DEMOREST, GA. – Cortland scored 10 runs in the top of the fifth inning, capped by a Wyatt Myers (Chittenango) grand slam, to break open a close game and the Red Dragons defeated Plattsburgh, 20-6, to complete a three-game series sweep of the Cardinals at Piedmont College.
Cortland (10-8-1, 3-0 SUNYAC) finished with 18 hits in the game, with 13 different players registering at least one. Matt Krafft (Cornwall) came off the bench to finish 2-for-2 with a walk, triple, RBI and three runs scored and Marcos Perivolaris (Mattituck) went 2-for-2 with a walk, RBI and two runs. Joe Tardif (Cutchogue/Mattituck) went 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBI, Mike O'Connor (Buffalo/North Tonawanda) was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Colin BeVard (Syracuse/West Genesee) ended 2-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs.
Nick Morena (Holbrook/Sachem North), the first of Cortland's four relievers, earned the win after giving up three hits and just one unearned run in three and a third innings. He struck out three and did not walk anyone. Mitchell Cavanagh (Oneida) started and left with the lead, but only pitched two and two thirds innings before being replaced with runners on second and third in the third inning. Morena got the first batter he faced to pop out to end the threat with Cortland up 5-2.
Plattsburgh starter Joe Mazzariello took the loss after allowing five runs in three innings. Stephen Bryant was 2-for-5 with an RBI and Erik Matz went 1-for-4 with a double, walk, RBI and two runs for the Cardinals (2-11, 0-6 SUNYAC).
Cortland scored in the first when BeVard led off with a double and eventually scored on a double play. The Red Dragons put up four runs in the second on a Mat Bruno (Rye) RBI triple, a James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) RBI groundout and, later in the inning, a Tardif run-scoring triple and a BeVard RBI groundout. Plattsburgh scored two in the third on a wild pitch and a Bryant RBI single.
Cortland sent 13 batters to the plate in its 10-run fifth. Inning highlights included Dan Schweitzer's (Poughquag/Arlington) two-run double, a Perivolaris RBI single, a Paul Franzese (Somers) pinch-hit RBI double, a Tardif RBI single and, following a BeVard double and Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon) walk, the Myers grand slam to left to make it 15-3.
Plattsburgh scored in the fifth on Rocco Cipriano's two-out RBI single. Cortland added two in the seventh on Krafft's RBI triple and Matthew Funk's (Pine Plains) RBI single. The Cardinals closed out their scoring in the eighth on a Matz two-run double and James Hartunia run-producing groundout, and Cortland wrapped things up with three in the ninth on a Mike O'Connor (Buffalo/North Tonawanda) RBI single, a Brian Corporan (Bronx/H.S. for Environmental Studies) RBI double and a Garrett Hunter (Virginia Beach, VA/Frank W. Cox) run-scoring groundout.
Cortland is scheduled to return to action on Tuesday with a 4:30 p.m. non-league game at the University of Rochester.