CORTLAND, N.Y. - Sophomore Ralph Nuzzi (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) hit a walk-off solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning as nationally second-ranked Cortland opened its home schedule with a 3-2 win over Ithaca College.
The Red Dragons improved to 15-3 with the win. Cortland's scheduled game at Rochester on Wednesday has been postponed due to poor projected weather. The Red Dragons will host Fredonia in a three-game SUNYAC series with one game Friday at 3 p.m. and a doubleheader Saturday at noon.
Nuzzi, who entered the game as a pinch runner in the bottom of the eighth, got his first at-bat in the 10th and lined a 3-2 pitch for his first collegiate home run. The shot marked the first time since at least 1992, if not longer, that Cortland won a game on a walk-off homer.
Turner Parry (Syracuse/West Genesee) earned the win with two perfect innings of relief and is now 2-1 on the season. He entered the game in the top of the ninth after Ithaca used two errors to put runners on first and third with no outs. Parry struck out three straight hitters, the last two after Ithaca stole second, to keep the score tied at 2-2. Parry finished with four strikeouts and has now fanned 32 batters in 18 innings this year.
Ithaca (6-7) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Josh Savacool singled, stole second, went to third after John Stanley reached on an error and scored on a Trevor Thompson grounder to short that was also misplayed.
Cortland tied the game in the fourth on back-to-back doubles from Connor Griffin (Cortland) and Nick Hart (Fredonia). The Red Dragons grabbed a 2-1 lead in the sixth. Austin Clock (Niskayuna) was hit by a pitch with one out and Griffin singled to move him to third. Hart followed with an RBI groundout to second.
Ithaca tied the game in the seventh. Sam Little led off with a single, was bunted to second by Domenic Boresta, and scored on Savacool's RBI double down the left field line. Savacool eventually moved to third on a groundout before another groundout ended the inning.
Cortland got runners on second and third in the eighth but couldn't break the tie. Clock walked with one out and Nuzzi pinch ran and stole second. Nuzzi went to third on a groundout and Hart walked, but Ithaca got another groundout to close the frame.
Griffin finished 2-for-4, Paul Dondero (East Islip) was 2-for-5 and Hart went 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBI for Cortland as part of a 10-hit attack. Savacool finished 2-for-5 with an RBI and run scored and Sam Little was 1-for-3 with a run for Ithaca.
Jason Martin (Turin/South Lewis) started for Cortland and allowed only two hits and one unearned run in three and a third innings. He walked two batters. Nick Di Benedetto (Nanuet) threw the next three innings and gave up two hits, one walk and one run with one strikeout. Three other relievers followed before Parry's entrance in the ninth. Benji Parkes started for Ithaca and took a no decision after six innings of work. He gave up two runs on nine hits and fanned two. Tyler Hill threw the last three and two thirds innings and gave up only one hit, the Nuzzi homer. He walked three and struck out one.