Lakers Outstanding Season Comes to Close at CWS
APPLETON, Wisc. – The top-seeded Oswego State baseball team bowed out of its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III College World Series with a 9-4 loss to Concordia University Chicago (34-12) in an elimination game on Saturday morning at Fox Cities Stadium.
In the Lakers' half of the seventh, Zach Kollar and Eli Holton knocked singles into left field and eventually came around on a ground out and a wild pitch, respectively, to make it a 9-4 in Concordia's favor.
Oswego added its second run in the top of the sixth inning and looked poised to add more. Zach Whelan hit a one-out, ground-rule double down the left-field line and scored from second on a wild pitch that reached the third base dugout. The Lakers then secured two-straight walks with Eric Hamilton coming to the dish. Hamilton crushed a ball off the left-center wall, but with two fielders tracking the hit the whole way, neither runner could advance more than a base. At that point, Oswego had bases loaded with the heart of its order coming to the plate. Mike Dellicarri fouled out to the third baseman in the next at-bat and John Barnes sent a liner to the shortstop to end the threat.
The Lakers' first tally came on a bases loaded, two-out walk from Wes Randall in the fourth that plated Holton to cut the Concordia-Chicago advantage to just 3-1. Holton had reached earlier in the frame with a one-out single to left. Hamilton stepped in to the batter's box with the base paths full and the go-ahead run at first but struck out swinging for that half inning's final out.
Concordia-Chicago was able to plate two runs in the first and sixth innings, one in the third but the catalyst came in the four-run fourth inning following Oswego cutting the deficit to just two, 3-1. Starter Robert Donnelly suffered the loss in 3.2 innings of work, allowing seven runs on nine hits. John-Michael Guarino threw the next 1.2 innings, to the tune of two runs on three hits. Seniors Brandon Schultzkie, Andrew Morano and Charles Arcuri close out the final 2.2 frames, combing to allow just two hits and no runs.
Lukas Olsson was solid at the plate in the game, going 1-for-1 with three walks while fellow catcher Alex Brown had a pinch-hit single in the ninth. Brown's senior classmate Kyle Simmons also had a pinch-hit appearance, driving in a run on a ground out. Dellicarri, Kollar, Holton and Whelan each finished with two hits while Hamilton had one to total Oswego's 11 on the day.
Oswego – the State University of New York Athletic Conference and New York Regional champions – closes the 2017 campaign with a 32-11 record and the furthest postseason run in the program's history.
