OSWEGO, N.Y. — Oswego State Baseball looks to extend their twelve game win streak and remain undefeated at home on Tuesday, April 27th at 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. against the University of Rochester. Oswego took sole possession of first place in the SUNYAC West with a doubleheader sweep over Brockport on Saturday, April 24th, and the Lakers now have a 9-1 conference record. This non-conference matchup could extend the win streak as the Lakers continue to ride this momentum into the later part of the season.
Oswego has not lost a game since the first day of the season back on April 3rd, and ever since that loss the Lakers have been dominant. Oswego is outscoring opponents 155-85 and winning games by an average of five runs on the season. Five of the top eleven on base percentage (OBP) leaders in the SUNYAC are in the deep Laker lineup. Paul Tammaro and Ryan Enos are back to back in second and third, Myles Felton is in fifth, and Kyle Lauria and Ryan Weiss are tenth and eleventh in the stat. While he is highly unlikely to pitch Tuesday after throwing six innings on Saturday, Kieran Finnegan won SUNYAC Pitcher of the Week last week.
Rochester comes in at 16-5 and 10-2 in the Liberty League which is good for first place as the Yellowjackets have looked sharp all season long. Rochester and Oswego were scheduled to meet Thursday, April 22nd in Rochester but that doubleheader was canceled and Tuesday’s doubleheader will be the only day the two teams meet this season. Oswego and Rochester have met once in each of the past three full seasons, the Lakers winning all three meetings.
Oswego takes the field Tuesday, April 27th for a non-conference doubleheader against Rochester at 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. at home. The Lakers will look to continue the momentum of the current twelve game win streak as the team gets closer to the nationwide Top 25.
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Women’s Basketball Ends Season on High-Note
OSWEGO, NY – The women’s basketball team split their games this weekend to finish the season including their final win of the 2022-2023 season.
Friday’s game concluded with the Lakers losing to Brockport 53-49 in overtime. Very little happened in the first quarter as both teams struggled from the paint. The game started out with Brockport’s Anna Felice making a three-pointer to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead. After that little happened between the two teams. The score was tied twice in the quarter with the Golden Eagles taking a 7-5 lead over the Lakers after quarter one. The Lakers went 20% the field and the Golden Eagles went 15.38% from the field. The second quarter was the same story as the first quarter. The quarter began with Chastin Giles making her first three-pointer of the day with 8:21 left in the second quarter. Less than 40 seconds later Sydney Hoefs would connect on her second three-pointer of the day to put the Lakers up 13-7. Juliana Logana would extend the Lakers lead to eight 15-7. The Golden Eagles would rally but the Lakers would lead 19-16 at halftime. Julia Logana and Sydney Hoefs would both lead the Lakers with six points at the half.
The third quarter would start with Zairea Hannah scoring to put the Golden Eagles down by one. The Lakers would respond about 30 seconds later with Caitie Lilly scoring to extend the Lakers lead to 21-18. The Golden Eagles manage to come close to taking the lead away from the Lakers but the Lakers held strong. Brockport struggled from the field in the second quarter going 3-16 and shooting 18.75%. The Lakers led 33-26 heading into the fourth quarter. Logan Castiglione helped extend the Lakers lead to ten connecting on a three-pointer with 9:10 left in the fourth quarter. Anna Lee would tie the game for the Golden Eagles at 41 with 1:27 left in the fourth quarter. The game would be tied at 41 going into overtime. In overtime, Zairea Hannah extended the Golden Eagles lead to 43-41 in the beginning of the overtime period. Chastin Giles would bring the Lakers back connecting on her second three-pointer of the game with 2:40 left in overtime. Shannon Blankenship would respond 28 seconds later making a three-pointer to help extend the Golden Eagles lead to 50-44 with 2:12 left in the game. Chastin Giles made a free-throw which brought the Lakers down 51-49 with 16 seconds left. Anna Felice would seal the Lakers fate with two free-throws to make the final score 53-49. Juliana Logana and Chastin Giles would both lead the Lakers with nine points on the day.
The second game saw the Lakers rebound from their loss against Brockport getting their final win of the season defeating the Fredonia Blue Devils 65-51. The Lakers found themselves in a bad position in the beginning of the first quarter trailing 8-0 with just 1:48 into the game, including giving up two three pointers to Fredonia’s Renee Park and Jaden Sciotti. Elaina Johnson would score the first points of the game for the Lakers to put them down 8-2. Sydney Hoefs made a three-pointer to bring the Lakers down by three and Shania Iglesias cut into the Blue Devils lead by cutting the Lakers deficit to just two at 10-8. The Lakers rallied to tie the game at 18 at the end of quarter one. Juliana Logana helped the Lakers take the lead at two at the beginning of the second quarter. With 4:50 left in the second quarter, Sydney Hoefs made another three-pointer to extend the Lakers lead to 12. Chastin Giles made a layup to extend the Lakers lead to 14 their biggest lead of the day so far in the game. Fredonia’s Allie Wandell made a three-pointer with 46 seconds left in the second quarter but the Lakers would lead 40-32 at the half.
The third quarter began with no scoring until 7:23 left in the third quarter with Mary Culeton making two free-throws to cut into the Lakers lead at 40-34. With 3:54 left in the third quarter Alena Wright cut into the Lakers lead at 41-38. The Lakers extended their lead to 49-38 at the end of the third quarter. Fredonia’s Sarah Seaman cut into he Lakers lead to seven making a three-pointer. Logan Castiglione made back-to-back three-pointers to seal the Blue Devils fate. Elaina Johnson added the final point of the day for the Lakers for their 65-51 win over the Blue Devils. The Lakers went off in terms of scoring as they had four double-digit scorers on the day with Logan Castiglione, Elaina Johnson, Sydney Hoefs, and Juliana Logana who would all finish the day with 10+ points. Elaina Johnson had a career game leading the Lakers with 18 points on the day. Sydney Hoefs would lead the Lakers in both games with 19 points and led the Lakers with four three-pointers in both games. Overall, Logan Castiglione would have a career year leading the Lakers in points with 209, her previous record was 119 points last season. Karleigh Leo was second on the team with 200 points as a transfer student who made an immediate impact right away. Shania Iglesias would also improve this season as she finished third on the team in points with 176.
The Lakers conclude the season with their best finish at 13-12 their best record since the 2012-2013 season. They’ll head into the 2023-2024 season with a lot of confidence after a resurgence year from their team.
PHOTO CREDITS PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
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Lakers men’s basketball wins SUNYAC tournament for 2nd straight year
OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Lakers had a big past weekend as they hosted the SUNYAC tournament on Friday and Saturday afternoon. The Lakers first started their tournament hosting the number five seeded New Paltz Hawks Friday afternoon for the SUNYAC Semifinal match. Early on Oswego struggled to connect on their shots and the game stayed tight as both teams went back and forth in the first seven minutes of play. The Hawks started gaining momentum around the 12 minute mark which forced Coach Leone to take a timeout trailing 12-15. Defense was the key of the first half, as both teams struggled to put the ball in the net. The Lakers forced five turnovers on defense, while holding the Hawks to just 35% from the field. Oswego dominated the glass with 10 offensive rebounds in one half. Despite the struggle from the field, the Lakers would take a two point lead going into halftime, leading 27-25. Cartier Bowman and Jeremiah Sparks both went into the half with 8 points.
After nothing was going for Oswego in the first half they were desperately looking for answers. That answer was Devin Green who hit three of his six three point attempts in the first eleven minutes of the half bringing the lead to 49-44. Jeremiah Sparks connected on two straight baskets extending the Lakers lead to nine with just five minutes remaining in the game. Green continued to put the team on his back and connected on his fifth three of the second half with just under 2 minutes to seal the game. The Lakers ended up holding on with a 73-68 win to move to the championship game. Four Lakers recorded double digit points that evening Sparks had 21,Green had 17, Bowman had 13 and Cook had 12. The Lakers advance to their second consecutive SUNYAC title game with a five point win over the Hawks and would face SUNY Brockport on Saturday evening for a chance at the SUNYAC championship.
The Lakers returned Saturday to the Max Ziel to try to win back to back games against the Brockport Golden Eagles. The first half went the way the Lakers wanted as the Lakers defense forced 12 turnovers against the Golden Eagles and the Lakers led 46-33 at half. Ahkee Anderson went 6-7 from the field, including a three pointer in his hot start with14 points in the first half.
The second half started out the same for both teams with Brockport starting to slowly creep back into the game. Brockport cut the lead to six with just over ten minutes remaining taking over the full momentum in the half. Both teams then continued to score back and forth, with Oswego maintaining the six point lead over the next eight minutes. With less than two minutes remaining, Ahkee Anderson continuing his big game hit a big jumper from the right baseline to give Oswego a 69-61 lead forcing Brockport to call timeout. After Brockport failed to score at the other end coming out of the timeout, the Lakers took advantage with a long offensive possession with an offensive rebound turning into a slick Jeremiah Sparks step back mid-range jumper to seal the SUNYAC. Oswego would continue their 21 game win streak with 74-63 win. Oswego wins their second straight SUNYAC Championship in a row marking Coach Leone’s sixth SUNYAC Championship in 11 years.
Three Lakers were honored in the trophy celebration and as a part of the SUNYAC Team: Devin Green, Jeremiah Sparks and Cartier Bowman who won the SUNYAC Tournament MVP with a 15-point 13-rebound double-double.
The Lakers are now 25-2(17-1) and will now host a NCAA pod on March 3rd and 4th. They will play Marymount (VA) in the round of 64 at 5:45. John Carroll and Albertus Magnus will be playing the Neutral game.
IMAGE COURTESY OF ERIN BLANK, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Oswego State Women’s Lacrosse Falls to SUNY Brockport
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego Women’s Lacrosse team lost their third straight game on Saturday, falling to the Brockport Golden Eagles 22-9. This loss drops the Lakers to 3-3 on the season and 2-2 in SUNYAC play. However, Oswego remains in 3rd place in the West division, ahead of SUNY Fredonia (1-4) and Buffalo State (0-5). With four conference games left before the end of the regular season, the Lakers are still in the hunt for a SUNYAC Championship spot.
The Lakers were competitive early on, leading the Golden Eagles 2-1 after quick goals from Logan Castiglione and Kamryn Sherman. But that would be the only lead Oswego would have all game as Brockport went on a 7-goal run midway through the first half and never looked back. The Golden Eagles out-shot the Lakers 36 to 22, with 26 shots being on goal. What really hurt the Lakers chances in the Saturday’s matchup were their defensive clears. Oswego had only 6 successful clears and continued to give Brockport second chance shots on goal. Seven Lakers scored in the matchup, including Isabella Lembo (2), Kamryn Sherman (2), Sela Wiley (1), and Shae McConnell (1). Logan Castiglione also added 1 goal and 2 assists. As for Brockport, they were lead by leading scorer, Heather Conklin, who totaled 6 goals and 2 assists. After starting the season 3-0, Oswego will now enter Monday’s game versus Buffalo State looking to end a 3-game losing streak. The Lakers previously defeated the Bengals 14-6 on April 10th. The women’s lacrosse team will need a win to stay alive in the playoff race. The opening face off is set for 4:00 PM at Laker Turf Stadium. WTOP 10 will be at the field broadcasting all the action.
