CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland scored seven times in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a scoreless tie as the Red Dragons defeated Oneonta, 7-0, in a seven-inning contest during Game 1 of a SUNYAC doubleheader. Cortland completed the sweep with a 7-2 win in the nine-inning second game after overcoming an early 2-0 deficit.
Cortland (14-8-1, 6-0 SUNYAC) will play a makeup non-league game at Marywood University next Wednesday, April 3, at 4 p.m. and will travel to Fredonia for a three-game league series April 5-6.
Cortland 7, Oneonta 0
Matt Valin (LaFargeville) allowed only one hit and two walks and struck out nine batters over six scoreless innings for the victory to improve to 3-0 on the season. Dan Hobbs (Saratoga Springs) gave up a one-out hit in the seventh before inducing a double play grounder to end the game.
Mat Bruno (Rye) finished 3-for-3 with an RBI and Colin BeVard (Syracuse/West Genesee) was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI to lead Cortland's nine-hit attack.
Oneonta starter Steven Gerringer gave up three hits and two walks and fanned four in five scoreless innings before being replaced in the sixth. Christopher DiDomizio gave up all seven runs, but only two earned, to suffer the loss. David Deberardinis was 1-for-2 with a walk to lead Oneonta's offense.
Cortland's sixth-inning rally began with a Dan Schweitzer (Poughquag/Arlington) one-out infield single and a Marcos Perivolaris (Mattituck) walk. A passed ball moved the runners to second and third and Bruno drove in the tiebreaking run with an infield single. A James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) grounder drove in a run, with Varian safe on an error during the play.
With runners on first and third, Oneonta attempted to pick off Varian at first. Bruno took off on the play and got in under the tag for a steal of home and a 3-0 lead. Varian eventually stole second and scored on Matt Krafft's (Cornwall) RBI single to left center. BeVard hit a two-run double three batters later, and Mike O'Connor (Buffalo/North Tonawanda) closed the scoring with a pinch-hit RBI single.
Cortland 7, Oneonta 2
Oneonta grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth on Jonathan Zinko's leadoff homer, two walks, a Patrick McGee sac bunt and a Mike Graves sacrifice fly.
Cortland answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Schweitzer led off with a double and O'Connor beat out a grounder to third for a single, and a throwing error on the play allowed Schweitzer to score. Two batters later Garrett Hunter (Virginia Beach, VA/Frank W. Cox) singled through the right side to drive home O'Connor.
Back-to-back doubles by Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon) and BeVard gave Cortland a 3-2 lead in the fifth. Oneonta threatened to tie the game in the top of the seventh after a Graves leadoff single, a Christopher Satich sac bunt and a two-out Debarardinis infield single put runners on first and third, but Giordano made a running catch on a deep fly ball to center to end the inning.
Cortland added three key insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh. Varian led off with a pinch-hit double and pinch runner Krafft went to third on an Andrew Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) single. Giordano hit a sac fly to score Krafft, and Michalski later went to third on a steal and error during a pickoff attempt. BeVard hit a grounder to third and Michalski was caught in a rundown between third and home, but Oneonta's catcher was called for obstruction after colliding with Michalski to allow the run to score. The third run came on a two-out RBI bunt single by Schweitzer. The Red Dragons finished the scoring in the eighth on Matthew Funk's (Pine Plains) pinch-hit RBI single.
Ryan Flansburg (Queensbury), Cortland's second reliever, earned the win as he was the pitcher of record when Cortland took the lead in the fifth. Nick Morena (Holbrook/Sachem North) started and gave up two runs on four hits in three innings. He walked two and struck out three. Chris Puzakulics (Vestal) entered in the fourth with two on and nobody out and allowed the sac bunt and sac fly but nothing else. Flansburg tossed three scoreless innings and gave up two hits with one strikeout, and Isiah Hudson (Hyde Park/FDR) struck out three over two hitless and scoreless frames to end the game.
Robert Ottaviano started for Oneonta and took the loss after being charged with three runs, two earned, in six innings. He gave up eight hits but did not walk anyone and struck out three.
Cortland's 13-hit effort included a 3-for-4 performance by Schweitzer with a double and RBI and Giordano going 2-for-4 with a double and RBI. BeVard doubled and drove in two. Deberardinis was 2-for-3 to lead Oneonta.