The Oswego State Lakers are the 2008 ECAC Upstate baseball champions.

The Lakers defeated Brockport 12-9 in the second game of Sunday’s championship round in the ECAC Upstate Tournament in Oneonta.

It’s the second ECAC title in Oswego State baseball history. The first one for the Lakers was in 1997.

Earlier Sunday, Brockport defeated Oswego State 11-3 to force a deciding second game in the championship round.

Oswego State junior Tom Benedetto was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

He batted .389 over the course of four games and had six RBIs to tie for the tourney lead in that category.

The Lakers finished their season with an 18-12 overall record.

Oswego State was seeded fifth, and defeated St. John Fisher in a first-round game, and then won the title over the weekend with three wins and one loss.

GAME 1
Brockport — 11
Oswego State — 3

Brockport forced the second championship game by defeating Oswego State in the first game of the championship round. The 11-3 Golden Eagles’ victory left both teams with one loss in the double-elimination tournament. Earlier on Sunday, Brockport beat Oneonta 3-1.

Brandon Wroblewski led Oswego State with three hits and two runs scored. Benedetto had two RBIs on a single in the third inning. Evan Shaffer was 2-for-3 and scored a run.

Alex Jarvela started for the Lakers and took the loss, working 3 2/3 innings. Marc Peterson pitched the last 5 1/3 innings and allowed five runs with eight strikeouts and seven walks.

Brockport’s Jason Shannon earned the complete-game victory. Jason Michaels, Mike Meola, and Joe Zaccardo had three hits each for the Eagles.

GAME 2
Oswego State — 12
Brockport — 9

Benedetto’s three-run homer to left field in the eighth inning put the Lakers in front to stay. The back-and-forth game saw the Lakers take leads of 1-0, 5-1, and 8-3 until Brockport exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fifth to grab a 9-8 lead.

The Lakers plated a run in the first when Wes O’Connor scored on an error. Oswego State added four in the third inning on an RBI single by O’Connor, an RBI double by Josh Stoetzel, and a two-run single by K.C. Reardon that brought in Stoetzel and Benedetto.

Laker starting pitcher Andy Salvatore lasted to the fifth inning, when P.J. Cowie came in to relieve, but Brockport touched up the Laker tandem for six runs in the frame on three hits, an error, and two walks.

The big hit in the inning was a bases-clearing triple by Jared Perham.

That set the stage for Benedetto’s clutch home run in the eighth inning.

Oswego native Dan Pecora pitched two scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth to earn the save. Pecora allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out three in his two innings. He pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings in the tournament, earning a win and a save.

Benedetto went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Stoetzel, O’Connor, Pecora, and Evan Shaffer had two hits each, including a triple by Pecora and a double by Stoetzel. Mike Levy also tripled, and Brett Shaffer doubled for the Lakers.