Devil bats come alive in time for split
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Baseball
ONEONTA, N.Y. -- Fredonia State went from famine to feast Saturday in a split of their SUNYAC doubleheader with the Oneonta Red Dragons.
After scratching out two singles and losing the first game 4-0, the Blue Devils rebounded in a big way. Sophomore Taylor Gahagen (Amherst/Williamsville North) had three hits and four RBI to lead a 19-hit attack in a 10-2 victory in the second game.
The Blue Devils improved to 10-2 overall, and 1-1 in the SUNYAC, while the Red Dragons ended the day at 15-4 overall. They are also 1-1 in the conference.
Leading 1-0 through five innings, the Blue Devils began to pull away with a four-run sixth inning. A two-run double by Gahagen was the big blow. He also had an RBI double in the eighth inning. Junior Joe Kephart (Niagara Falls/Niagara Wheatfield) tripled in two runs and scored on an overthrow in the seventh inning.
Rob Herrman (Trumansburg), a junior, had four singles while junior Josh Greco (Lockport) and junior Josh Melquist (Jamestown) had three hits each.
Senior left-hander Ricky Carlson (Frewsburg) pitched a complete game to improve to 3-0 this spring. Both Oneonta runs came in the last of the sixth inning, and both were unearned. Carlson finished with a five-hitter. He walked two, struck out five, and induced 11 groundball outs.
In the first game, Red Dragon sophomore Dan Filak showed why many consider he one of the top pitchers in the SUNYAC as he struck out 13 Blue Devils. Singles by Greco in the fourth inning and senior Jordan Basile (Jamestown) in the sixth were the only hits Filak allowed. Blue Devil junior right-hander Justin Nowak (Cheektowaga/Maryvale) worked the first six innings and fell to 2-1 this season after yielding all four Oneonta runs, three of them earned, on six hits. Senior Tom Hausler (Williamsville/Williamsville East) pitched two scoreless innings of relief.
Fredonia State was scheduled to play Sunday at New Paltz but 90 percent chance of rain prompted a postponement until noon Monday.