base for the first time in the game with the bases loaded, but was unable to score.
The Laker bats were stymied by Oneonta pitcher Dave Filak, who struck out 12 Oswego State hitters and allowed three hits in 8.1 innings for the victory. Dave Widrick (Sr., Lowville, N.Y.) earned the loss giving up eight earned runs on 13 hits over the course of seven innings. Joe Salvatore (Fr., Clarence, N.Y.) allowed three hits and one earned run in one inning of work.
The Lakers bounced back immediately in game two when Rafael Cordero (Jr., Utica, N.Y.) and Dan Slate (Sr., Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) started the contest with back-to-back singles. Oswego State drove in both runners with small ball to take a 2-0 lead. The margin grew to three runs after Mike Tarnowski (Fr,. Dunkirk, N.Y.) doubled down the left field line to drive in Slate, who finished the game 2-for-3, from second base.
However, Oneonta exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the fourth racking up six hits to take a 9-3 lead. Michael Center delivered the key hit of the inning with a single up the middle for two RBI. The Red Dragons tacked on one run in the sixth and two runs in the seventh en route to a 12-3 win.
Marc Peterson (Jr., Geneseo, N.Y.) went 3.2 innings allowing seven runs, two of which were earned, on six hits to suffer the loss. Dustin LeFave (Jr., Moravia, N.Y.) and Jon Stevens (Fr., Chittenango, N.Y.) combined to pitch the final 4.1 innings with LeFave giving up two earned runs on five hits and Stevens allowing just one hit. Oneonta's Joshua Herzenberg earned the win in relief pitching six scoreless innings and recording four strikeouts, while starter Brett Meservey went three innings giving up three runs on three hits.
