CORTLAND, N.Y – Zack Durant (Verona/V-V-S) and three relievers tossed a combined shutout as Cortland defeated visiting Cobleskill, 9-0, in the nine-inning opening game of a non-league doubleheader. Cobleskill, however, jumped out to a 5-1 lead after an inning and a half of the seven-inning nightcap and held on for a 5-4 win to salvage a split of the twinbill in the Fighting Tigers' first action of the spring.

Cortland (5-3) will host a unique "doubleheader" on Tuesday, March 30. Originally scheduled to host Cazenovia for two games, the Red Dragons instead will now play Cazenovia in one game Tuesday at noon and will then face Ithaca in a single game at 3:30 p.m., both at Wallace Field.

Cortland 9, Cobleskill 0

Durant, now 2-0 on the season, allowed three hits and struck out three over five innings. Spencer Weyand (Hornell) gave up one hit and struck out one in the sixth, Scott Roberts (Escondido, CA/Del Norte) permitted two hits and fanned a batter over the seventh and eighth innings, and Bailey Gauthier (Camillus/West Genesee) allowed two hits but fanned three batters in the ninth. Cortland did not issue any walks in the contest.

Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon) finished 3-for-5 with a double, Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) was 2-for-3 with three RBI, and Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) ended 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI as part of Cortland's 13-hit attack.

Cortland took the lead early when AJ Fenton (Kings Park) homered to lead off the bottom of the first. Krafft followed with a double and scored on a Giordano double to push the lead to 2-0.

The Red Dragons picked up a run in the third on an error, two wild pitches and a Krafft sacrifice fly, and Colin BeVard (Syracuse/West Genesee) walked, stole second, was bunted to third by Daniel Coleman (Saratoga Springs) and scored on a Mat Bruno (Rye) sac fly in the fourth. Bonacci's two-run single in the sixth extended the lead to 6-0, and Cortland tacked on three in the eighth on a Bryan Rivera (Rochester/Greece Arcadia) RBI double, a Bonacci run-scoring groundout, and a Krafft RBI infield single.

Jayson Maxwell was 3-for-4 and Connor Mann finished 2-for-4 for Cobleskill. Jarrod Williams gave up six runs, three earned, in five and two thirds innings for the Fighting Tigers to take the loss.

Cobleskill 5, Cortland 4

Cobleskill took control early with a three-run rally in the top of the first, all after the first two batters were retired. Eddy Garcia singled, stole second, and scored on a Maxwell single. Maxwell took second on the throw and scored on Connor Maxwell's single to center, and Samuel Gutierrez singled home a run two batters later.

Cortland got a run back in the bottom of the first on a James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) RBI single, but the Fighting Tigers responded in the second when Matthew Snyder led off with a double and Nick Thomas hit a one-out, two-run homer to right.

BeVard's two-out, two-run homer in the fifth closed Cortland's deficit to 5-3. In the sixth, Varian led off with a single, and with one out Bruno hit into a fielder's choice to force Varian at second. Bruno stole second, and Rivera hit a short flare just over second base for an infield hit. The ball was fielded in the infield, but Bruno never stopped running and beat the throw home to draw Cortland within a run.

The Red Dragons, however, stranded runners on first and third in the sixth. In the seventh, Krafft led off with a single and was bunted to second by BeVard. Cobleskill ended the game by turning a lineout to second into a game-ending double play when the throw to second just beat Krafft diving back into the bag.

Devin Lewis started for Cobleskill and allowed three runs on three hits over five frames for the win. He struck out two and walked three. Ethan Straub notched the save after allowing one run on four hits over the last two innings. Shane Mugnolo (Howard Beach/Xaverian) suffered the loss after being knocked out in the second inning. Liam Krasney (Greenville) gave up one run on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts over three innings and Matt Funk (Pine Plains) tossed three scoreless innings of relief, permitting just two hits and fanning two.

Cobleskill finished with 11 hits, including two each by Gutierrez and Thomas and at least one by every starter. Varian was 2-for-3 with an RBI, BeVard ended 1-for-1 with a walk and two RBI, and Krafft went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs as part of Cortland's seven-hit effort.