ONEONTA, N.Y. – The Cortland baseball team, making its first road trip of the season, opened league play with a doubleheader sweep at SUNYAC East opponent Oneonta. Cortland (9-3, 2-0) won the nine-inning opener, 14-1, and held off a late charge to capture the seven-inning nightcap, 9-4.
 
Cortland is scheduled to host St. John Fisher in a non-league doubleheader Sunday at 1 p.m., but that may change with poor weather forecast on that day. Any possible schedule changes are to be announced.
 
Cortland 14, Oneonta 1
 
Cortland did most of its damage in two innings, scoring five times in the second and eight in the fourth to take a 13-0 lead. The second inning featured a Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) two-run double and a Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon) three-run homer.
 
All eight runs in the fourth crossed the plate with two outs. James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) and Ben Rhodes (Amsterdam) were each hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in runs. Mat Bruno (Rye) hit a three-run double, Daniel Coleman (Saratoga Springs) singled in a run, and two batters later Andrew Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) ripped a two-run double.
 
Oneonta run came in the seventh on a two-out error, a wild pitch, and a Matthew McAllister RBI double. McAllister and Sean McGlynn each finished 1-for-3.
 
Adam Mieczkowski (Vestal), who entered defensively to catch in the seventh, finished the scoring for Cortland with a solo homer in the top of the eighth.
 
Nine different players finished with one hit apiece for Cortland. Giordano and Bruno each drove in three runs, Krafft and Michalski drove in two apiece, and Paul Franzese (Somers) was 1-for-2 with a double, two walks and two runs. Rhodes tripled, drove in a run and scored twice.
 
Zack Durant (Verona/V-V-S) improved to 3-0 with six stellar scoreless innings on the mound. He allowed just two hits and no walks and struck out five. Will McCarthy (Farmingdale) gave up only one unearned run on two hits with no walks and one strikeout in two innings, and Dan Hobbs (Saratoga Springs) tossed a scoreless ninth. Oneonta starter Michael Dunne allowed six runs on four hits in three and a third innings. Michael Sadowski, the hosts' third reliever, gave up only one hit, one walk and one run with three strikeouts in four and a third innings.
 
Cortland 9, Oneonta 4
 
Cortland led 6-1 entering the bottom of the fifth in the seven-inning contest before Oneonta (7-3, 2-2) cut the lead to 6-4 and threatened for more.
 
Cortland scored two in the first on singles by Krafft and Giordano, a Colin BeVard (Syracuse/West Genesee) RBI groundout and a Rhodes sacrifice fly. Oneonta answered in the bottom of the inning with a James Zupo RBI double, but Cortland plated two in the third on singles by BeVard and Rhodes, a Varian sac bunt, and a Franzese two-run double. The guests tallied two in the fifth when Rhodes doubled and scored on an error during a sac bunt, with Franzese doubling home the other run.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, Oneonta scored its first run on an error, and a McGlynn RBI single and James Ceparano sac fly made it a 6-4 game. Oneonta still had runners on first and second with one out but failed to capitalize further after flying out twice, the second time a blast by Sean Liquori to right center that Giordano hauled in on the run near the fence from his centerfield position.
 
Oneonta's Jake Barrett led off the bottom of the sixth with a double. Bailey Gauthier (Camillus/West Genesee) entered at that point and struck out the next three batters to preserve the lead. Cortland tacked on three runs in the top of the seventh on a Bruno RBI double and RBI singles from Krafft and Giordano, and Gauthier allowed only a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh before fanning the final batter to complete the save.
 
Brandon Buchan (Seaford/MacArthur) notched the win for Cortland. He went four innings and gave up only three hits and two walks. He struck out two and was charged with two runs as he faced one batter in the fifth.
 
Cortland totaled 16 hits in the contest, with five players accounting for 14 of them. Franzese was 4-for-4 with three RBI, Krafft went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, and Bruno was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Giordano and BeVard each closed the game 2-for-5 with one run batted in. Seven different players had one hit each for Oneonta. Starter Zachary Vavasour took the loss after allowing six runs, five earned, on 10 hits over four innings.