Brighton, NY. The SUNY Oneonta baseball team split a conference double header with the Brockport Golden Eagles on Monday afternoon. The postponed game took place at Monroe Community College in Brighton, NY with Brockport as the host team. In game one, the Red Dragons beat the Golden Eagles 5-4, and fell in the second game 3-2. The Red Dragons record moved to 7-10 and 3-2 in the SUNYAC, and the Golden Eagles moved to 6-9 and 2-3 in the SUNYAC.
In game one, the Red Dragons sent out right handed hurler
Nicholas Ponesse (Newburgh/Valley Central) (1-1). The senior answered the call for the Red Dragons pitching a total of six innings while only allowing one earned run. He also kept the Brockport bats at bay by allowing four hits while striking out three batters. Classmate
James McCarty (Stony Brook/Chaminade) came in relief in the bottom of the ninth inning to earn his second save of the season. He faced five batters and allowed one earned run.
On the offensive side of the ball the Red Dragons tagged the Golden Eagles for five runs off of seven hits and four walks. Both senior
Dalton Beatty (Atwater, CA/Atwater) and junior
Mike Graves (Bethlehem/Bethlehem Central) registered multi-hit games that resulted in multiple runs batted in. They both went 2-4 for two runs batted in.
Starting on the mound for Oneonta for game two was junior
Takoda Sitar (Katonah/Somers). Sitar went 3.2 innings while only allowing two hits, an earned run and fanning five batters. The Red Dragons pitched by committee for the last 2.1 innings with a combination of
RJ Lyman (Mohegan Lake/Walter Panas),
Thomas Bond (Somers/North Salem),
Christopher DiDomizio (Cortlandt Manor/Lakeland) and
Robert Ottaviano (Nanuet/Albertus Magnus).
In the top half of the second and third innings, the Red Dragons had four hits which resulted in two runs. The first run came off the bat of sophomore
Brandon LaVenture (Schenectady/Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons) with the long ball in the second inning. This was LaVenture's third home run of the year. In the third,
Mickey Mullins (Vestal/Vestal) drove in
James Ceparano (Melville/Half Hollow Hills East) with an RBI single.
The Red Dragons are scheduled to play next against Cortland on March 30
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