NEW PALTZ, NY –  The Oswego Lakers baseball team travelled to New Paltz, N.Y this weekend to play the New Paltz Hawks in a weekend series. The series started friday where the series started slow with both teams unable to score a run in the first two innings. Oswego the broke things open when in the top of the third inning the Lakers scored four runs. The inning started off with the Hawks walking Brian Brezosky.  The Hawks then matched the Lakers in the bottom of the third inning with four runs of their own. The offensive prowess continued when Tishawn Featherstone hit a homerun in the top of the fourth, bringing in two runs for the Lakers and giving them the lead again.

A single to left field by Blake VanDreason gave the Lakers a third run in the fourth inning, bringing in Parliment for his second score of the game.  The offensive showing kept coming as New Paltz earned  five runs in the bottom of the fourth and took a two run lead over the Lakers. Both teams then went quiet for four innings until Oswego scored 7 runs in the top of the eighth inning behind a home run by Jelani Hamer tying the game at 10.  Later in the inning, McCarthy hit a double to right field, bringing in two runners and the last run of the game would come from a sacrifice fly by Drew, which brought in Anthony Barone and gave the Lakers a 14-10 lead. The Lakers would shut out the Hawks for the rest of the game and win the game 14-10. Hamer led the Lakers at the plate, going four for six at-bat, earning three RBIs, scoring two runs, and hitting one home run.

The Lakers then moved to saturday where they had a doubleheader against the Hawks. In the first inning, the Hawks struggled on the mound walking three batters to give Oswego bases loaded with just one out.  Owen Parliment was at bat with one out and bases loaded, Parliament theb hit  a grand slam to put the Lakers up 4-0 early. In the top of the third, Parliment would come up to bat again with a runner on first. He would continue his big day hitting his second home run of the day giving the Lakers a six run lead. In the same inning Frank Levanti would double to third base bringing in another run for the Lakers. Jelani Hamer would continue his weekend giving Oswego a nine run lead with a sacrifice fly out to center field, Levanti was brought in by Hamer.  In the same inning t he Hawks walked Levanti  with the bases loaded which earned a run for Oswego, bringing in Parliment. Oswego had a ten run lead going into the fifth inning.

Oswego didn’t score again until the top of the seventh inning. Bringing in two RBIs off a single to left field was none other than Parliment. New Paltz could not get anything on the board as Oswego held on to get the 12-0 shutout victory over the Hawks in game one. Kieran Finnegan received the victory on the mound, recording seven strikeouts in five innings. Sean Clifford came in to replace Finnegan and recorded three strikeouts in two innings.  Parliament led the Lakers at the plate, going four for four on the day, hitting two home runs, earning eight RBIs, and scoring three runs as they head into game 2

It was the same theme for the Lakers in game two, jumping out to a commanding ten run lead in the first inning. Hamer hit a two-run home run to open up the scoring for Oswego, bringing in Brezosky. A double by Parliment set the Lakers up to score with runners on second and third. Jacob Levine earned two RBIs off a single to left field, giving the Lakers a four run lead. With runners on first and third, Greg Carullo  singled to left field, bringing in another runner for Oswego. Sam Allen gave the Lakers a six run lead with a single to center field, bringing in CJ Mccarthy. Oswego jumped out to an eight run t lead in the first off a single by Brezosky, bringing in two runners. The Hawks then walked in two and gained a ten run lead. The Hawks scored two runs of their own in the bottom of the first inning, cutting the Laker lead to eight.

In the top of the second, Oswego earned just one run, coming from a wild pitch by the Hawks. New Paltz scored two runs in the bottom of the second, making the score 11 to 4. In the next inning, the Lakers added four more runs. The Hawks earned three more runs in the bottom of the fourth, giving them seven runs through four and Oswego scored their final run in the top of the sixth inning, with Featherstone scoring an unearned run from an error by New Paltz. The Hawks continued to climb back into the game, with a pair of runs earned in the bottom of the sixth inning, and one run in the bottom of the seventh. The Hawks trailed by six with two innings left. New Paltz scored their final run in the bottom of the eighth inning, falling to the Lakers by five. The final score was 16 Oswego, 11 New Paltz. Anthony Van Fossen got the win on the mound for game two, recording one strikeout in one inning. Six other pitchers saw the mound in game two, combining for a total of six strikeouts. Three Lakers tied with two hits each to lead Oswego at the plate. Those players were Brezosky, McCarthy, and Carullo. Brezosky earned two RBIs and one run, McCarthy earned one RBI and three runs, and Carullo earned one RBI and one run.

Oswego moves to .500 at 11-11 and  will stay on the road and take on the University of Rochester on Wednesday, April 12th.

IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS