CORTLAND, N.Y. – Junior Michael LaTempa (LaGrangeville/Arlington) finished 4-for-4 with two doubles, four RBI and three runs scored as Cortland defeated visiting St. Joseph's College (Long Island), 8-3, to complete a two-day, two-game sweep of the Golden Eagles.
Cortland, ranked sixth nationally by the ABCA and 17th by D3baseball.com, upped its record to 19-7-1 with the win. St. Joseph's is 14-12.
LaTempa hit an RBI double during a three-run first inning and singled in a run in a two-run second inning as Cortland took an early 5-0 lead. St. Joseph's scored three runs in the top of the sixth to close to within 5-3, but Cortland responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, fueled by LaTempa's two-run double.
Senior Matt June (Colonie) was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and junior Bryan Mistretta (Commack) doubled and scored two runs. Sophomore Max Rosing (Rockville Centre/South Side) was 1-for-2 with two walks and an RBI and junior John Adornetto (Commack) finished 1-for-3 with a double, two walks and an RBI.
Junior Ray Angelucci (Commack) improved to 6-1 with the victory. He pitched five-plus innings and allowed four hits and three runs. He struck out four and walked five.
Brian Hannigan and Prateek Thaman each finished 2-for-4 with an RBI for St. Joseph's. Mike Bazoge started and was touched for 10 hits and eight runs in five and a third innings. He recorded two walks and three strikeouts.
June led off the bottom of the first with a single and scored on LaTempa's double. Adornetto walked and Rosing singled through the left side to drive in LaTempa. Adornetto scored three batters later on a P.J. Rinaldi (Bethel, CT) sacrifice fly. In the second, Mistretta led off with a double and scored on a one-out LaTempa single. Adornetto then doubled to right center to score LaTempa.
Angelucci allowed only one runner to reach second in the first five innings, but struggled to start the sixth. Anthony Delury led off with a walk and Rich Pecoraro singled to center. Brian Hannigan followed with an RBI double and Angelucci was replaced.
The Golden Eagles then greeted reliever Peter Lompado (Staten Island/Shattuck-St. Mary's) with back-to-back RBI singles by Thaman and Charles Zilnicki to cut Cortland's lead to 5-3. After senior Brendan Hourihan (Yorktown Heights/Lakeland) entered, James Carey bunted the runners to second and third. Hourihan then recorded a strikeout and pop-up to preserve the lead.
Cortland matched the Golden Eagles with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Mistretta was hit by a pitch with one out, June singled and LaTempa drove the both in with a double down the left field line. Senior Rob Andrews (Commack) added an RBI single later in the inning.
Cortland will travel to the University at Rochester for a single game on Tuesday, April 10, at 4 p.m.