Junior pitcher James Bardenett tied Brockport’s school record for wins in a season after he recorded his ninth win of the season Friday, April 27 over Oneonta, in the first of a three-game series. Bardenett tied Ben Kimball, who had nine wins in 2004.

“Being tied for the most wins is a great feeling,” Bardenett said. “Not only is it a great accomplishment for myself, but it’s great for the team too because we’re scoring runs when we need them and holding opponents down as a team.”
Coming off of a 3-2 loss to St. John Fisher Wednesday, April 25, Brockport took game one against Oneonta 2-1. Junior Mike Weakley drove in both runs for the Eagles.

Game one featured a defensive battle. The Eagles got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning, but both teams failed to record a run until the sixth inning. Brockport’s first run was scored by sophomore Kyle Tracy, who advanced on a groundout by Weakley. Tracy got on base with a single earlier in the inning.

In the top of the fourth, Oneonta managed to advance runners to second and third base with one out. Bardenett escaped the inning by forcing a shallow fly out to right field, followed by a groundout to first.

After a one, two, three inning by both teams in the fifth inning, Oneonta tied the game 1-1 in the top of the sixth off a sacrifice fly, but Brockport answered back in the bottom half of the inning.

Sophomore Pete Wilson got on base first in the sixth inning after he was hit by a pitch. Tracy advanced Wilson to second with a sacrifice bunt and Weakley did the rest. With two outs, Weakley roped a double down the right field line to score Wilson, giving the Eagles a 2-1 advantage.

After two scoreless innings by both teams, sophomore pitcher Justin McCarthy came in to close the game for Bardnett. McCarthy got the first two batters he faced to groundout, and the third batter to line out to earn the save. Both teams only recorded six hits in the 2-1 victory for Brockport.

“A huge key to my success was being able to throw my changeup for strikes,” Bardenett said. “It allowed me to throw four pitches. That gets into a batters head and makes it real fun for a pitcher.”
Following Friday’s game, Oneonta spoiled Brockport’s senior day by getting the best of the Eagles in both games of a doubleheader Saturday, April 28. The Red Dragons took the first game 7-5 and the second game 9-2.

In game one of the doubleheader, Brockport hopped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Wilson led off the inning with a single and advanced to second after Tracy worked a walk. Corey Booth singled to right field to score Wilson and move Tracy to third. After Weakley grounded out, junior Jake Coleman advanced to first on a catcher’s interference call to load the bases.

With zero outs, junior catcher Nick Bunce drove in Tracy and moved every base runner up a bag. Junior Stephen Boronczyk reached base on a fielder’s choice, which led to a throwing error that scored Booth. Pitcher Steve Ascher struck out freshman Brendon Swayne to get out of the bases loaded jam. The stranded runners would come back to haunt Brockport.

In the second inning, Brockport added another run to lead 4-0, but Oneonta got the run back in its next at bats. In the bottom of the fifth, Tracy hit a single and then stole second to move into scoring position. Weakley moved Tracy over to third off of a single and Coleman hit Tracy in off a single to right field to put the Eagles up 5-1.

The Red Dragons cut into the lead in the fifth inning with one run scored, and tied the game up in the sixth inning with three runs. Senior John Lowe replaced senior James Williamson as pitcher in the sixth inning, but he couldn’t get on track. Lowe walked three out of the first four batters he faced to load the bases for Oneonta.

Sophomore Rob Stankiewicz came in for Lowe to try and get out of the jam but found no luck. Stankiewick threw a wild pitch against the first batter he faced that gave the Red Dragons their third run of the game and advanced all base runners. Stankiewicz got the next batter to ground out, but it cost the Eagles another run.

With the game 5-4, head coach Justin Beach went to his bullpen again. McCarthy came in to stop the bleeding, but gave up an RBI double to senior Tory Bouyea before he got out of the inning.

The game remained 5-5 until extra innings. With one out in the top of the eighth, senior Eric Wells drove in two runs off a single to left center to put the Red Dragons up 7-5. The two runs ended up being the deciding factor after Brockport’s first three batters in the bottom of the inning got out.

Brockport failed to bounce back in game two of the doubleheader. However, the scoreboard didn’t tell the full story.

Oneonta went on to win the game 9-2, but it was much closer than the scoreboard shows. When the Eagles got ready to hit in the bottom of the seventh inning, Oneonta only led 2-0. After Booth and Weakley singled, Coleman scored Booth off of a sacrifice fly. Mike Gianni brought Weakley home off of a single up the middle that tied the game 2-2.

Oneonta regained the lead, 3-2, in the eighth and opened the game wide-open in the ninth. The Eagles made four errors in the ninth and gave up two hits that allowed the Red Dragons to score six runs. Oneonta shut out Brockport in the bottom of the ninth, earning the win 9-2. Brockport only managed four hits in the game.

“Our defense definitely needs to tighten up,” Booth said. “We had too many errors and didn’t get the bats going. We didn’t have too many big innings.”
Despite dropping both games in the doubleheader, Brockport remains the No. 2 seed for the SUNYAC tournament. The two wins for Oneonta pushed the Red Dragons into third place in SUNYAC. Both teams will square off again against each other in the first round of the tournament Friday, May 4.