ALLEGHENY, N.Y. — The Oswego State baseball team travelled to Fredonia for the final weekend of the season before SUNYAC playoffs. A three game set with game one on Friday and the other two games Saturday. 

The first game of the series was played at SUNY Brockport, and Oswego showed why they are the best team in the conference and one of the best in the nation. In only the top of the first inning, the Lakers asserted their dominance. The first three batters reached base, and Paul Tammaro scored during Lukas Olsson’s  at bat on a wild pitch. Olsson would then clear the bases with a three run home run to give the Lakers a 4-0 lead. Two more runs crossed the plate before the end of the inning, Fredonia grabbed their bats for the first time down 6-0. A scoreless bottom half of the first and top of the second led to Fredonia finding the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Back to back singles were followed by a double scoring one, and then two ground outs scored two more, Fredonia only down 6-3. The top of the fourth was when the Lakers struck again, sending home four runners for a 10-3 lead. A Jacob Levine grand slam in the fifth made in 14-3. In the sixth inning two more runs scored for the Lakers making it 16-3. A solo shot in the bottom of the seventh for Fredonia made it 16-4. Seven runs scored for Oswego in the eight making it 23-4. The Blue Devils scored three in the eighth and one in the ninth making it 23-8, but Oswego offensive dominance reigned supreme in this one. Five Lakers had two hits during the game. Lukas Olsson and Jacob Levine both had four RBIs. Jacob Sanders started for the Lakers, going 4 innings, allowing three runs on three hits, walking one and striking out three.

Games two and three were played at Alleghany High School. Game two was much different than game one. The first two innings were scoreless. In the top of the third, Paul Tammaro hit a one-out solo shot to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. In the top of the fourth, a Julien Drew bases loaded single brought home the second run of the game and a Paul Tammaro single an out later drove home the third. In the bottom of the fourth, a two run shot by the Blue Devils brought closed the gap to 3-2. In the top of the fifth, Lukas Olsson answered the two run homer with one of his own. The pitching took over the rest of the game, no runs scoring through the remaining two and a half innings. Paul Tammaro led the Lakers with three hits. Tammaro and Lukas Olsson tying for the RBI lead with two each. Kieran Finnegan got the start for Oswego. he pitched five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks, striking out four. He was relieved by Ben Wilcox, who pitched the remaining two innings, giving up one hit and striking out two. The Lakers also clinched the SUNYAC title with the win.

In game three, the Lakers struck in the first inning. A Ryan Weiss single scoring Ryan Enos from third. In the top of the third, a Tishawn Featherstone grand slam extended the lead to 5-0. In the top of the fourth, Kyle Lauria hit a two run home run for the Lakers sixth and seventh runs. The next runs weren’t scored until the top of the ninth, with the Lakers hitting their third home run of the game, this one off the bat of Brett Myers, a three run shot, giving the Lakers a 10-0 lead. Fredonia would cross the plate once in the bottom of the ninth to avoid the shutout, but the Lakers finished a dominating series with a 10-1 lead. Blake VanDreason and CJ McCarthy led Oswego in hits with two each. Nine other Lakers got a hit. Tishawn Featherstone‘s grand slam gave him the teams RBI lead. Anthony Van Fossen got the start for Oswego, going four innings, allowing two hits and one walk, striking out two. Jai Sharma pitched two innings of relief, striking out four.

The Lakers finished their season with a 28-8 (16-2 SUNYAC) record. The will play the Plattsburgh Cardinals in game one of the SUNYAC playoffs Thursday. D3baseball.com’s rankings were last updated on May 3, the Lakers sitting in 14th.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAM ROGERS, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT