Oneonta State baseball got

Star photo by Anita Briggs Oneonta State’s Dave Paquette waits for a pickoff throw to first as Oswego’s Zach Owen slides safely back during the first inning of Thursday’s SUNY Athletic Conference game at Red Dragon Field. Oneonta swept Oswego, 8-5, 8-1, to tie Cortland for the regular-season SUNYAC title.

squeezed Thursday.

Despite tying for the SUNY Athletic Conference’s regular-season title with an 8-5, 8-1 sweep of visiting Oswego, the Red Dragons earned the No. 2 seed for the May 5-7 league tournament.

Rival Cortland State matched O-State with a 12-2 conference record but received the top seed and home-field advantage for the SUNYAC Tournament via a tiebreaker.

Cortland, which swept New Paltz, 9-2 and 11-0 on Thursday, clinched the regular-season title based on an April 9 sweep of SUNYAC To[an error occurred while processing this directive]urnament-entrant Plattsburgh. O-State, which split a doubleheader with Cortland on Wednesday, dropped the first game of an April 15 doubleheader against visiting Plattsburgh, 6-2.

Cortland’s other SUNYAC loss came in the second game of an April 2 doubleheader at Oswego, 3-2.

O-State improved to 26-8 overall Thursday, rallying from a 4-0 deficit in the opener before cruising to victory in the second game.

Brandon Galutz capped a three-run rally in the first inning of the opener with a two-run homer. O-State tied the score at 4 in the second inning when Chris Brew came home on an error after doubling with two out.

O-State strung together three straight hits to start the bottom of the third en route to a 6-4 lead. Galutz capped the scoring with one out in the seventh, when he hit his second homer of the game. He finished 4-for-4, with two doubles, three runs and four RBIs.

Galutz staked Oneonta a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the second game, doubling to score Brew and Jake Wasielewski. Mike Kuratnick’s two-run single in the third put O-State ahead, 4-1.

The Red Dragons allowed two hits after the second inning as starting pitcher Steve Juedes improved to 3-0 this season. He struck out four in five innings of four-hit ball.

Galutz finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a double. Chris Salamida and Thomas Colt contributed two hits apiece for the Red Dragons, who host Union at noon Sunday.

O-STATE 8-8, OSWEGO 5-1

Oneonta State 312 010 10x — 8 14 0

Chris Daley (L,3-4) and Dan Pecora. Mike Myrdycz, Don Lawrence (5,W,2-1) and Mike Kuratnick.

Oneonta State 202 400 x — 8 12 2

Adam Harendza (L,2-5), Justin White (5) and Dan Pecora. Steve Juedes (W,3-0), C.J. Bellinger (6), Greg Funck (7) and Mike Kuratnick, Jared Wood (6).

Softball

The sweep helped Oneonta clinch the sixth and final spot for the SUNYAC Tournament, which begins May 4.

Kathleen Wood threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in the opener as Oneonta rallied from a 4-3 deficit entering the seventh inning. The Red Dragons scored in the top of the seventh to force extra innings, then broke the 4-4 tie with two runs in the eighth.

Wood relieved Nicole Marshall, who struck out four, walked two and allowed eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. Wood struck out one, walked none and allowed one hit for the victory. Shannon Egan had three hits and two RBIs for the Red Dragons, who received three hits from Jamie Llewellyn (Oneonta High). Michelle Norwich contributed a home run for O-State.

Wood lasted 4 1/3 innings in the second game, allowing six earned runs and nine hits. Reliever Kim Prior then gave up two runs in the top of the sixth as New Paltz took an 8-3 lead. O-State rallied again, though, scoring six times in the bottom of the sixth before Prior shut out New Paltz in the seventh.

Norwich finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs, two runs and a homer for the Red Dragons (17-15, 8-8). Allison Bandos, Wood and Meghan Martin contributed two hits apiece for Oneonta.

Men’s Lacrosse

The Red Dragons outscored Plattsburgh, 6-1, in the fourth quarter of a SUNY Athletic Conference road victory Wednesday.

Neal Campbell and Matt Harvey each had three goals and one assist for the Red Dragons (10-4, 4-1).

Plattsburgh (7-6) is 0-5 in conference.

ONEONTA STATE 9, PLATTSBURGH 8

Plattsburgh 3 3 1 1 — 8

O-State: Neal Campbell 3-1, Matt Harvey 3-1, Tim Burns 2-0, Mike Evans 1-0, George Tsirigotis 0-3, Mike Schanz 0-2.

Plattsburgh: Jon Kane 4-0, Adam Lockley 1-1, Bill Schmitt 1-1, Frank Sagniovanni 1-0, Zach Boyce 1-0.

Shots: P, 34-28. Faceoffs: O, 10-9.

Goalies: Brian Tricoles (OS) 11; Billy Hughes (P) 9.