#2 Red Dragons Win NCAA Baseball Opener vs. Castleton, 7-6
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The nationally second-ranked Cortland baseball team scored six runs in the second inning to take a 6-1 lead and held on to defeat Castleton State, 7-6, in the opening game of the NCAA Div. III regional hosted by Farmingdale State College.
Cortland (36-7-1), the top seed in the six-team regional, will face the loser of Wednesday night’s game between third-seeded Ithaca and fourth-seeded Misericordia on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Castleton (33-15) will play fifth-seeded Skidmore, which lost Wednesday to second-seeded Farmingdale, Thursday at noon.
Aaron Schuldt (Liverpool) earned the victory despite allowing 12 hits, a walk and six runs, three earned, in seven and a third innings. He struck out seven batters and is now 8-1 on the season. Tom Nagy (Greenville/Minisink Valley), Cortland’s second reliever, pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his third save of the season.
Tyler Erickson took the loss after throwing all eight innings for the Spartans. He allowed 11 hits and seven runs, walked one and struck out one to drop to 10-3 on the year.
Cortland recorded eight consecutive base hits during its six-run second. Brian Barry (Smithtown/Smithtown East) and Max Rosing (Rockville Centre/South Side) led off with singles. Castleton’s catcher then threw away a pickoff throw to second base, allowing Barry to go to third, although Rosing was thrown out trying to advance to second. Zack Graczyk (Carmel) followed with an RBI single to right center, and Tim Panetta (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) and Bryan Mistretta (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) each singled to load the bases.
Matt June (Colonie) hit a two-run double to right to score Graczyk and Mistretta and give Cortland a 4-1 lead. Andrew Pezzuto (Hastings) singled to left to drive in Mistretta, and June also scored on an error during the play. John Adornetto (Commack) registered the last of the eight straight hits – an infield single to first – and Michael LaTempa (LaGrangeville/Arlington) finished the scoring with a sacrifice fly to right.
Cortland entered the game having outscored its opponents 48-3 in the first inning this season, but Castleton struck for a run in the first when David Brandt led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Joe Borowski’s single to right.
The Spartans drew within 7-3 in the fourth. Macyn Clifford and Adam Greenlese each singled with two outs and Mathew Pause reached on an error that allowed a run to score. Brandt singled up the middle to drive in Greenlese but, following a walk, Castleton left the bases loaded.
Cortland’s final run came in the bottom of the fourth when Pezzuto led off with a triple and scored on an Adornetto sacrifice fly. Castleton put a run up in the seventh when Brandt led off with a single, his third hit of the game, stole second, then stole third and scored on a throwing error.
In the top of the eighth, Cameron Curler singled with one out and scored on a Clifford RBI triple to right center. Greenlese was hit by a pitch and Pause reached on an error that allowed Clifford to score.
In the ninth, Borowski drew a leadoff walk. Nagy struck out the next batter, but pinch runner DJ Detweiler stole second to put the potential tying run in scoring position. Nagy, however, struck out the next two hitters to end the game.
Panetta finished 2-for-3 with a walk, Adornetto was 2-for-3 and Pezzuto was 2-for-5 for Cortland. Mistretta reached base in all four of his plate appearances on a single and three hit-by-pitches. For Castleton, Brandt went 3-for-5, Borowski was 2-for-3 with a walk and Clifford finished 2-for-4.
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