HARRISONBURG, VA - The Oneonta baseball team headed south for its season-opening weekend, first playing Eastern Mennonite in a doubleheader on Friday afternoon. The Royals (2-7) took the first game 15-7, while the Red Dragons (1-1) won the second game 6-4. 

In the first game, senior Liam Kaseta (Somers, NY/Somers) doubled his first at-bat in the first inning, but two quick outs followed to keep the Red Dragons off the board. The Royals brought in five runs in the bottom of the first, with the first three batters hitting singles. Nick Arnold singled up the middle to bring in two runners. Then two walks and a pair of stolen bases loaded the bases. Alex Gulisan walked to make it 3-0, and two more walks pushed it to 5-0. 

Oneonta could not respond in the second and third, only registering one hit from junior Joe Ottaviano (Nanuet, NY/Albertus Magnus) in the top of the third. Eastern Mennonite scored two more in the bottom of the frame, with both runs coming on a throwing error.

The Red Dragons woke up in the fourth with four runs on three hits to cut the lead to three. Senior Jake Barrett (Hauppauge, NY/St. Anthony's) bunted to single and then reached second on a passed ball. Sophomore Anthony Foglia (Somers, NY/North Salem) walked to put runners on first and second, and then senior Sean Liquori (Thiells, NY/North Rockland) used a sacrifice bunt to put Barrett on third. Junior Nate Guillen (Haverstraw, NY/North Rockland) singled to center field to bring Foglia and Barrett home. A single from junior Bradley Turner (Stone Ridge, NY/Rondout Valley) brought in two more Red Dragons to make it 7-4. 

The Royals answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 8-4, but the Red Dragons scored once in the fifth on an Eastern Mennonite error. 

The momentum swung back to the Royals in the fifth, with Eastern Mennonite pouring on six runs while Oneonta made three errors. Oneonta could not find any hits in the following inning as Eastern Mennonite's pitching caused the Red Dragons to go 1-2-3. Kaseta scored in the seventh, and then Turner singled to bring junior Gregory Bandura (Pine Bush, NY/Pine Bush) home at the top of the eighth. 

Kaseta went 3-for-5 with two runs, while Turner was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Junior Michael Sadowski (Queens, NY/Queens Metropolitan) (0-1) pitched 3.0 innings with two strikeouts. Freshman Martin Thorsland (Maryland, NY/Milford Central) went 2.0 innings and had four strikeouts. 

Ethan Sprake finished 3-for-5 with three runs for the Royals, while Arnold had three hits, three runs, and three RBI. Hunter West (1-2) picked up the win by going 5.0 innings with three strikeouts.

Oneonta faired better in the second game, totaling ten hits with just one error.  

The Red Dragons started slow, and the Royals struck first again in the bottom of the first. Spraker scored on a Natty Solomon single to make it 1-0. Oneonta evened the score in the second when junior Alex Wurster (Central Square, NY/Paul V. Moore) led off with a single through the right side. Senior Franklin Padilla (Brooklyn, NY/LaSalle Academy) followed with a single to put Wurster on third. Guillen grounded out, but not before Wurster reached home. 

Liquori started on the mound and struck out three straight Royals in the bottom of the second. 

Ottaviano doubled to get the Red Dragons moving in the third. Kaseta singled to advance Ottaviano home, then Kaseta scored on a Barrett double. Oneonta made it 4-1 when Barrett scored on a wild pitch. 

Two scoreless innings followed before Eastern Mennonite scored twice in the sixth. Bashinski tripled to bring a runner home and scored on a wild pitch to cut the Oneonta lead to 4-3. The Royals tied in the seventh to force extra innings. Junior Cole Rockwell (Liverpool, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) stole home on a wild pitch in the eighth, and a Kaseta sacrifice fly gave Guillen a run to put the final score at 6-3. 

Liquori pitched 4.0 innings and struck out nine batters. Graduate student Derek Shea (West Kingston, RI/Wells College) (1-0) earned the win going 1.0 innings, while junior Tom Roefaro (Utica, NY/Notre Dame) picked up the save. 

Oneonta continues its Virginia trip by playing Bridgewater on Sat. Feb. 25 at 1 p.m.