VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. – The Cortland baseball team, ranked 10th nationally by D3baseball.com, opened the 2014 season with a doubleheader sweep at Virginia Wesleyan College Sunday. The Red Dragons won the opener, 8-3, and posted a 6-5 victory in the nightcap that was halted after six innings due to darkness.

Game 1: Cortland 8, Virginia Wesleyan 3 (Box Score)

Cortland scored four runs in the top of the first inning on its way to the win in the opener. Senior Anthony Iacomini (South Salem/John Jay-Cross River) and junior Anthony Simon (Suffern/Don Bosco Prep (NJ)) each hit two-run singles in the inning. Iacomini finished 3-for-4 with a walk, four RBI and two runs scored and Simon was 2-for-5 with two RBI.

The Marlins put up a run in the bottom of the second on a Brett Sutryk RBI double and a run in the seventh on a Ty Boothe sacrifice fly. Cortland answered with a  run in the eighth on junior Donny Castaldo's (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) RBI single and added three runs in the ninth when Iacomini singled in two runs and junior Mark DeMilio (Valhalla) hit an RBI single.

Sophomore Conrad Ziemendorf (Penfield/Webster Schroeder) finished 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored and Castaldo ended 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Sophomore Brandon Serio (Bedford Hills/Fox Lane) earned the win as the first of Cortland's pre-arranged pitching rotation. He allowed three hits and no walks, struck out five and gave up one run in three innings. Six Cortland pitchers combined to record 11 strikeouts, including three in an inning and two thirds by sophomore Tyler Brien (Ilion).

Sutryk finished 2-for-3 with a walk, RBI and two runs and Boothe drove in two runs for Virginia Wesleyan. Dylan Stoskus pitched eight innings for the Marlins and allowed 10 hits and three walks and struck out nine.

Game 2: Cortland 6, Virginia Wesleyan 5 (6 inn., darkness) (Box Score)

Cortland scored four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 6-0 lead, and the Red Dragons held on after the Marlins tallied three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth. Cortland scored three times in the top of the seventh, but the game was called due to darkness after the Red Dragons finished batting. The game officially reverted back to the end of the sixth inning to negate Cortland's stats in the seventh.

Junior Brandon McClain (Coram/Longwood) started for Cortland and earned the win after throwing three scoreless innings in another pre-arranged pitching lineup. He allowed only two hits and one walk and struck out three. Junior Garrett Hoag (Dansville), Cortland's second reliever, entered with two on and no outs in the fifth and the score 6-3. He allowed a two-run single to Taylor Erby but struck out the next three batters to escape further trouble. He also fanned two batters and allowed only one runner on an error in the sixth.

Cortland scored in the first on a Chris Jackson (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham) sacrifice fly and again in the third on an RBI single by junior Vinny Bomasuto (Dunkirk). The Red Dragons' four-run fourth inning featured a Max Rosing (Rockville Centre/South Side) triple, a Simon RBI single, a Ziemendorf RBI single, a Iacomini sacrifice fly and a Jackson RBI double.

Each team finished with nine hits. Nine different Red Dragons registered one hit each. Austin Gammon was 2-for-3, including a two-run single in the fourth, and Nic Kurz was 2-for-4 for the Marlins.

Cortland will travel to Salisbury University for single games on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 22-23.