DAVENPORT, FL - Despite a six-hour rain delay, the Oneonta baseball team used hot hitting to secure a 17-4 win over Lakeland to start the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. The Red Dragons recorded 17 hits and move to 2-3 overall, while the Muskies fall to 2-4.
Oneonta struck first when senior Joey Dwyer (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham Wading River) used a sacrifice fly to bring home junior Nick Jacoby (Yorktown Heights, NY/Yorktown). Lakeland responded in the bottom of the first, with Logan South reaching home on a Tucker Gegenfurtner ground out to make it 1-1.
In the second inning, freshman Ryan Cronin (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) singled to left field to allow junior Brendan Duffy (Southold, NY/Southold Jr./Sr.) and senior Josh Gilkey (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minor) to score, pushing the lead to 3-1. The Red Dragons added three more runs in the third inning, with Gilkey leading off with a double to left field. A sacrifice fly from senior Anthony Foglia (Somers, NY/North Salem) brought him home, and a Duffy sacrifice added a run from Dwyer. Cronin followed with a run on a third-baseman error. Gegenfurtner singled in a run in the bottom of the frame to make it 6-2 before the rain delay.
The action resumed in the fourth inning, with Oneonta tacking on four more runs. Another Foglia sacrifice fly made it 7-2, and senior Logan Hutter (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown West/Smithtown) doubled in a Dwyer run. Singles from Duffy and Cronin added two more runs to push the lead to 10-2.
Fifth-year Tom Roefaro (Utica, NY/Notre Dame) struck out two Muskies in the bottom of the fourth, and Oneonta pushed the lead to nine in the fifth.
The Red Dragons forced the run rule in the seventh inning when they scored six runs on five hits. Freshman Travis Gfrerer (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) led off with a triple, and a double from junior Matt Sandoval (West Islip, NY/West Islip Senior) brought him home. Junior Gavin Carlucci (Garrison, NY/Walter Panas) capped off the inning with a two-RBI triple. Lakeland scored once more, but the deficit was too much.
Gilkey nearly hit the cycle, going 4-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, a single, and three runs. Duffy was 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBI. Cronin was 2-for-3 with three RBI. Hutter added three runs, and Dwyer had two runs and two RBI.
Zak Keegan batted 2-for-3 with two runs, while Chris Day was 2-for-3 with a RBI.
Freshman Zachary Rowe (Hudson, NY/Taconic Hills) went 1.2 innings with three strikeouts. Roefaro (1-0) had four strikeouts, four hits, and one run.
Oneonta next plays Central in a doubleheader on Tues. Mar. 11 at 9 a.m.
