AUBURNDALE, FLA. – Cortland scored all four of its runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and the Red Dragons held on to defeat Rowan, 4-3, to open its eight-game Florida trip. Cortland, ranked first nationally in Division III, improved to 9-0 with the victory.
Seth Lamando (Hopewell Junction/Roy C. Ketcham) earned the win with five innings as Cortland's starter. He allowed seven hits and three runs, two earned, struck out seven and walked one. Jeff Cooke (Rome/Rome Free Academy) tossed four hitless innings with two strikeouts for his first save. He retired the first 10 batters he faced after entering to start the top of the sixth before walking pinch hitter Eric Oliver with one out in the ninth. Cooke retired the final two batters to end the game.
Andrew Lysy started for Rowan (4-5) and gave up seven hits and three runs over three and a third innings. Ian MacQueen permitted one unearned run on four hits with one strikeout in an inning and two thirds, and Conner Walsh gave up only two hits and two walks with four strikeouts over three scoreless innings.
Rowan took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on Greg Myers' RBI double. Lamando recorded a strikeout and a groundout with runners on second and third to escape further damage. Cortland started its four-run fourth with singles by Connor Griffin (Cortland) and Conrad Ziemendorf (Penfield/Webster Schroeder). A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, and another wild pitch scored Griffin and sent Ziemendorf to third.
Two batters later Steven Figueroa (Bronx/St. Raymond's) hit a hard grounder to second with the infield drawn in. Rowan's second baseman dove to stop the ball, but with no one covering first he only had one play. He threw home, but the throw was low as ZIemendorf slid in safely. Figueroa was credited with an RBI single on the play.
Austin Clock (Niskayuna) followed with a single to right, and an error on the right fielder allowed Figueroa to score from first. Clock went to third on the play, and he scored on Justin Teague's (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) RBI single up the middle.
Rowan got two runs back in the top of the fifth. Bret Phillips hit a one-out solo homer that hit the top of the fence in right and carried over. Evan Hughes singled and went to second on a Jason Clapper infield single. A grounder by the next batter resulted in a force at second, but a wild throw during the attempt to complete the double play allowed Hughes to score.
Ziemendorf finished 3-for-4, Griffin was 2-for-3 with a walk, and Matt Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) ended 2-for-4 to lead Cortland's 13-hit attack. Myers went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Profs.
Cortland will face William Paterson at 12:30 p.m. and Wisconsin-La Crosse at 4 p.m. Sunday in Auburndale. The Wisconsin-La Crosse game is a rematch of last year's NCAA Div. III World Series championship round, in which Cortland defeated the Eagles twice to capture the national title.