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| Cortland celebrates its comeback win. Cortland athletics photo by Michael Clock |
The No. 1-ranked Cortland State baseball team scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning to rally and defeat Amherst, 7-5, Thursday night in the NCAA Division III New York Regional at Falcon Park.
The fifth-seeded Jeffs (27-14) held a 5-0 lead through the first six innings, but the top-seeded Red Dragons (38-4) scored seven unanswered en route to the victory.
With the loss, Amherst falls into the loser's bracket and will face No. 3 Keystone tomorrow, May 15 at 10 a.m. Cortland remains in the winner's bracket and awaits the winner of tonight's nightcap between No. 6 RPI and No. 7 SUNY Old Westbury. The Red Dragons will play at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Junior Tyler Brien, who is on Cortland's NCAA playoff roster for only two days due to a rare military exemption, earned the win in relief to improve to 2-0. He entered in the eighth and allowed one hit in two scoreless innings, and he was the pitcher of record when Cortland rallied for the win in the ninth.
Brien is a member of the Army National Guard and has a weekend commitment in Fort Drum, N.Y., that he must meet. The NCAA Division III Baseball National Committee allowed Cortland to include Brien on its 25-man playoff roster for the regional's opening two days, Wednesday and Thursday, and then replace him for the remainder of the tournament.
Riley Streit '17 pitched a gem for Amherst in a no decision, as he started and tossed 7.0 innings with two runs on eight hits. Offensively, the Jeffs were led by Mike Odenwaelder '16 and Harry Roberson '18 as they went 2-for-4 and 2-for-5, respectively, with a RBI each. Tyler Jacobs '15 and Conner Gunn '16 each registered a hit as well to bring Amherst's total to six.
Starting on the mound for the Red Dragons was Seth Larnando. He tossed 7.0 innings and surrendered five unearned runs on five hits, and also struck out seven batters. Brien pitched in relief and picked up the win after tossing 2.0 scoreless innings, while allowing one hit. Vinny Bomasuto led the bats with a 3-for-4 performance, including a home run and three RBI. Anthony Simon and Fabio Ricci each recorded two hits and four others connected for a single as the host school tallied 11 as a team.
The Jeffs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first. Roberson hit a one-out single to center field, as Odenwaelder followed with an infield single. However, both runners advanced to second and third on the play after a throwing error to first. Yanni Thanopoulos '17 then drove in Roberson with a groundout to shortstop.
After two scoreless innings, Amherst took advantage of more SUNY Cortland miscues in the bottom of the fourth. Andrew Vandini '16 reached first after a fielding error by the shortstop, and advanced to second on the next at-bat on a sacrifice bunt by Gunn. After a walk to Sam Ellinwood '18, Jacobs singled to right to increase the Jeff lead to two. Back-to-back errors by the Red Dragons led to another Amherst run and loaded the bases with Roberson stepping to the plate. The first-year then singled to bring in Jacobs, before Odenwaelder brought home Eric West '15 with a sacrifice fly to left field. The Purple & White totaled four runs in the inning on three errors and two hits, but left two runners on base.
SUNY Cortland finally got on the board in the top of the seventh after six scoreless innings. Nick Hart hit a two-out single with the bases empty, and crossed home the following batter after Bomasuto homered over the right field fence.
Trailing 5-2 entering the ninth, Mark DeMilio walked to lead off the inning and scored two batters later on a single by Bomastuo. The next three batters walked, were hit by a pitch, and walked again as another run scored. With the bases loaded and one out, Ricci singled through the right side to tie the game at 5-5. Matthew Michalski then walked to bring in the game-winning run, and Adam Smith singled to right field for some insurance.
Odenwaelder hit a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth, but Brien retired three of the four batters he faced in the final inning to secure the win for SUNY Cortland.