Nicholas Winograd, Contributing Writer |
In what has the potential to be the game of the year for SUNYAC, the Oneonta Red Dragons defeated SUNY New Paltz 13-12 on Apr. 23. In an absolute thriller, Oneonta tallied twenty hits on the day, as corner outfielders Liam Kaseta and Anthony Foglia continued to be dangerous at the plate.
Foglia, who had five hits, also hit for the cycle, an extremely sparse feat, as he singled, doubled twice, tripled, and homered. Additionally, it was his three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth that gave the Red Dragons the lead. The scoring began in the first inning when Hawks’ Michael Boccarossa singled home the first run of the game. Oneonta answered with a run of their own, coming off the bat of Anthony Gonzalez, who singled home Foglia, who had tripled earlier in the inning. A Dean Stalzer long ball and a Jordan Rios two-RBI single would make the score 4-1 in favor of New Paltz. But the Red Dragons didn’t give up and mounted a comeback.
They rallied in the fourth inning, scoring five runs and taking the lead 6-5 on an error that allowed two runs to come home, a Noah Frasca run-scoring triple who scored on a Kaseta base hit, followed by Gonzalez singling him home. In the top half of the fifth, the Hawks came right back for five runs of their own. After a scoreless bottom of the fifth and top of the sixth, Oneonta responded with two more runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning, provided by RBIs by Sean Liquori and Nate Guillen. Dillon Ristano added a run-scoring base hit for the Hawks in the ensuing inning, and the visitors were once again ahead by three runs. Boccarossa added to that advantage with an RBI single to right field, scoring Ortiz and making the score 12-8 in the top of the eighth.
From that point, New Paltz was done scoring for the day, but that “never give up” attitude of the Red Dragons made sure the scoring was not over for them. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Oneonta put some pressure on Hawks’ pitcher James McGovern, loading the bases for Liam Kaseta. Kaseta stayed hot by singling home a pair of runs, cutting the lead to just two. Kaseta was the man to get for McGovern because up next was Red Dragon right fielder Anthony Foglia, who drove a pitch way over the fence to give Oneonta the 13-12 lead. Right when Foglia made contact with the pitch, he and his teammates knew the ball wasn’t coming back as he jumped his way towards first base on his trip around the bases.
In an absolute action-packed afternoon of baseball, the Red Dragons just needed three more outs to capture the sweep of the doubleheader. Just as he finished the first game, Logan Carriero was asked to close this one as well, which he did, setting the Hawks down in order. This was truly an awe-inspiring offensive performance by both clubs that left the home side victorious. As dramatically as possible, they got their tenth win of the season!
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