GRAND CHUTE, WIS. – Cortland pulled away from a tight game with three runs in both the seventh and eighth innings and the nationally top-ranked Red Dragons defeated 20th-ranked Wisconsin-La Crosse, 11-3, in the opening game of the best-of-three championship round at the NCAA Div. III World Series.

Cortland (44-4) and UW-L (36-15) will play Game 2 Wednesday at 11 a.m. (Noon Eastern), and, if needed, a winner-take-all third game would follow. Cortland needs one win Wednesday to claim the national title, while the Eagles need to win both games to capture the title.

With their 44 victories, the Red Dragons set a school single-season victories record. The previous mark of 43 wins was reached during a national runner-up finish in 2005.

UW-L earned its way into the championship series on Tuesday with a 10-7 win over Trinity (Texas) in the Pool B final. The game started at 10 a.m. and featured a five-hour rain delay that helped push the UW-L/Cortland game into a night contest. Cortland wrapped up Pool A on Monday and therefore did not have to play earlier on Tuesday.

Brandon McClain (Coram/Longwood) earned the win for Cortland in his final collegiate appearance. Now 6-1 this spring, McClain allowed six hits, two walks and two runs in five and a third innings. He struck out four batters. Tyler Brien (Ilion) gave up one run on four hits in two innings with a walk and a strikeout. Adam Brant (Staatsburg/Our Lady of Lourdes) recorded five straight outs after entering in the eighth.

Conrad Ziemendorf (Penfield/Webster Schroeder) finished 4-for-5 with two RBI and Nick Hart (Fredonia) went 3-for-4 with two runs. Anthony Simon (Suffern/Don Bosco Prep (NJ)) was 2-for-5 with an RBI and three runs.

Vinny Bomasuto (Dunkirk) finished with three RBI and Austin Clock was 1-for-3 with two walks, two RBI and a run. All nine of Cortland's starters finished at least one hit.

Travis Buxtan-Verstagen led the Eagles by going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Joel Zyhowski finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and Taylor Kohlwey was 2-for-4. Shane Adler went the distance and allowed 11 runs, seven earned, on 15 hits. He walked two and fanned three.

Cortland used a combination of two errors, a Bomasuto RBI groundout and a Ziemendorf RBI single to take a 2-0 lead in the first. The Red Dragons added three in the second  - two on a ball hit by Mark DeMilio (Valhalla) that was mishandled by the second baseman and a third on a Bomasuto RBI single.

UW-L picked up two in the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles from Bruxton-Verstagen and Zyhowski and cut Cortland's lead to 5-3 in the seventh on a Justin Anderson double off the wall in left center.

The Red Dragons responded with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Ziemendorf singled in a run, Simon and Fabio Ricci (Hawthorne/Westlake) executed a double steal of home and second, respectively, and Clock hit an RBI double down the right field line. Cortland's three-run eighth featured a Bomasuto sac fly, a Simon RBI single and a Clock bases-loaded walk.

Box Score

Full Game Replay (NCAA.com)

Cortland Postgame Press Conference

Tournament Interactive Bracket

D3baseball.com Championship Series Web Page