The SUNY Oneonta baseball team got seven strong innings from sophomore Alex Mastrianni (Valatie/Ichabod Crane) in leading the Red Dragons to a 4-1 victory in game 2 today against SUNY Purchase.  The win in the night cap helped Oneonta (2-7) earn a split with the Panthers (4-5) after dropping game 1, 6-0.

Mastrianni, who picked up his first win of the season, allowed seven hits and struck out three batters before giving way to senior Jim Hegmann (Middletown/Pine Bush), who pitched a perfect eighth inning to earn his second save of the season.

The two teams battled through seven innings tied 1-1 before entering the eighth.  The Red Dragons rallied a bit with one out while making the Panthers pay for an error.

Sophomore Matt Mastroianni (Somers/North Salem) singled to get Oneonta started in the eighth.  He advanced to third base when Chris Orlando reached on an error by the third baseman.  Mastroianni scored on a double by Jake Robinson (Oyster Bay/Oyster Bay), which gave Oneonta two runners in scoring position.  Matt Salvatore (Staten Island/Staten Island) kept the rally going with a single that knocked in Orlando while moving up Robinson one base.  Robinson scored when Thomas Hand (Wallkill/Valley Central) reached on a fielder's choice where Salvatore was put out at second base.

Mastroianni, Robinison and Dean Haussel (Sound Beach/Miller Place) each had two hits in the game to lead the attack.

In game 1, the Panthers broke open a close 1-0 game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.  They added a pair of runs in the home half of the sixth for the final margin of victory.  Oneonta managed only six hits including a pair by Orlando.

Sophomore Steve Ascher (Cutchogue/Mattituck) allowed eight hits and four earned runs in four innings of work, as he fell to 1-2 on the season.

Oneonta will be back in action next Saturday for a doubleheader at Swarthmore College beginning at noon.