GRAND CHUTE, WIS. – For 39 years, long-time Cortland coach Bob "Sparky" Wallace '53, M '57, organized the annual Cortland Baseball alumni reunion. And for many of those reunions, the one song you were guaranteed to hear played was John Fogerty's "Centerfield."
Wallace passed away last December, and the Red Dragons wore the letters "BW" on the back of their caps in his honor this spring. And when Cortland prepared to come up in the top of the ninth Wednesday versus Wisconsin-La Crosse at the NCAA Division III World Series trailing 2-1 and three outs from facing a winner-take-all game with the Eagles for the national title, a song played on the Fox Cities Stadium PA – "Centerfield."
Following that possible omen, Cortland rallied for five runs in the inning to take a 6-2 lead, and that score stood as the Red Dragons claimed their first national title. Cortland, which finished 45-4, was making its 13th World Series appearance, all since 1995. The Red Dragons' previous best finishes were runner-up showings in 2005 and 2010.
Cortland finished 5-0 at the World Series with three wins in pool play and wins versus UW-L in the first two games of the best-of-three championship round.
Cortland took the lead in the top of the sixth on a
Conrad Ziemendorf (Penfield/Webster Schroeder) RBI single, but UW-L (36-16) scored twice in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead.
The Red Dragons' winning rally started with a Matthew Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) single up the middle.
Justin Teague (Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) put down a sac bunt, and was safe when the third baseman bobbled the ball, and
Mark DeMilio (Valhalla) walked to load the bases.
Nick Hart (Fredonia) followed by lining a single up the middle to drive in two runs and give Cortland a 3-2 lead.
After a
Vinny Bomasuto (Dunkirk) bunt, UW-L pitcher Jameson Sadowske struck out the next batter for the second out. Ziemendorf reached on an error to score a run, and
Fabio Ricci (Hawthorne/Westlake) hit a fly ball that fell into center field for a two-run single.
Travis Laitar (Fergus, ON/Centre Wellington) entered in relief in the bottom of the ninth. He walked the first batter, but struck out the next and induced a championship-ending double play grounder to ignite a player dogpile near the mound.
Seth Lamando (Hopewell Junction/Roy C. Ketcham), the winning pitcher during Cortland's opening-game Series victory, started the title game and earned a no decision after throwing seven innings. He allowed eight hits and two runs, walked two and struck out nine, and he finished with 20 strikeouts in his two Series starts.
Adam Brant (Staatsburg/Our Lady of Lourdes) entered in the eighth with a runner on and induced a groundout and a lineout double play to keep the score 2-1. He was the pitcher of record when Cortland took the lead and finished the season 4-1 with the win.
Joe Miller started for UW-L on three days rest and allowed six hits and one run over five and a third innings. He struck out two and did not walk anyone. Sadowske threw the final three and two thirds innings and took the loss. He gave up five runs, only one earned, on five hits and one walk and he fanned two.
Hart and Ricci each finished 2-for-5 with two RBI and Michalski was 2-for-4. Taylor Kohlwey went 2-for-3 and Bryce Barsness and Shane Adler each drove in a run for the Eagles, who were making their first World Series appearance.
Cortland is the first New York school to win the Div. III baseball title since Ithaca in 1988. Current Red Dragon head coach
Joe Brown was a member of that Bombers' squad.
Ziemendorf was named the World Series Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the official all-tournament team by Lamando, Ricci, Michalski and pitcher
Brandon Serio (Bedford Hills/Fox Lane).
Box ScoreGame HighlightsFull Replay of Game (NCAA.com)Interactive Tournament Bracket
