CORTLAND, N.Y. — In a thrilling three game SUNYAC Baseball Championship Series that featured 11 lead changes between the two teams, the Oswego State Baseball team was defeated by Cortland. Oswego took game one from Cortland in a late comeback fashion, but Cortland won game two in extra innings and game three to take the series. Cortland outscored Oswego 25-23 between the three games, which featured one run wins for each team in games one and two and a two run win for Cortland in the deciding game.

Game one was tied 2-2 after four innings, Kieran Finnegan had some early command issues surrendering four walks which resulted in two runs in the first inning while allowing just one hit in the frame. Finnegan bounced back well, giving up no hits in the next three innings and just one walk. Oswego’s two runs came in the top of the second on a Hunter Holliday RBI double and Julian Drew RBI single. Cortland put up two runs on four hits against Finnegan in the 5th which led to Anthony Van Fossen entering the game for the Lakers. Van Fossen was brilliant out of the bullpen as the junior threw 3.1 hitless innings for the Lakers. SUNYAC RBI leader Kyle Lauria trimmed the deficit to one run with an RBI single in the 7th, and the Lakers kept going with a big two out rally in the 8th. Oswego scored three runs in the 8th as Myles Felton scored on a wild pickoff throw to tie it, Brendon Frank singled in Paul Tammaro, and Ryan Enos followed with an RBI double to score Frank. Mike Di Salvo came in to pitch the 9th but gave up a leadoff home run to make it a one run lead for the Lakers. Di Salvo had the tying run on third base, and the winning run on second with no outs but got back to back flyouts to finish the 7-6 game one Oswego win.

The highest scoring game of the weekend came in an 11-10 extra inning walk off win for Cortland. Game two featured 31 total hits and three home runs for each team, as it was Tammaro, Ryan Weiss, and Felton each hitting long balls for the Lakers. At least one team scored in all ten innings, as Cortland had a four run and multiple three run frames scoring in bunches, but Oswego scored more consistently with one or two runs in seven of the ten innings. Frank and Weiss led Oswego’s offense as both of the seniors contributed four hits apiece. After ten innings and a ton of offense, it was Scott Giordano from Cortland with a walkoff home run forcing a decisive game three the following day.

Oswego and Cortland had identical runs scored in each frame from the 1st to 4th, as the game was tied 5-5 after four innings. Oswego scored one in the top of the 5th but Cortland answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the frame that would be the tying and eventual winning run, before tacking on an insurance run in the 6th. Enos was 3-4 with a home run, a double, and 4 RBIs in the final game of the series but it was not enough as Cortland took game three 8-6 to win the SUNYAC Championship. 

The season is not over yet for Oswego as the Lakers got an at-large bid into the 48 team NCAA Division III Baseball Championship. There are eight separate locations with six teams at each site; the winning team from each of the eight sites will compete in the Division III World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Oswego was selected to be the second seed at the Hartford, Connecticut Region which is being hosted by Trinity College (Connecticut), a team that Oswego was scheduled to play against earlier this year. The teams in order of seeds 1-6 playing at the Hartford Regional are Southern Maine, Oswego State, Wheaton (Massachusetts), Salve Regina, Husson, Johnson & Wales (Providence). This is Oswego’s sixth consecutive season qualifying for the Championship, and the Lakers are looking for their first World Series appearance since 2018. Games will take place Thursday, May 27th through Sunday, May 30th and Oswego will play their first game at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Image Provided by Alexis Fragapane, Lexi Fragapane Photography