C.J. McCarthy’s two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning gave SUNY Oswego the lead for good as the Lakers ousted Husson University 12-10 in an elimination game at the NCAA Division III baseball regional in Ambler, Pennsylvania.
McCarthy’s homer gave SUNY Oswego a 9-8 lead on Saturday before the game was suspended after seven innings due to darkness and resumed Sunday morning.
The Lakers came back and scored one run in the top of the eighth inning and two more runs in the top of the ninth to extend their lead to 12-8.
Husson scored twice in the bottom of the ninth, with one run coming home on an Ethan Stoddard single, but the Eagles could not get closer.
SUNY Oswego (31-11) was set to face host Arcadia University (40-7) in the championship round later Sunday, with the Lakers needing two wins to advance to the NCAA super regionals while Arcadia needed just one more victory.
Husson, which scored its first NCAA tournament victory since 2009 with a 13-12 win over Elizabethtown College earlier Saturday, finished its stay at the regional with a 1-2 record and its season at 25-17.
SUNY Oswego jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Husson, but the Eagles took their first lead with four runs in the bottom of the third. Joshua Scott drove home Akira Warren with an RBI single, and Jackson Curtis followed with a two-run double to plate Austin Snow and Scott before scoring the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Kobe Rogerson.
SUNY Oswego scored four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 7-4 lead, but Husson’s offense responded with a three-run uprising in the bottom of the inning to forge a 7-7 tie with a rally featuring RBI singles by Tyler Parke, Austin Snow and Scott.
SUNY Oswego threatened to regain the lead in the top of the sixth with two runners in scoring position, but Rogerson threw out a runner at home from his shortstop position to keep the game tied.
Parke reached on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the inning, stole second base and scored on another RBI single by Scott to give the Eagles an 8-7 edge.
Scott paced Husson’s 14-hit attack with a double, two singles and three RBIs, while Snow and Warren added two hits each.
Kyle Lauria had four of SUNY Oswego’s 20 hits, a double and three singles as well as two RBIs, while McCarthy homered and doubled twice with three RBIs and Ryan Enos doubled twice with three RBIs.
