CORTLAND, N.Y. – Junior Ray Angelucci (Commack) gave up only one hit and one walk in six scoreless innings as Cortland defeated Fredonia, 5-2, in the opening, seven-inning game of a SUNYAC doubleheader. The Red Dragons also won the nine-inning nightcap, 12-5, behind five strong innings from junior John Molloy (Franklin Square/Carey). Cortland, ranked eighth nationally by the ABCA and 15th by D3baseball.com, improved to 22-7-1 overall and 8-2 in the conference.
GAME 1: Cortland 5, Fredonia 2
Angelucci struck out four batters and allowed only one runner in scoring position as he improved to 7-1 on the season. Fredonia scored twice in the seventh before senior Brendan Hourihan (Yorktown Heights/Lakeland) closed the door for his first save of the spring.
Junior Michael LaTempa (LaGrangeville/Arlington) drove in four of Cortland's five runs on a three-run homer in the first inning and a sacrifice fly in the third. The Red Dragons' other run came on a Bryan Mistretta (Commack) RBI single in the second.
Sophomore P.J. Rinaldi (Bethel, CT) finished 2-for-3 with a run scored. Hourihan entered with runners on first and second and no outs in the seventh and Cortland leading 5-1. He induced a groundout that moved runners to second and third and gave up an RBI single to pinch hitter Kenny Johnston. On the play, however, the Fredonia runner from second rounded third too far and was thrown out diving back into the base. A fielder's choice forceout ended the game.
Chris Messina finished 1-for-3 with an RBI for the Blue Devils. Dan Fetes reached on an infield single in the first inning for the only hit allowed by Angelucci. In the sixth, Dan Greco was hit by a pitch with one out, was bunted to second and took third on a wild pitch but was stranded after a groundout.
Zachary Jordon started for Fredonia and gave up five runs in three innings. Thomas Morris and Steve Sturm helped keep the Blue Devils within striking distance. Morris retired all six batters he faced, two by strikeout, and Sturm gave up one hit and one walk and fanned one
batter in the sixth.
GAME 2: Cortland 12, Fredonia 5
Cortland led 5-3 before scoring three runs in the sixth and four in the seventh to put the game away. Molloy earned the victory with five innings of two-hit ball and is 4-0 on the year. He struck out two, walked one and gave up one run.
Junior Kyle Barkley (Penn Yan) went 3-for-4 with a homer, triple, walk, three RBI and two runs scored. LaTempa was 2-for-4 with an RBI, sophomore Adam Smith (Vestal) was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and sophomore Tim Panetta (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) finished 2-for-4. Junior Andrew Pezzuto (Hastings) entered as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning and was 1-for-1 with a triple, walk, RBI and two runs scored.
Greco was 2-for-4 with a double, walk and two runs and Kyle Koslowski finished 2-for-4 to account for half of Fredonia's eight hits. Starter Zachary Hugg suffered the loss after giving up eight hits and five runs in four and a third innings.
Fredonia (9-16, 3-7 SUNYAC) led 1-0 in the first when Greco doubled, stole third on a pickoff attempt by the catcher and scored on Jake Nowak's RBI groundout. Cortland scored three times in the bottom of the second to go up 3-1. LaTempa and Panetta led off with singles. LaTempa then scored from second on a wild pitch that bounced away from Fredonia's catcher and rolled all the way to Cortland's dugout. Barkley followed with an RBI triple to right center and he scored on a Rob Andrews (Commack) groundout.
In the bottom of the fifth, Matt June (Colonie) led off with a single and went to third on a one-out hit-and-run single by John Adornetto (Commack). LaTempa singled through the left side to drive in June, Panetta reached on a bunt single to load the bases and Barkley singled to right center to drive in Adornetto and give Cortland a 5-1 lead.
Fredonia greeted Cortland reliever Mike Hughes (Albany) in the sixth with a Greco walk and a Nowak single. After a groundout advanced the runners, Dillon Lowe and Messina hit back-to-back RBI singles to cut the Red Dragon lead to 5-3. A Koslowski infield single loaded the bases, but Hughes escaped the jam with a strikeout and a groundout.
Cortland answered with three runs in the sixth on a Brian Barry (Smithtown/Smithtown East) sacrifice fly and a two-out dropped pop-up that allowed two runs to score. Barkley led off the seventh with a homer, and later in the inning Smith singled and Pezzuto and Anthony Brevetti (Homer) hit back-to-back RBI triples to increase the lead to 11-3. The last Red Dragon run scored on a Mistretta sacrifice fly.
Fredonia scored twice in the eighth – once when Erik Krohl was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and again after a throwing error by the catcher on a pickoff attempt at second base.
Cortland will host Oswego in a SUNYAC doubleheader Tuesday at noon.