ONEONTA, N.Y. - The Oneonta baseball team earned an 8-3 win over Union in their home opener on Tuesday afternoon. Senior pitcher Kyle Roper (Tappan, NY/Tappan Zee) also recorded his 100th career strikeout as the Red Dragons move to 1-3 overall. The Garnet Chargers fall to 3-2.
In the top of the first, Union went 1-2-3 with two ground outs to freshman shortstop Joseph Monserrat (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central). Senior Josh Gilkey (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minor) singled in the bottom of the frame, but a Union double play ended the Oneonta offensive run.
Roper struck out two batters in the second and third, but the Oneonta batters struggled to find their rhythm early on.
After two ground outs to third to start the bottom of the fourth, senior Joey Dwyer (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham Wading River) was hit by a pitch to reach first base. He stole second and third, and a single from senior Anthony Foglia (Somers, NY/North Salem) brought him home to make it 1-0. Freshman Ryan Cronin (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) hit a two-RBI single to bring in runs from junior Brendan Duffy (Southold, NY/Southold Jr./Sr.) and senior Logan Hutter (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown West/Smithtown) to make it 3-0.
Roper struck out another batter in the fifth to cap off a 1-2-3 inning, and Oneonta added a fourth run in the bottom of the frame. Sophomore Sean Clinton (New York, NY/Clarkstown South) led off with a double to left field and reached home on a first-baseman error.
Hutter singled in Foglia in the sixth, and Monserrat had a base hit to allow Hutter to score, pushing the Oneonta lead to 6-0.
A Cronin sacrifice fly brought a run in from Foglia in the eighth, and Hutter scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-0.
Union musted up a late run in the top of the ninth. Will Kelly singled in a run, and another single from Ben Raphael made it 8-3. A final ground out secured the Oneonta victory.
Foglia finished the day hitting 3-for-4 with three runs and one RBI. Hutter went 3-for-3 with three runs and one RBI.
Raphael had one hit and two RBI, while Kelly had one hit, a run, and a RBI.
Roper (1-1) went 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts and three hits. Jack Klein (0-1) pitched 3.0 innings with two strikeouts.
Oneonta next hosts Clarkson on Fri. Mar. 7 at 2:30 p.m.
