The SUNYAC baseball tournament was officially declared complete this afternoon because weather conditions were not conducive to playing the remainder of the games still left to be played. Because the tournament was declared complete, Brockport, who was 2-0, is the conference champion and will receive the automatic berth to the NCAA Div. III tournament that begins with the eight regional tournaments on Wed., May 19th.
The tournament was delayed twice yesterday due to weather, which backed up the first game of the day and delayed the completion of the second game. There were three games scheduled for yesterday, but only two were played including the winner's bracket game between Brockport and Oneonta, which the Golden Eagles won 10-6 to get to 2-0.
             Today's first game was supposed to be between Oneonta and Cortland in an elimination game after Cortland defeated Plattsburgh in yesterday's first game to eliminate the Cardinals. The game was a rematch of Friday's opening game for the two schools, which Oneonta won 7-1 behind a complete game, three-hitter by junior #Dave Filak (Scotia/Burnt Hills)#, who most likely pitched his final collegiate game.
Filak will most likely be a high draft choice for the Major League Baseball college entry draft in June. Filak finished his season 8-0 with an ERA of 1.82. In 59-1/3 innings he recorded 96 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .175 batting average.
In yesterday's loss to Brockport, Oneonta (28-11) fell behind 6-0 before coming all the way back to tie the game in the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the inning though, Nick Parrino ended the game with a walk off grand slam off of relief pitcher #Anthony Bates (Utica/Proctor)#.
Oneonta trailed 6-5 entering the ninth and loaded the bases with one out before a 1-2-3 double play got Brockport out of the inning with only one run scored.
Senior #Carmine Caputo (Mahopac/Mahopac)# drew a leadoff walk to start the ninth inning and then was sacrificed over to second by sophomore #Kevin Knack (Ghent /Ichabod Crane)#. The Golden Eagles then intentionally walked Oneonta's home run leader, Dan Randall (Salem/Salem) (Salem/Salem), which gave the Red Dragons runners at first and second. Two more walks forced in the tying run before senior #Steve Gauck (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa)# grounded into the double play to end the threat.
Brockport scored three runs in the third and added three more runs in the fifth to build its lead. The Red Dragons stormed back with four runs in its half of the sixth inning to cut its deficit to 6-4.
Back-to-back singles by Caputo and Knack got things going in the sixth. After a Randall strikeout, sophomore #Mike Center# reached on a throwing error by the third baseman that allowed him to get to third base with Caputo and Knack scoring on the play. Center scored on a groundout by senior #Scott Dubben (Roseboom/Cherry Valley Springfield)# to make the score 6-3.
Gauck kept things going in the inning with a single through the left side, which was followed by a double to left field by junior #Pete Lindner (Voorheesville/Voorheesville)#, which drove in Gauck with the final run of the inning.
After Oneonta retired Brockport in order in the sixth, they came to bat in the seventh when the weather rolled in and delayed the game for nearly an hour. When play resumed in the seventh, neither team was able to score.
Oneonta got one run closer in the eighth with a single run to trail 6-5. Dubben singled through the right side before advancing to second on a wild pitch. A two-out single by junior catcher #Mike Arcuri# drove in Dubben from second base.
