SALISBURY, MD. – Sam Kippen (Lyncourt/Solvay) hit a two-run double and Joe Tardif (Cutchogue/Mattituck) and Mat Bruno (Rye) added RBI singles in a four-run eighth inning as nationally seventh-ranked Cortland rallied to defeat 13th-ranked Salisbury University, 10-9. The teams will meet again in Salisbury Sunday at noon.
Salisbury (4-1) took a 9-6 lead with four runs in the bottom of the seventh. Three of those runs came via bases-loaded walks by Brad Haas, Justin Meekins and Christian Murphy, and the fourth scored on a wild pitch.
Cortland (4-1) started its winning rally in the top of the eighth with back-to-back singles by James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) and Danny Coleman (Saratoga Springs). Kippen doubled to left center to drive home both runners and cut the deficit to 9-8. Andrew Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) bunted Kippen to third and Tardif singled up the middle to tie the game. Following a strikeout for the second out, Tardif moved to second on a wild pitch, Colin BeVard (Syracuse/West Genesee) walked, and Bruno singled to left to give the Red Dragons the lead.
Salisbury nearly pulled out the victory in the bottom of the ninth. Haas singled with one out, and with two outs pinch hitter Jimmy Monaghan hit a deep fly ball to right that Tardif caught just in front of the fence to end the game.
Cortland led 1-0 in the first after a Bruno RBI double. Salisbury plated three runs in the third on a Haas grounder and RBI singles from Murphy and Stephen Rice. The Red Dragons tied the game in the fourth on solo homers from Bruno and Coleman.
The Sea Gulls regained the lead at 5-3 in the bottom of that inning on a Meekins RBI single and Rice sacrifice fly. Cortland posted three runs in the top of the sixth to go up 6-5. The Red Dragons loaded the bases with one out on a Ben Rhodes (Amsterdam) single and walks by Varian and Coleman. Pinch hitter Antonio Pragana (Hopewell Junction/John Jay) drove in a run with a sac fly, Michalski was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, and Tardif singled to right to drive in two runs.
Coleman finished 3-for-4 with a homer, walk, RBI and three runs scored, and Bruno was 3-for-5 with a homer, double, three RBI and a run. Tardif went 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run and Varian went 2-for-4, walked and scored twice.
Cortland finished with a 14-12 advantage in hits, although Salisbury walked 10 times compared to four by the Red Dragons. Haas, Murphy, Rice and Cameron Hyder each finished with two hits. Hyder was 2-for-4 with a triple, two walks and three runs scored, while Meekins went 1-for-3 with two walks, two RBI and a run.
Kyle Taborne (Vestal), the fifth of six Cortland relievers, earned the win with one and two thirds innings of one-hit shutout ball. He struck out two batters. Taborne entered in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out. Although his wild pitch allowed a run to score, he recovered to post a strikeout and flyout to keep Salisbury's lead at 9-6. Taborne then allowed only a two-out single in the eighth, but picked off a pinch runner at first to end the inning. Scott Roberts (Escondido, CA/Del Norte) pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.
Clayton Dwyer started for Salisbury and allowed three runs on six hits with three strikeouts in five innings.