CORTLAND, N.Y. – Jake Casey (Homer) and five relievers combined on a four-hitter and Cortland scored in each of the first five innings as the nationally 25th-ranked Red Dragons defeated Cazenovia, 12-1, in a non-league game at Wallace Field.
Cortland improved to 19-9-1 with the win. The Red Dragons scored three times in the first, twice in the second, once in the third, four times in the fourth and twice in the fifth to account for their 12 runs.
Casey, part of a predetermined pitching rotation for the Red Dragons, improved to 3-0 on the season after giving up two hits and no walks with three strikeouts in three scoreless innings. Ryan Flansburg (Queensbury) retired all six batters he faced over the next two innings, five by strikeout.
Isiah Hudson (Hyde Park/FDR) needed only seven pitches for a 1-2-3 sixth inning, striking out one. Dan Hobbs (Saratoga Springs) gave up an infield hit and a walk and fanned one in the seventh, Chris Puzakulics (Vestal) walked one but otherwise struck out the side in the eighth, and Steven Salisbury (Cranston, RI/Moses Brown) gave up a run on one hit with one strikeout in the ninth. Cortland pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts and only two walks.
Wyatt Myers (Chittenango) drove in four runs and scored three times. He hit a three-run homer in the fourth, drove in a run with a fielder's choice grounder in the first, and was hit by a pitch and scored in the third. Colin BeVard (Syracuse/West Genesee) finished 2-for-3 with a walk, three RBI and two runs. His two-run double in the fifth completed Cortland's scoring for the afternoon.
BeVard was one of six Red Dragons to register two hits in the contest as part of the team's 15 total hits. James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) was 2-for-2 with a double and two runs scored and Dan Schweitzer (Poughquag/Arlington) went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Antonio Pragana (Hopewell Junction/John Jay), seeing his first action of the season coming off an injury, went 2-for-2 with a run scored after entering the game as a defensive replacement. Paul Franzese (Somers) went 2-for-3 off the bench and Andrew Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) finished 2-for-4 with two runs.
Cazenovia (3-11) scored its run in the ninth on a Dan Freese leadoff double, a wild pitch and a Collin Pickert RBI groundout. The Wildcats threatened in the top of the first after a Miguel Rivera leadoff single, a sac bunt and an error, but Casey got out of the jam by inducing a double play grounder to third.
Jake Bianchi, the first of six Cazenovia pitchers, took the loss after surrendering four runs over one-plus innings of work. Cazenovia's final three hurlers – Kamm Cassidy, Bobby Antonacci and Miguel Rivera – combined to toss three and a third scoreless innings with three hits and one walk allowed.
Cortland is scheduled to host New Paltz in a three-game SUNYAC series Friday and Saturday. The teams will play Friday at 3 p.m., weather permitting, and are scheduled for a noon doubleheader Saturday.