CORTLAND, N.Y – Cortland rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth and the Red Dragons defeated visiting Ithaca, 6-4, to complete a two-victory day in an unique "split" doubleheader. Cortland (7-3) opened the day with a 10-0 win over Cazenovia, also at Wallace Field, before facing Ithaca in a separate nine-inning contest.
Cortland will host New Paltz in a SUNYAC doubleheader on Saturday at noon. The games were originally scheduled for Friday, but have been pushed back a day due to the weather forecast.
Cortland 10, Cazenovia 0
Four Cortland pitchers combined for the shutout versus the Wildcats (3-10). Mike Hennessy (Smithtown/Smithtown East) started and did not allow any hits over four innings. The only baserunner he permitted was due to a hit batsman to lead off the second inning. Hennessy was pulled after the fourth due to his pitch count and was awarded the win due to the NCAA "predetermined rotation" rule.
Shane Mugnolo (Howard Beach/Xaverian) pitched a hitless fifth before allowing a Parker Wing bunt single to lead off the sixth that broke up Cortland's no-hit bid. After Mugnolo hit the next batter, Will McCarthy (Farmingdale) entered and tossed two hitless innings with one strikeout. Dan Hobbs (Saratoga Springs) wrapped up the game with two innings of two-hit ball. He struck out three batters.
Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) and Paul Franzese (Somers) each finished 2-for-2, with Krafft also reaching by a walk and hit by pitch. Colin BeVard (Syracuse/West Genesee) was 1-for-2 with two walks.
Cortland scored twice in the first when BeVard hit an RBI infield single and a throwing error on the play allowed a second run to score. Justin Patsey (Hyde Park/FDR) hit an RBI double in the second and eventually scored on a wild pitch, and Cortland's two-run fifth featured a Krafft RBI single. The Red Dragons posted three runs in the sixth, two coming on a Dylan Mackenzie (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) RBI double and a Franzese RBI infield single, and Adam Mieczkowski (Vestal) closed the scoring with an RBI infield single in the seventh.
Cortland 6, Ithaca 4
Cortland led Ithaca 3-1 entering the top of the eighth before the Bombers plated three runs, but the Red Dragons responded with three in the bottom of the eight to re-gain the lead. The winning rally started with three straight singles by Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon), BeVard and Daniel Coleman (Saratoga Springs), the last of which tied the game at 4-4. James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) followed with a fly ball to left center. Two Ithaca outfielders collided on the play, which was ruled as a sacrifice fly and an error, and two runs scored to put Cortland up 6-4.
Cortland led 1-0 in the third on a Krafft RBI groundout, and Varian hit a solo homer down the right field line in the fifth to extend the margin to two. Ithaca had only one runner in scoring position over the first six innings, stranding a runner on third in the fifth, but opened the seventh with singles by Gil Merod and Jack Lynch. With runners on first and third, a double play brought in a run but halted a bigger rally, and a groundout ended the frame. Cortland got that run back in the bottom of the seventh when Mat Bruno (Rye) doubled with one out and scored on a Ben Rhodes (Amsterdam) single to center.
Ithaca began the eighth with a Matt Smith walk and Louis Fabbo single to short. A groundout moved the runners to second and third and Garrett Callaghan was intentionally walked to load the bases. Alex Barker-Hook's sac fly to right scored Smith, and Merod hit a two-run double to right to give Ithaca the lead.
Brandon Buchan (Seaford/MacArthur) started for the Red Dragons and allowed four hits and no runs over four and two thirds innings. He walked one and struck out four. Bailey Gauthier (Camillus/West Genesee), the second Cortland reliever, was the pitcher of record when Cortland took the lead for good and picked up the win. Scott Roberts (Escondido, CA/Del Norte) entered with a runner on first and one out in the top of the ninth and retired both batters he faced for his first save of the season.
Matt Chase started for Ithaca and allowed two hits and two runs, one earned, in four innings. He fanned three and walked one. Charlie Hammel gave up six hits and four runs, two earned, in three innings, and Nate Scott retired all three batters he faced in the eighth.
Varian finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and Rhodes was 1-for-2 with two walks and an RBI for Cortland. Smith was 2-for-3 with a walk, Merod went 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Fabbo finished 2-for-5 for the Bombers (4-3).