Cortland, NY – With a 12-9 win in extra innings, the SUNY Brockport baseball team takes down Cortland for the 2023 SUNYAC Title. Brockport claims its first conference title since 2010 and the sixth in program history.
 
Head Coach Justin Beach gets his second SUNYAC Championship as the leader of the program. Today's win puts the Green and Gold back into the NCAA Division III Tournament by earning the automatic bid.
 
The Golden Eagles had five players chosen for the All-Tournament Team, including Zach Eldred being named the Most Valuable Player. Andrew Huffman, Patrick Bigham, Justin Pangburn, and David Belsito all made the All-Tournament Team.
 
Through five innings, the Green and Gold had worked for a slim, 7-6, lead over the top-seeded Red Dragons. They would end up putting the pressure on Brockport with a 3-run showing in the bottom of the eighth to take a 9-7 edge going into the ninth.
 
Brockport got the clutch performances needed to extend the game. With Ryan Mansell and Ryan Voight getting into scoring position, Justin Pangburn sent Mansell home to make it a 9-8 game. Brian Tietjen then stepped in to pinch hit, connecting for a big time RBI single to tie the score.
 
In the bottom of the ninth it was Cooper Meldrim (W, 3-0) that was able to keep Cortland from a walk-off score. He received the win in the championship game, going 2.2 innings which included strikeouts in the ninth and tenth innings.
 
Nicholas Pastore led off the 10^th with a triple down the right field line, looking to score the go-ahead run for Brockport. A sac fly from Patrick Bigham brought Pastore home to make it a 10-9 lead for the squad.
 
With the bases loaded, Pangburn came up clutch again with a 2-RBI single to left field which gave the Golden Eagles a 12-9 lead. He would finish the game 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs.
 
Meldrim did his job on the mound in the bottom of the 10^th to keep Cortland from getting back into the game. After a strikeout and a fly out to center field, the Red Dragons were down to their last out with runners on first and second. Pangburn fielded a grounder at short and got the force out at second to seal the deal.
 
The Golden Eagles started Colin Pytlak on the mound, going 3.1 innings with three earned runs on six hits. Nick Ianniello, Justin DelVecchio, and Adam Douglas all stepped to the rubber in the contest.
 
Offensively the team got big contributions from several batters. David Belsito went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Zach Eldred went 2-for-4 with two runs, one RBI, and drew a pair of walks. Patrick Bigham came up with three RBIs in a 2-for-4 effort at the plate. Johnny Genau connected for one hit and laid down a sacrifice bunt to knock in a pair of RBIs.
 
With the conference title in hand and a spot locked up for the NCAA Division III Championships, Brockport now awaits the announcement of its next opponent. The NCAA DIII Selection Show is scheduled for noon on Monday.