PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The University of Rochester baseball dropped both games of their home-opening doubleheader, 3-1 and 6-0, to the Oswego State Lakers on Thursday afternoon at Towers Field to fall to 1-6 on the season, while the Lakers move to 4-3 on the year.
 
GAME 1: Oswego St. 3, Rochester 1
Emil Sander got the visitors on the scoreboard just five pitches into the contest, launching Sammy Rosenberg's 3-1 pitch to left center for a solo home run, giving the Lakers a 1-0 lead. Patrick May followed with a single, but Rosenberg settled down and retired the next three Oswego St. batters all via groundouts to keep the Lakers' lead at just one.
 
Josh Leadem gave UR its first baserunner of the contest with a two-out, infield single in the bottom of the first, stealing second to move into scoring position, but Nick Cody stranded the first of seven 'Jackets left on base with a groundout to short, sending the two sides to the second frame.
 
UR would pick up two more baserunners with a pair of one-out singles from Tristan Datta and Luke Blozy in the bottom of the second, but Cody again would strand them, striking out a pair to keep the Yellowjackets off the scoreboard.
 
Rosenfield retired 10-of-12 Laker batters after yielding a leadoff walk in the top of the second, stranding runners in both the fourth and fifth before Oswego St. broke through again in the sixth.
 
Sander drew a leadoff walk, but Rosenfield got May to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to erase both baserunners and put two outs on the board. However, an error and a walk kept the inning alive, and the Yellowjackets made a call to the bullpen, bringing in Matt Bradley to relieve Rosenfield.
 
Bradley allowed a two-out walk to load the bases for Felix De Asa Delacruz, who drew a hit-by-pitch to make it 2-0 Lakers. Bradley prevented any more damage though with a strikeout to end the inning, and UR would answer in the bottom of the frame.
 
Ethan Jaquette led off the bottom of the sixth with a hit-by-pitch, and Sammy Besztery followed with a single to left, taking second on a fielding error by the left fielder to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Owen Hoyt relieved Cody, and while UR pushed a run across on Alexander Gonzalo's sacrifice fly, Hoyt struck out Leadem and got Benjamin Garber to ground out to prevent UR from scoring another, keeping Oswego St. in front by one.
 
The Lakers would add an insurance run in the top of the eighth, as Daniel Winchester doubled to lead off the frame and came around to score on De Asa Delacruz's RBI single. Derek Llanes then relieved Bradley and worked out of the inning without allowing another run, keeping the lead at just two.
 
But while UR brought the game-winning run to the plate in the top of the ninth following Colby Cruser's pinch-hit, two-out single to put two on with two out for Sammy Smith, Matthew Drillings got Smith to strikeout to nail down the save and finish off the 3-1 victory.
 
Cody (1-0) earned the win for Oswego, allowing one run on five hits while striking out five over 5.0 innings pitched. Rosenfield took the loss, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits, walking four and striking out two over 5.2 innings.
 
Bradley allowed one run on three hits, walking and striking out two over 2.0 innings out of the 'pen, while Llanes struck out two and allowed one hit over an inning and a third.
 
Leadem had a team-high two hits to lead UR, going 2-for-4 with a stolen base, while Gonzalo went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
 
GAME 2: Oswego St. 6, Rochester 0
Jack Subramanian got the start in game two for Rochester and limited Sander to a leadoff single, and then kept Oswego off the scoreboard in the first, striking out Featherstone to strand Sander at third.
 
But after yielding a leadoff walk in the second, the Lakers would get on the scoreboard first on Joe McLaughlin's two-out, RBI double, taking an early 1-0 lead.
 
Rochester looked to answer in the bottom of the frame, loading the bases with two outs on back-to-back singles by Datta and Nathan Carpenter-Holmes, as well as an eight-pitch walk by Smith. However, Joel Hayner got a popout to strand all three baserunners and keep Oswego St. up by one.
 
Subramanian worked around a pair of baserunners again in the top of the third, but UR's staff would run into trouble in the fourth. Justin Grossman relieved Subramanian to start the inning but received a quick hook after walking the first two batters on nine pitches.
 
Ryan Arora relieved Grossman and got the first out of the inning on a sacrifice bunt, but another walk loaded the bases, and while Arora got an infield fly to put two outs on the scoreboard, a defensive miscue on Winchester's grounder allowed two runs to come in to score, extending Oswego St.'s lead to 3-0.
 
Arora settled down to strand a pair and pitch a scoreless fifth, while Ryan Del Vecchio worked a 1-2-3 sixth, but Rochester would leave another two baserunners on in the bottom of the frame, struggling to find a clutch hit against the Lakers.
 
A hit-by-pitch, walk and groundout put runners at second and third with two outs, but the Lakers would keep UR from scoring once again, as Will Coleman struck out Smith for the third out of the inning.
 
Oswego St. then tacked on three more in the top of the seventh on Thomas Harrington's infield single, McLaughlin's sacrifice fly and another RBI single by Sander, before Mason Sands closed the door in the bottom of the seventh, working around a leadoff walk by Blozy to finish off the 6-0, shutout victory.
 
Subramanian (0-1) took the loss for UR, allowing one run on three hits, walking two and striking out four over 3.0 innings pitched, while Hayner earned the win, allowing just four hits while walking two and striking out five over 5.0 innings pitched.
 
At the plate for UR, Datta went 1-for-2 with a walk while Besztery went 1-for-3 with a walk, but the 'Jackets left another nine on base, 16 total across the doubleheader.
 
Rochester will look to bounce back when it continues its nine-game homestand with a doubleheader against Allegheny College on Saturday, March 15 at 12:00 p.m. at Towers Field.