| Seth Lamando matched a career high in strikeouts with 11 in Cortland State's fifth straight win in a D-III World Series opener. d3photography.com photo by Steve Frommell |
Postgame news conferences
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By Nyreesha Williams-Torrence
for D3baseball.com
GRAND CHUTE, Wis. -- Cortland State pitcher Seth Lamando had 11 strikeouts, tying the career high he set in Cortland’s conference tournament game against Brockport State, to help the Red Dragons cruise to a 12-4 victory over Webster in game two of the 2015 NCAA Division III World Series from Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis.
Lamando said it took him a while to get used to throwing his off-speed pitches early in the game.
“I was mainly going fastball, two-seam sinker, just letting the ball work,” Lamando said. “I wasn’t trying to overpower anybody, just hit my spots and let my defense work behind me.”
Webster had a good offensive start to the game, scoring two runs in the first inning. Mike Golich scored on a throwing error and Max Fecske scored unearned after stealing second.
“We got the quick jump,” Webster coach Bill Kurich said. “We had a good start with a lot of excitement and we felt good.”
Cortland answered quickly though, putting up two runs and three hits to tie the game in the second inning.
“After the first inning we settled in a little bit,” Cortland head coach Joe Brown said. “Our bats woke up a little bit and we swung the bat exceptionally well.”
The game was tied at 3 at the top of the fourth inning with Cortland right fielder Fabio Ricci up to bat. Ricci singled to left field and kick started a four-run, five-hit inning for the Red Dragons.
| Center fielder Conrad Ziemendorf opened the game with three straight hits for the Red Dragons. d3photography.com photo by Steve Frommell |
“We played good and I give Seth (Lamando) a lot of credit because early on we were kind of on our heels defensively,” Brown said. “We gave them some opportunities and some teams might take advantage of that”
Webster’s pitching woes started in the fourth inning and continued for the remainder of the game. The Gorloks cycled through five pitchers before the game ended.
“I was very happy with swinging the bat against everybody that they kept bringing in,” Brown said. “We were able to swing the bats against each pitcher that came in which shows that our hitters are pretty much sticking with what they know they can do and executing."
Center fielder Conrad Ziemendorf had a hit in each of his first three at-bats. He attributed his early success to jumping on the fastball.
“Getting myself in the count where I was ahead with the second at-bat, staying on the fastball and putting the ball in play,” Ziemendorf said.
The fourth inning completely stifled Webster’s momentum. Kurich said it was tough on the team psychologically and prevented them from stealing bases like they did early in the game.
“It turned into a 7-3 game and we were battling,” Kurich said. “They just never really let off the pedal. They had their foot down the entire game and they scored in every inning except two.”
Webster failed to score again until late in the ninth inning.
“They had pressure on the whole game and we could never really get going again once they put those four runs up in the fourth inning,” Kurich said. “(Lamando) was just awesome.”
“We needed to string some good at-bats together and we just didn’t. I don’t know if you’re going to win too many games when you give up 19 hits,” Kurich said. “They came ready to go and we’ve got to get back at it tomorrow morning.”
Cortland advances to play Frostburg State tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. and Webster will play Ramapo at 10 a.m.