AMBLER, P.A. — The Oswego State Lakers finished up their regional round matchups Monday morning. A total of five games were played across four days, three of the games being delayed, and two having to be resumed the next day. 

The weekend started on Friday with a matchup with the Elizabethtown College Blue Jays. Elizabethtown got on the scoreboard first. A lead of walk was moved to second by a sacrifice bunt and then to third on a fly-out. A wild pitch made its way to the backstop and scored the runner for an early 1-0 lead. The Lakers wouldn’t let the lead last though. Paul Tammaro led off the inning with a double, and was then was quickly brought home on a Ryan Enos home run taking the lead 2-0. In the bottom of the second, a two-out walk by CJ McCarthy brought Paul Tammaro back to the plate for the second time in two innings. He again went for extra bases, but this time taking all four. A two-run shot extended the Lakers’ lead to 4-1. After a hit batter started the top of the third for the Blue Jays, but lightning strikes in the area caused an almost three-hour-long weather delay. Coming out of the delay, Elizabethtown got one across the plate to close the gap. In the bottom of the fourth, the Lakers brought home three. Paul Tammaro brought home Julian Drew with a single, and Lukas Olsson drove in Tammaro and CJ McCarthy with a double. The next run wasn’t scored until the bottom of the seventh, a Ryan Weiss solo shot, extended the lead to 8-2, which was the final score of the game. Paul Tammaro led the team in both hits, having three, and RBIs, also three. The Lakers had four doubles in the game and three home runs. Jacob Sanders started the game for Oswego, pitching the innings before the delay. He allowed both runs, allowing no hits, walking one, and hitting one batter. Thomas Pecchia came in after the delay. he pitched all seven innings after the delay. He gave up three hits and two walks, striking out five. 

The second game of the weekend was on Saturday against the Arcadia University Knights. Arcadia had beaten Husson University in their first game. The game started as a pitching duel, as neither side allowed a run through the first three innings. Arcadia was the first to score, a two-run homer in the top of the fourth. Oswego quickly answered in the bottom half of the inning. With one out Lukas Olsson was hit by a pitch. A failed pickoff attempt got away from the first basemen and Olsson got all the way to third. Kyle Lauria drove him in with a single. After a foul-out by Ryan Weiss, a single by Tishawn Featherstone scored Lauria from first to tie the game at two. The Knights took the lead right back. Back-to-back doubles to start the top of the fifth brought home the first run of the inning. A sac bunt moved the runner to third, and a line out was enough to score the runner. The Knights got one more to cross the plate and had a 5-2 lead going into the bottom half. In the top of the seventh, the Knights had four straight one-out singles, to score their sixth run. A fly out to center scored the runner from third for Arcadia’s seventh run of the game. Oswego finally scored another run in the bottom of the eighth, a three-run home run by Kyle Lauria closed the lead to 7-5. Arcadia scored three runs of their own in the top of the ninth, to re-extend the lead to five runs. Ryan Enos hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, but Oswego couldn’t come back and lost 10-7. Kyle Lauria and Ryan Enos each had three hits to lead Oswego. Lauria led the team in RBIs with four. Kieran Finnegan started the game for Oswego. He pitched six and a third innings, allowing seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits, only striking out one. 

With the loss the Lakers had a second game to play Saturday, taking on the Husson University Eagles, who had beaten Elizabethtown earlier in the day. The Lakers started quickly. Paul Tammaro led the game with a bunt single. Ryan Enosdoubled to drive him in. Enos got thrown out at third trying to steal. Kyle Lauria then doubled. Ryan Weiss drove him in with a single. Jacob Levine followed Weiss with a single of his own, knocking out the Husson starter with the only out being on the base path. A wild pitch moved both runners up a base, and a Tishawn Featherstone line out brought home Weiss for a 3-0 Oswego lead. Husson responded in the bottom of the third, scoring four and taking the lead. Tishawn Featherstone tied it for the Lakers in the top of the fourth with a leadoff solo home run. After loading the bases, a Ryan Enos ground out brought home the runner from third. Kyle Lauria followed with a single driving home the other two runners retaking their three-run advantage at 7-4. The Eagles quickly answered, driving home three runs and tying the game at seven. The game remained tied at seven until the bottom of the sixth when a two-out single with a runner on second brought him home and took the lead 8-7. In the top of the seventh, a CJ McCarthy two-run homer gave the Lakers the lead 9-7. The game was suspended after the seventh due to darkness and picked up Sunday morning. In the eighth, a Jacob Levine double brought home Kyle Lauria home from second and extended the lead 10-8. The Lakers scored twice more in the top of the ninth, which was just enough as the Eagles scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to make the game 12-10. Kyle Lauria led the team in hits having a 4-4 day at the plate, three other Lakers had three-hit days. Paul Tammaro was one of the Lakers with three hits, all coming on bunt singles. CJ McCarthy and Ryan Enosshared the RBI lead with three each. The Lakers had six doubles and two home runs, CJ McCarthy had two of the doubles and a home run. Kyle Lauria stole three bases in the game. Anthony Van Fossen got the start for the Lakers. Going three innings, allowing seven runs, on nine hits, striking out two. Jai Sharma pitched four innings of relief, allowing one run on two hits, walking one, and striking out three. 

After beating Husson, the Lakers had an uphill climb, having the beat the Arcadia Knights twice to win the regional. In the first game, it was the Knights who scored first. A fly-out scoring a runner from third for a 1-0 lead after the first. Ryan Weiss lead off the top of the second with a homer to tie the game. Oswego scored again in the bottom of the fourth, Jacob Levine singling to score Kyle Lauria from third. In the top of the fifth, Lauria drove in Paul Tammaro from second. A Julian Drew single brought home Ryan Enos and Lauria to give Oswego a 5-1 lead. Arcadia scored twice in the bottom of the fifth. In the top of the eighth, Oswego crossed the plate six times, a Ryan Enos bases-loaded double bringing home all three runners, Julian Drew bringing home two on a single, and CJ McCarthy bringing home one on a single for an 11-3 Oswego lead. The Knights scored once in the bottom of the ninth, but the Lakers won, forcing a winner take all final. Paul Tammaro led the team in hits with three. Julian Drew led the team in RBIs with four. Sean Dertingerstarted for the Lakers. He pitched two innings, allowing one run on two hits, walking two, and striking out two. Jacob Sanders pitched three and a third innings of relief, allowing two runs on six hits, walking one, and striking out three. Alex Conrad pitched the remaining three and two-thirds innings. He allowed one run on two hits, walking two and striking out two. 

The second game was the lowest-scoring affair of the weekend for the Lakers. In the first inning, Kyle Lauria brought home the first runner for Oswego on a single, and Ryan Weiss cleared the bases with a three-run homer for an early 4-0 lead. Arcadia only scored one run in the outing, a sac fly to center in the top of the third. The game was called due to weather and darkness after the fourth inning and picked up Monday morning, but it didn’t matter as no runners scored for either side. Oswego took the Regional Bracket, going 4-1 over the weekend are moving on. Four Lakers tied for the lead in hits with two each. Ryan Weiss led the team with three RBIs. Thomas Pecchia started the game for Oswego. He pitched the four innings before the delay, allowing the sole run, on three hits, walking two, and striking out two. Anthony Van Fossen pitched all five innings after the delay. Not allowing a hit, walking one, and striking out two. 

In almost a sense of parody, the Lakers follow in the steps of the Oswego State Mens’ Basketball team, and after winning a regional in the Philadelphia area, are headed to Marietta, Ohio to take on the Marietta College Pioneers in the Super Regionals. Marietta won the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) with a 35-5 record, going 12-3 in conference games. They went on to win the OAC tournament and got to host the regional round, where they won in three games. D3baseball.com had them ranked #2 in the country following their conference title, whereas the Lakers sat at #16 in the same rankings. 

At the plate, the Pioneers are led by five starters who all hit over .400. Outfielder Turner Hill has the highest average of them all, hitting .443 with 82 hits, 17 of them doubles, two triples, and a home run, driving in 48. He has also stolen 30 bases. Third baseman Damian Yenzi hit .428 with 83 hits, 28 of them doubles and 12 home runs, driving in 65. Hill and Turner were named co-conference players of the year. Outfielder Zach Boyd hit .426 with 66 hits, 12 of them doubles, 5 triples, and 6 home runs, driving in 43. Utilityman Drew Holderbach hit .418 with 71 hits, 14 of them doubles, and seven homers, driving in 54. Outfielder Carson Brett hit .408 with 62 hits, 14 of them doubles, five triples, and nine homers, driving in 41. Marietta has another three starters who all hit over .360 as well. 

On the mound, the Pioneers are led by 14-game starter Trent Valentine. Along with his 14 starts, he has two appearances out of the bullpen, amassing 76.2 innings on the year. He has a 2.11 ERA with a 1.11 WHIP. He’s allowed only 19 runs, 18 of them earned, with 63 hits, and 22 walks, striking out 62. He has held opponents to a .228 batting average. In their bullpen, they have OAC pitcher of the year Sam Mathews. In 26 appearances out of the pen, he pitched 74.1 innings, saving 13 games. He has a 1.33 ERA and a WHIP at .69. He’s allowed 43 hits, 14 runs, 11 earned, walking eight, and striking out 68. Opponents hit .166 against him. 

The Super Regional is just Oswego and Marietta in a three-game series. The first game of the series has the first pitch set at noon Friday. Game two is a noon Saturday with game three, if necessary, 45 minutes after the conclusion of game two. The winner of the series heads to Cedar Rapids Iowa for the D3 College World Series. 

IMAGE COURTESY OF OSWEGO ATHLETICS