CORTLAND, N.Y. - Patrick Schetter's (Beacon) pinch-hit sacrifice fly drove in Fabio Ricci (Hawthorne/Westlake) with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning as top-seeded Cortland defeated third-seeded Brockport, 4-3, in the winner's bracket of the SUNYAC baseball tournament.
Cortland (36-5), ranked first nationally, won its 15th straight game. The Red Dragons have now advanced to the championship round of the SUNYAC tournament every year since the playoffs expanded beyond a two-team format in 1998. Cortland will face second-seeded and nationally seventh-ranked Oswego Sunday at noon needing just one win in two tries to claim the conference title.
Oswego opened Saturday with a 3-2 win over Fredonia and rallied to eliminate Brockport, 9-8, in the day's final game. Cortland and Oswego will be meeting in the SUNYAC championship round for the third time in the last four years.
Ricci started the winning rally with a one-out single through the right side to extend his on-base streak to 30 straight games. He then stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Austin Clock (Niskayuna) walked and Conrad Ziemendorf (Penfield/Webster Schroeder) was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Schetter hit a fly ball to center to drive home Ricci and set off a celebration from the Cortland dugout.
Cortland had a chance to win the game an inning earlier when it loaded the bases with one out on a Ziemendorf single, a one-out error and an intentional walk. Brockport pitcher Nick Jerolimov escaped that jam with a strikeout and a groundout.
The Red Dragons led 1-0 in the second on Ziemendorf RBI single. Brockport grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fourth. The first run scored on a double-error with runners on first and second; a fielding error allowed the batter to reach, and a throwing error allowed a runner to score. The second run scored on a Justin Valentino RBI single.
Cortland regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles by Paul Donero (East Islip) and Matt Personius (Binghamton/Chenango Valley), but the Golden Eagles tied it in the sixth on a double play grounder after they had loaded the bases on a Wesley Burghardt hit-by-pitch and singles from Chris Davis and Josh Martin.
Seth Lamando (Hopewell Junction/Roy C. Ketcham) started for Cortland and took a no decision despite allowing only one earned run (three total) on seven hits in 10 innings. He struck out five and walked two. Turner Parry (Syracuse/West Genesee) started the 11th and kept Brockport off the board despite allowing one hit. He earned the win and is now 5-2. Sam McCumiskey went nine innings for Brockport and allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits with five walks and two strikeouts. Jerolimov suffered the loss in relief.
Dondero finished 2-for-3 with a double, walk and RBI, Ziemendorf was 2-for-4 with two walks and two runs scored, and Personius closed the game 2-for-5 and two RBI. Clock and Nick Hart (Fredonia) each walked twice as well as Ziemendorf. Burghardt led Brockport with a 3-for-4 effort and two runs scored, while Davis went 2-for-5.