The SUNY Oneonta baseball team was finally able to play some northern baseball yesterday and today, unfortunately they couldn't shake the cobwebs from the layoff and dropped its three-game series to Brockport to open the SUNYAC portion of its schedule.
 
In yesterday's opening game of the series played at Onondaga CC, a seven run eighth inning by the Golden Eagles broke open a 5-3 game.  Brockport (10-6, 3-3 SUNYAC) added three more runs in the ninth for a 15-3 final.
 
Freshman James McCarty (Stony Brook/Chaminade) was hit with the loss despite throwing six solid innings in the game.  He allowed six hits and five runs, one earned, and fanned four batters.
 
Junior Joe Franke (Livingston Manor/Liberty Central) and freshman Dillon Merola (Cornwall/Cornwall) each collected a pair of hits for Oneonta (3-9, 0-3 SUNYAC).
 
In today's opening game of a twinbill at Houghton College, the Red Dragons fell victim to another bad inning in a 17-5 loss.  After jumping out to a 7-3 lead after three innings, senior Mike Cruz (Levittown/Division Avenue) deposited a ball over the fence in left-centerfield for his first home run of the season.  Freshman Samuel Beaulac came in ahead of Cruz and the score was 7-5 after four innings.  Brockport put the game out of reach with a 10-run seventh inning.
 
Cruz finished with three runs batted in while sophomore Casy Kies (Apalachin/Vestal) drove in a pair.
 
In the series finale, Brockport scored four runs in the seventh inning to secure a 5-0 victory.  Freshman Thomas Bond (Somers/North Salem) threw 6-1/3 innings of effective baseball allowing six hits and four runs, but was outdueled by Zack Lander of Brockport, who kept the Oneonta hitters off balance en route to recording 14 strikeouts in his complete game shutout.
 
The Red Dragons are scheduled to play at Ithaca College this Wednesday for a doubleheader beginning at 2pm.