AUBURN, N.Y. – Cortland rallied from a 3-0 deficit after five innings to defeat RPI, 4-3, in the opening round of the NCAA Div. III Regional at Auburn's Falcon Park. The second-seeded and nationally third-ranked Red Dragons (35-9) will face sixth-seeded Amherst College in a winner's bracket game Thursday at 7:45 p.m.
Sophomore Brandon McClain (Coram/Longwood) pitched seven innings for the victory and is 5-0 on the season. He allowed six hits and two walks and struck out nine batters. All three runs he allowed came in the top of the fifth inning. Senior Tyler Scott (New Paltz) threw two shutout innings for his fourth save. He gave up two hits, walked none and struck out two.
Mike Campisi threw a complete game for RPI (28-14), which will face Rowan in an elimination game Thursday at 1:15 p.m. Campisi gave up six hits and two walks, one intentional, and only one of the four runs he allowed was earned.
RPI's fifth inning started with an Al Mersman leadoff single. He was bunted to second and took third on a groundout. McClain then hit Eric Kozak, and Kozak took second on a wild pitch. Tyler Listing followed with a two-run single up the middle, and he scored on an Andrew Kalish RBI single to right center to put the Engineers up 3-0.
Cortland managed only two hits through the first five innings before rallying in the sixth. Donny Castaldo (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) led off with a double to deep left field. Bryan Mistretta (Commack) reached on an error by the second baseman, with Castaldo taking third, and John Adornetto (Commack) singled through the right side to drive in Castaldo. After a force out at third on a bunt, Chris Jackson (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham) singled to load the bases. Max Rosing (Rockville Centre/South Side) hit a grounder to short that appeared to be a tailor-made double play, but the ball went through the shortstop's legs and two runs scored to tie the game at 3-3.
In the bottom of the seventh, Anthony Iacomini reached on an error to start the frame. Brian Barry then bunted for a hit, and a bad throw on the play allowed Iacomini to take third. Castaldo hit a line drive to center, and Iacomini barely beat the throw home after tagging up to give Cortland the lead.
Scott allowed a pair of one-out singles to Shane Matthews and Mersman in the eighth, but Cortland catcher P.J. Rinaldi threw out Matthews trying to steal third, and a flyout ended the inning. Scott retired the side in order in the ninth.
Adornetto finished 2-for-3 with a walk and Castaldo was 1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly for Cortland. Listing was 2-for-4 with two RBI and Mersman finished 2-for-4 for RPI, which out-hit the Red Dragons, 8-6. The Engineers, however, finished with four errors while Cortland played errorless defense.