UTICA, NY - The Utica University baseball team dropped its regular season finale to the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons 12-8 on Tuesday evening. 
 
Tyler Catalfamo (Albany, NY/Colonie) started the pitch by committee game for the Pioneers and held Oneonta to no runs on one hit over the first two frames. The Red Dragons scored first in the top of the 3rd on a single down the left field line off of James Roeschlaub (Auburn, NY/Auburn HS). 
 
Utica responded with four runs in the bottom half of the inning thanks to RBI bunt singles by Joe Crossley (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) and Dom Fasolo (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro ) as well as an RBI sacrifice bunt by Brendan May (McGraw, NY/McGraw). Joe Battista (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) also connected for an RBI single. 
 
The game remained 4-1 until the Red Dragons chalked up one more in the 5th to make it 4-2 which remained the score until the top of the 7th. 
 
There, Oneonta tied the game on a one-out sacrifice fly and a two-out single down the first base line. The Pioneers went on to retake the lead in the bottom half when Fasolo hit a one-out sacrifice fly that was caught at the right field fence which allowed Shamariah McCullough (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) to tag up and score from second base. 
 
Oneonta went back in front after a three-run 8th inning that put Utica in a 7-5 deficit. After May singled to start the inning, Matthew Fitzgerald (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) hit a rope down the third base line that hit off of third base and rolled into left field for a double. Dylan Sicilia (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell ) immediately brought May home on a sacrifice fly while Tom Ziskin (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam ), who came on to pinch run for Fitzgerald, scored on a passed ball with two outs to even the score. 
 
However, Oneonta exploded for five runs in the top of the 9th, all of which unearned, while the Pioneers could only come up with one in the bottom half as the team fell 12-8. 
 
Battista, Fitzgerald and McCullough finished with two hits each while Fasolo led Utica with two RBI. The seven different pitchers used by Utica combined for four earned runs on 11 hits. 
 
Utica (19-15, 12-8 Empire 8) is set to host the third-seeded Russell Sage College Gators in the best-of-three Empire 8 Conference Tournament Semifinals. The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday with game one at noon and, if necessary, a winner-take-all game three at 1 p.m. on Saturday.