Brockport, NY – The Brockport baseball team celebrated Senior Day on Saturday for the final game of the 2024 season. The Golden Eagles defeated Oneonta, 16-3, to complete the 3-game series sweep. They finish the year 22-16 overall with a 9-9 record in SUNYAC play.
Prior to the start of the game Brockport held a ceremony to celebrate this year's group of seniors. The graduating class was made up of 12 players, which included:
David Belsito,
Nick Deising,
Justin DelVecchio,
Brian Doherty,
Zach Eldred,
Keegan Jarvais,
Chris Martin,
Tim McClare,
Matt McGowan,
Colin Pytlak,
Brian Tietjen, and
Logan Wing.
Ryan Peters (W, 3-2) picked up the start and the win on the mound for the Golden Eagles in this one. He pitched 5.0 innings with nine strikeouts, allowing just one earned run on three hits. He held Oneonta scoreless for the first three innings, helping Brockport take a lead early.
In the bottom of the third, Tietjen put the first runs of the contest on the board with a single that scored two runs. Soon after in the same inning, Martin connected for an RBI single of his own. Brockport took a 3-0 lead into the fourth, with Oneonta making it a 3-1 score heading into the fifth.
The Golden Eagles put together another impressive showing at the plate in the fifth inning to increase their lead. Belsito added a run thanks to his RBI single. Martin stepped up as the next batter and hit a triple to clear the bases for two more runs. He finished his Senior Day 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs. Wing and McClare both got in on the party with RBIs to close out the fifth, pushing the Brockport lead to 8-1.
Already with a comfortable advantage on the scoreboard, the Green and Gold benefitted from two more runners touching home plate in the sixth.
Josh Indek was able to score on a passed ball situation. Then
Matt Mayer made contact to bring Frank Vazillotta home to score, giving the squad a 10-1 lead going into the seventh.
Looking to climb back into the game, the Oneonta Red Dragons scored a pair of runs in the seventh. However, their efforts would be thwarted with a big finale from the Golden Eagle bats in the bottom of the eighth.
James Simoncelli connected for a double in his lone plate appearance, scoring two more runs to give Brockport a 12-3 lead. In need of just one more run to invoke the mercy-rule,
Kyle Blake stepped in to provide the fireworks.
With the bases loaded, Blake hit his first career home run for a grand slam to put an end to the game. Scoring four more runs for the Golden Eagles with one swing of the bat, they ended the game in the eighth with the final score of 16-3.
Brockport's 2024 campaign is officially finished, after the team just narrowly missed out on making the SUNYAC Tournament this season.
