AUBURNDALE, FLA. – The nationally top-ranked Cortland baseball team rallied late but came up just short in a 9-7 loss to 15th-ranked Western New England University. The Red Dragons bounced back and defeated Rowan University, 12-8, in a game in which Cortland led 12-0 before allowing eight runs in the eighth.
Cortland (10-3) completes its Florida trip on Saturday at 11 a.m. versus Rowan in Leesburg, Fla.
Western New England 9, Cortland 7 (Box Score)
The Golden Bears led 7-1 after the top of the fifth inning before holding on for the win to improve to 3-1 on the season. Cortland scored twice in the fifth and once in the sixth, and later drew within 8-7 with a three-run eighth. WNE, however, scored in the ninth and Cortland stranded runners on first and third in the bottom of the inning.
Mike Rubino finished 3-for-6 with two RBI and Steve Buckley went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. Taylor Perun homered, walked twice and drove in two runs and Jeff Schult scored three times. Tom Mahoney entered the game in relief in the fifth and earned the win. He gave up three hits, a walk and a run and struck out one.
Four Cortland players recorded multiple hits as part of a 13-hit attack.
P.J. Rinaldi (Bethel, CT) went 3-for-5 with an RBI and
Max Rosing (Rockville Centre/South Side) was 2-for-5 with two RBI.
John Adornetto (Commack) ended 2-for-4 with a double, walk, hit-by-pitch, RBI and three runs and
Zack Graczyk (Carmel) finished 2-for-6 with two runs.
Brandon Serio (Bedford Hills/Fox Lane) started for the Red Dragons. He allowed three runs, one earned, in four innings. He gave up five hits and three walks and struck out three and is 2-1 on the season.
Steve Komanecky (Auburn), Cortland's third reliever, pitched the final four and a third innings. He gave up four hits and two walks, struck out three and allowed two runs, one earned.
Cortland took its only lead at 1-0 in the bottom of the first when Adornetto and Rinaldi pulled off a double steal of second and home, respectively. The Golden Bears tied the game on an error in the third and added two in the fourth on an error and a Matt Anthonis RBI single. Anthonis finished 1-for-4 with two walks and two RBI. WNE's four-run fifth featured a Perun two-run homer, a Steve Ambrosino RBI single and an Anthonis bases-loaded walk.
Cortland got two runs back in the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles by Rinaldi and Rosing. Adornetto doubled in a run in the sixth, but WNE scored in the seventh on a Rubino RBI single. The Red Dragons scored three in the seventh on a Rosing RBI single, with an error on the play allowing a second run to score, and a
Donny Castaldo (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) pinch-hit RBI single. The Golden Bears picked up a key insurance run in the ninth on Rubino's two-out RBI single.
Cortland 12, Rowan 8 (Box Score)
Kyle Barkley (Penn Yan) pitched five shutout innings for the win in his first collegiate start. He allowed four hits and three walks and struck out five to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Cortland recorded 11 of its 14 hits over the first five innings on the way to a 10-0 lead. Graczyk finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, Adornetto went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs,
Mitch Hollander (Woodbury/Syosset) was 2-for-5 with a triple, three RBI and two runs and
Michael DeCarr (Syracuse/Westhill) was 2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs.
The Red Dragons extended their lead to 12-0 in the top of the eighth on RBI singles by Rinaldi and Rosing. Rowan, however, made things interesting by scoring eight runs in the bottom of the eighth. The Profs sent 14 batters to the plate in the inning, with 10 reaching on three hits and seven walks.
With the bases loaded and two outs and the potential tying run at the plate,
Brandon Nemeti (Lancaster) – Cortland's fourth pitcher in the inning – recorded a deep flyout to end the rally. Nemeti pitched a scoreless ninth to register his first save of the season.
