FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The nationally top-ranked Cortland baseball team improved to 4-0 on the season with wins over 24th-ranked Marietta College, 7-4, and 23rd-ranked Methodist University, 5-3, during the opening day of the Methodist Invitational.
Cortland will conclude its portion of the three-day, five-team tournament on Saturday with games versus Neumann University (Pa.) at 10 a.m. and Lynchburg College (Va.) at 7 p.m.
Cortland 7, Marietta 4
Cortland's first game featured two D3baseball.com preseason All-America starting pitchers in the Red Dragons' Seth Lamando (Hopewell Junction/Roy C. Ketcham) and Marietta's Christian Herstine. Lamando earned the victory with five innings of five-hit ball. He allowed one run, walked one, and struck out seven. Herstine shut down Cortland for the first three innings before allowing four runs in the fourth. He gave up seven hits and three walks and struck out two in four innings of work.
Marietta took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on a Austin Harvey RBI single. Cortland's four runs in the bottom of the inning came on a Matt Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) RBI single, a Nick Hart (Fredonia) two-run single and a Conrad Ziemendorf (Penfield/Webster Schroeder) RBI single.
The Red Dragons extended their lead to 7-1 in the fifth on Austin Clock's (Niskayuna) run-scoring single, a Justin Teague (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) RBI fielder's choice, and a Hart sacrifice fly.
The Pioneers got a run back in the sixth on a Harvey solo homer and a run in the eighth on Harvey's RBI single. He finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBI. Marietta left two runners on in the eighth, and in the ninth they loaded the bases with one out on singles by Doug Bennett and pinch hitter Mike Hale and a Tim McCoy hit-by-pitch. Adam Brant (Hyde Park/Our Lady of Lourdes) entered from the bullpen and induced two groundouts, the first of which plated a run, to earn his first save of the season.
Clock finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Hart was 2-for-2 with a walk, sac fly, three RBI and a run, and Michalski ended 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs.
Cortland 5, Methodist 3
Cortland rallied from a 3-0 deficit after six innings and has trailed in all four of its victories this season. Methodist scored a run in the fourth on a Davis Cass squeeze bunt and plated two in the sixth on Colin Ford's RBI single and Lucas Scott's bases-loaded walk.
Methodist starter Seth Beard pitched five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks while fanning five. Cortland, however, finally broke through against the Monarchs' bullpen in the top of the seventh after leaving runners on second and third in the sixth. Teague started the seventh with a single and scored on a Ralph Nuzzi (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) RBI double. Nuzzi scored two batters later on a Methodist error.
In the eighth, Clock walked with one out and Steven Figueroa (Bronx/St. Raymond's) beat out a bunt for a single. Teague followed with an infield single, with an error on the play allowing pinch runner Marcos Perivolaris (Mattituck) to score the tying run from second. After Nuzzi walked, Hart reached on a fielder's choice to plate Figueroa, with Teague also scoring on the play due to an error.
Ben Moxley (Oneonta) started for Cortland and earned a no-decision after five solid innings. He gave up just three hits and one run with three strikeouts and one walk. Jason Martin (Turin/South Lewis), the Red Dragons' third reliever, started in the seventh and was the pitcher of the record when Cortland took the lead to earn the win. Turner Parry (Syracuse/West Genesee) entered with two outs and a runner on in the eighth. He allowed a walk and an infield hit, but struck out the next batter with the bases loaded to end the threat. Parry then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
Three players accounted for six of Cortland's seven hits. Teague was 2-for-2 with two runs scored off the bench, Nuzzi went 2-for-3 with a walk, RBI and run scored, and Figueroa finished 2-for-4 with a run.