ONEONTA – G-MU stuck with the simple plan of just putting the ball in play with the idea that good things will eventually happen.

Running out of time and in dire need of runs, the Raiders conceived a dramatic rally in their final at-bat. Benefiting from Cherry Valley-Springfield’s ill-timed error, the Raiders prevailed in the Tri-Valley League championship baseball game, 7-6, at SUNY Oneonta Tuesday.

“Since we lost the Hancock game, we’ve talked about putting the ball in play and making the other team field the ball,” said G-MU coach Jim Johnson, whose club won its first league championship since the 1999 season.

The Patriots led 5-0 in the fifth inning and took a three-run lead into the seventh after a pair of G-MU errors in the sixth led to an unearned run.

All the Patriots needed was to coax three more outs from the Raiders, but the toll of a seven-inning game began to wear on Patriots starter Adam Malay, who managed to get just the first out of the seventh inning. Nate Sloan singled and pinch-hitter Greg Delaney drew a walk bringing Cody Hall to the plate. Hall already had an RBI single under his belt when he delivered the Raiders’ first run in the fifth.