QUINTIN JAMES
Staff Writer
Being on a six-game losing streak starts to take a toll after a while. The Fredonia baseball team knew this, and knew this weekend at Oneonta would be a season-defining series. Sitting at 8-10, the Blue Devils needed to break the slump they were in if they had any aspirations of making SUNYACs this year.
Coach Matt Palisin made it a point last week that the focus during their week off was to prepare and study for Oneonta. He understood that they played a hard schedule so far but reminded everyone that their remaining schedule has a lot of winnable games. It is up to them to capitalize on it.
Fredonia traveled to Oneonta this weekend for a series against their SUNYAC rivals. Field conditions were wet and slick, but Fredonia managed and adjusted fine. In game one of the Saturday doubleheader, Fredonia hit three home runs and some extra inning magic to come back and defeat Oneonta in 10 innings, 7-6.
Fredonia would score first off a solo home run from senior Matt Wilhelm in the top of the third inning. Oneonta would respond in the bottom half of the inning off of starter Jake Harford, who went seven strong innings striking out eight but allowing five runs; four of them earned. He earned a no-decision, but senior Zach Lyman came in and pitched three innings of relief and got the win. He struck out four and only allowed one baserunner, which was a homerun in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Down 5-2 in the eighth inning, senior Alexio Medina launched a three-run homerun to tie the game at 5. In extra innings, senior Liam Kelly found a gap and delivered a two run inside the park homerun to give the Blue Devils the lead permanently.
In game two of the doubleheader, the Blue Devils used a big third inning to avoid a collapse in Oneonta. Fredonia scored four in the third inning to jump out to a 4-0 lead. Freshman Christian Rizzolo hit his first home run of the season to get the scoring started, then Medina added two more runs to widen the lead. A bad throw on a double-play attempt scored another run, and Fredonia would add another in the fourth inning as well.
Oneonta started to try and make a comeback in the bottom of the fourth inning when they had runners on second and third with no outs and one run in, but Fredonia starter Luke Kuczewski struck out the next three batters to ensure the momentum stayed with Fredonia.
Oneonta added a run in each of the sixth and the seventh innings, and the game got very interesting in the final frame. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Oneonta made it a one run game and was looking for a comeback on home soil. A two-run home run was almost followed by an extra base hit, but Medina made a game-saving diving catch on the warning track to save Fredonia.
Fredonia was led by junior Steve Zaprowski, who continued his hot stretch, going 4-for-4 and sophomore Kevin Yirinec was 1-for-1, but drew three walks in the game. Kuczewski earned the win after going six plus innings, striking out eight and allowing three earned runs. Junior Ryan Landers got the save in the game.
The final game of the series seemed to be in the bag until the ninth inning, and then the Blue Devils collapsed in a huge way. Up 5-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning and looking to swept Oneonta, Fredonia gave up five runs as Oneonta sent the game into extra innings. In the 13th, Oneonta would walk off to salvage a game of the series.
Fredonia started the scoring in the fifth inning as a walk, followed by an error on a sac bunt, led by a run on a fielder’s choice. Senior Mike Prentice drove in a run, and an Oneonta error led to two runs that stretched the lead to 4-0. Fredonia would add another run in the sixth and the game seemed to be in the bag.
In the ninth however, Oneonta would get some momentum off of reliever Lucas Schaefer. Oneonta would score their first run off of an error, and then add two more on a double before Zaprowski came in to replace Schaefer. With one out, Zaprowski, on his first pitch, inducted a popup. The Blue Devils couldn’t hold the lead as a couple of infield hits and a double tied the game at 5. Ciro Frontale threw out the potential winning run at plate to save the game temporarily for the Blue Devils.
Zaprowski would go on to pitch three-and-two-thirds innings of shutout baseball until a two-out hit scored the winning run in the 13th as Fredonia lost a heartbreaker 6-5 in a game they would love to have back.
Fredonia falls to 10-11 and Oneonta is now 9-7.