OSWEGO, N.Y. – Cortland scored three times in the top of the eighth to break an 8-8 tie and the second-seeded and nationally 12th-ranked Red Dragons defeated top-seeded and 11th-ranked Oswego, 11-9, in a winner's bracket game of the SUNYAC baseball tournament.
 
Cortland (32-10) will face third-seeded Brockport in the championship round Saturday at noon needing one win in two attempts versus the Golden Eagles to repeat as conference champion. Brockport stayed alive on Friday with wins over Plattsburgh, 12-3, and Oswego, 12-4, to eliminate those two teams.
 
Andrew Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis), who finished 4-for-5 with a walk and three runs scored, started Cortland's decisive rally with a leadoff single in the eighth. Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon), who ended the day 2-for-4 with two walks and two runs scored, followed with a single to put runners on first and second. James Varian (Hopewell Junction-Trinity Pawling) bunted the runners to second and third for his third sac bunt of the game and Danny Coleman (Saratoga Springs) was intentionally walked to load the bases. Coleman finished the game 1-for-2 with two walks, two RBI and three runs.
 
Mat Bruno (Rye) followed by hitting a grounder to third. Oswego got a force out at third while a run scored, but the third baseman threw wild to first trying to complete the double play to allow a second run to score and Bruno to go to third. Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) reached on an error that allowed Bruno to score the third run of the inning. Bruno finished the game 2-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored.
 
Oswego (29-10 after the loss to Brockport) scored seven of its nine runs as a result of three home runs. Ryan Weiss hit a solo shot in the second to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead, and he hit a two-run homer in the fourth, to give Oswego a 3-2 lead. Lukas Olsson's grand slam in the sixth tied the game at 8-8. Weiss finished 2-for-3 with a walk, four RBI and two runs, Olsson was 2-for-4 wit a walk, four RBI and two runs, and Julian Drew went 3-for-4 with a walk and RBI for the hosts.
 
Cortland took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a double play grounder and a Nick Chemotti (Warners/West Genesee) RBI double. The Red Dragons went up 6-3 in the top of the fifth on Coleman's bases-loaded walk, a Krafft sac fly, and error, and a Chemotti RBI single. Chemotti ended the game 3-for-4 with two RBI.
 
Oswego got a run back in the fifth on a Weiss sac fly, but Cortland plated two runs in the sixth on Coleman's sac fly and a Bruno RBI single to go up 8-4.
 
Zack Durant (Verona/V-V-S) started for Cortland and allowed three runs on four hits with three strikeouts in three and a third innings. Justin Patsey (Hyde Park/Frranklin D. Roosevelt), Cortland's second reliever, entered after the Olsson grand slam in the sixth and allowed just one run on two hits over two and two thirds innings. He struck out two and walked one for his first collegiate victory.
 
Will McCarthy (Farmingdale) entered for Cortland in the bottom of the ninth with one out and a runner on first. He walked the first batter he faced, then allowed a Drew RBI single to make it 11-9. The next batter, Tishawn Featherstone, represented the potential winning run and flied out to deep left for the second out. McCarthy then got the next batter to foul out to the catcher to notch his first collegiate save.
 
Oswego starter Kieran Finnegan gave up six runs, but only two earned, in four and two thirds innings and received a no decision. He struck out two, walked two and allowed nine hits. Sean Dertinger, Oswego's second reliever, allowed three runs, one earned, on five hits over three and a third innings to suffer the loss. Only five of the 11 runs Oswego allowed in the game were earned as the Lakers committed six errors.