WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – A pitcher's duel went the way of No. 19 Oswego State University this afternoon as the Lakers topped the Allegheny College baseball team, 2-1, in a seven-inning contest at Bing Tyus Yard on the campus of Polk State College.
Allegheny (4-5, 0-0 NCAC) received a strong outing from
Chase Boyer, who was saddled with a hard-luck loss despite going the full seven with six strikeouts and no walks. Boyer needed just 69 pitches to get through seven frames as he allowed six hits and two runs (one earned).
On the other side, Brian Nolan provided Oswego State (13-3, 0-0 SUNYAC) with 6.1 innings of four-hit ball, allowing just a single run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Mickey Putillo finished it off by picking up the last two outs with a runner in scoring position.
Boyer opened the game by setting the Lakers down in order with a swinging strikeout, flyout, and popout. He allowed his first baserunner in the top of the second with a Jordan Giller lead-off single, but three more punchouts didn't allow him to advance from there.
Three singles in the top of the third pushed Oswego State ahead 1-0. Robert Donnelly led the frame off with a single, but was gunned down at first by
Chase Davis after straying too far from the bag on a flyout. Wes Randall then tallied a two-out hit and advanced to second on an error, and Brian Hamilton ripped a single to left to score him.
The Lakers added another in the fourth when a Giller single with a hit-and-run put on put runners on the corners for Myles Kutscher. Kutscher lofted a flyball to right on the first pitch, hitting it deep enough to score Eric Hamilton on the sacrifice fly.
Boyer only threw four pitches in the top of the fifth, generating all three outs with two worm-killers and a flyout.
Davis gave the Gators their second hit of the game in the bottom of the fifth, but a foulout and lineout stranded him at first.
An error put a baserunner in the top of the sixth, but Boyer was able to strand him with a swinging strikeout on Giller, who was 2-2 heading into that at-bat.
Allegheny got one run back in the bottom half.
Cullen Flaherty led off with a chopper that was misplayed by Donnelly at second and moved to second with a
Robert DiMaggio sacrifice bunt.
Joe Killian followed that up with a RBI double to the right centerfield gap, and
Dan Bonnett added an infield single to put runners on the corners. However, the Gators couldn't get the tying tally as Bonnett was picked off of first and
Jacob Shick popped up to end the inning.
Boyer closed his performance with two groundouts and his sixth punchout of the contest, giving Allegheny a chance to at least tie it in the bottom of the seventh.
Tyler Wagner began the frame by getting plunked on the elbow and pinch-runner
Andrew Dawson moved to second on a bunt by Davis. Nolan was removed in place of Putillo to face pinch-hitter
Brandon Pouch, and he got a bit of luck as a hard liner found the glove of Eli Horton in left. Oswego State's senior right-hander then got Bristol to ground out to short to end the game.
The teams were originally scheduled to play two seven-inning games as part of a double-header, but rain halted those plans after one-and-a-half innings in game two.
Corey Keenan had struck out two in a clean opening frame, and Allegheny bashed a pair of hits in the top half of the first inning.
Allegheny returns to the Keystone State to play Thiel College at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 28 in Greenville.
