CORTLAND, N.Y. – Dave Filak threw a complete-game three-hitter with 10 strikeouts and two walks as fourth-seeded Oneonta defeated top-seeded Cortland, 7-1, in the opening round of the SUNYAC tournament.

Oneonta (28-10) will play Brockport in a winner's bracket game Saturday at 1 p.m. Brockport defeated Plattsburgh, 14-9, in Friday's opening game. Cortland (30-8-1), ranked 10th in Div. III, will face Plattsburgh in an elimination game Saturday at 10 a.m. Cortland lost its SUNYAC tournament opener for the first time since falling to Brockport in both 2005 and 2006. In both of those years, the Red Dragons fought back to win four straight games and capture the league title.

Cortland junior Travis Ratliff (Levittown/Division Avenue) matched Filak for six scoreless innings. In the seventh, Oneonta broke through when Pete Lindner hit an RBI single with two outs to put the guests up 1-0. Cortland, however, tied the game on a solo homer by Andersen Gardner (Fairport) in the bottom of the seventh. The homer was Gardner's 200th career hit and his school-record 150th career RBI. Gardner is the fifth player in school history to reach 200 hits.

Filak improved to 8-0 with the win and Ratliff dropped to 7-1 with the loss.

Oneonta took control with four runs in the top of the eighth. Matthew Whelehan led off with a single and the next two hitters, Carmine Caputo and Kevin Knack, both reached on bunt singles to load the bases. Reliever Brandon DeRosa (Fairport) walked Dan Randall to force in the go-ahead run and another run scored on a double play grounder. Scott Dubben's RBI single extended the lead to 4-1 and an error allowed the final run of the inning to score.

The guests added two runs in the ninth on a Caputo walk, a Knack RBI triple and a wild pitch that allowed Knack to score. Knack finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored and Whelehan was 2-for-3.

Cortland's other two hits, in addition to Gardner's homer, was a Jason Simone (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) single in the fifth and a Matt June (Colonie) single in the sixth. June extended his hitting streak to 18 consecutive games.

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