CAZENOVIA, N.Y. – Cortland, ranked 15th nationally in Division III, scored 22 runs over the first four innings and defeated host Cazenovia College, 26-6, in a non-league contest.
The Red Dragons (22-6) finished the game with 28 hits, including home runs by seniors
Steve Nickel (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North),
Shawn Bailey (Webster/Webster Schroeder) and
Kevin Jackson (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham).
Nickel went 2-for-2 with a homer, double, walk and three RBI, junior
Jason Simone (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) finished 3-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored and Jackson went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI. Bailey was 2-for-5 with two RBI.
Junior
Dan Kaplan (Penfield), freshman
Jeff Wiltsie (Oneonta), senior
Khyle Dimino (Brighton), junior
Alex Coffey (Hilton) and senior
Damon Arnold (Wellsville) recorded two hits apiece. Junior
Justin Fredenburg (Saugerties) drove in three runs in three plate appearances while Arnold, senior
Adam Dimino (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) and sophomore
Rob Andrews (Commack) drove in two runs each.
Sophomore
Brendan Hourihan (Yorktown Heights/Lakeland), the first of eight Cortland pitchers, earned the win and is now 3-0. He allowed one hit and one unearned run.
Chris Fantacone went 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored and Erich Lange hit a solo homer for the host Wildcats (4-16).
Cortland scored five runs in the first, highlighted by
Adam Dimino's two-run double and RBI singles by Simone and
Khyle Dimino. After Cazenovia scored once in the bottom of the first on a Bryan Wilgocki RBI groundout, Cortland sent 13 batters to the plate in a nine-run second inning. Among Cortland's seven hits in that frame were both a two-run homer and an RBI double by Nickel, a Fredenburg two-run double, an Arnold RBI double and a Simone run-scoring single.
Coffey and Arnold singled in runs during a three-run third inning as the Red Dragons batted around for the third straight inning. Bailey's two-run homer and an Andrews RBI single fueled a five-run fourth.
Cortland's final four runs came in the ninth on a Jackson two-run homer, an Andrews fielder's choice and an error.
Box Score
