Oneonta eliminates Keene State from NCAA Regional Tournament
Strong pitching and timely hitting was the winning formula for the SUNY Oneonta baseball team as they remained alive in the NCAA Div. III New York Regional tournament in Auburn, N.Y. The Red Dragons overcame an early two-run deficit to defeat Keene State College 5-2 in the opening game of Day 3.
With the win, Oneonta (30-12), reaches the 30-win plateau for the third time overall in the program’s history, and the first since back-to-back seasons of 2005 & 2006.
Oneonta will play a second game tonight against the winner of the Castleton State/Farmingdale State contest in another elimination game scheduled for a 7:45 p.m. start.
Senior Dan Randall drove in three of Oneonta’s five runs in the game to lead the offense. Randall drove in the game-winning in the sixth inning.
Junior Anthony Bates closed the door in relief of winning pitcher Brett Meservey throwing 1-2/3 innings allowing only one hit and recording one strikeout. In yesterday’s 9-7 win against Brockport, Bates picked up the win in relief and, today, he earned his fifth save of the season.
Meservey (4-2) kept the Owls off balance during his outing en route to 7-1/3 innings of four-hit ball with seven strike outs. Meservey raised his season record to 4-2.
Senior Carmine Caputo led off the sixth inning with a single through the right side. He then stole second to get into scoring position and came around on Randall’s one-out single to left center. Caputo had his second straight three-hit game along with scoring three runs for the Red Dragons.
After two scoreless innings, things got started in the third inning with both teams plating a pair of runs in its respective halves.
Leadoff walks to Kyle Morrill (Auburn, NH/Memorial) and Vincent Ganz (Waterbury, CT/Holy Cross) started the top of the third inning for Keene State. After a fly out, Jesse Cahill (Cranston, RI/Cranston East) hit an RBI single through the left side to score Morrill. On the play, the ball got by left fielder Mike Center, which allowed Ganz to score, as well for a 2-0 lead. Oneonta escaped the rest of the inning with no further damage.
In the bottom of the inning, Oneonta struck for two runs to tie the game at two apiece. Freshman Bryan Marotta continued to swing a hot bat as he lined a one-out single to right center. He was followed by an infield single by Caputo, who beat out a bunt.
Sophomore Kevin Knack then lined a double down the left field line to drive in Marotta while advancing Caputo to third. The inning ended on a fly out to center field by Randall that plated Caputo prior to Knack being thrown out trying to advance to third base on the throw to the plate.
The Red Dragons added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth for the final margin of victory. An error that allowed Caputo to reach and an infield single by Knack gave Oneonta two runners on to start the inning. On Knack’s bunt single, Caputo continued around to a vacant third base to give Oneonta runners at the corners with no outs. Randall then hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Caputo while moving Knack to third after Knack had stolen second base earlier in Randall’s at-bat. Knack scored the final run for Oneonta on an RBI single by Center.
