FERRUM, VA. – After surrendering two first inning runs, the nationally third-ranked Cortland baseball team scored five unanswered and defeated Ferrum, 5-3, in a non-conference matchup. The Red Dragons improve to 9-2 with the victory and the Panthers drop to 9-9.
Due to a schedule change, Cortland will play Stevenson tomorrow at Ferrum with a 12:30 p.m. scheduled first pitch.
Patrick Merryweather (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) started on the mound for the Red Dragons and earned his second win of the year. He pitched five innings and surrendered six hits, two walks, three runs and struck out five.
Ryan Smith (Hancock) came on in relief and pitched the next three and two-thirds innings. He allowed four hits and walked one.
Mike Harrington (Glens Falls) recorded the final out to earn the save.
The Panthers tallied the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the first off RBI hits from Ty Comer and Jake Martin. Cortland got one back in the third when
Paul Dondero (East Islip) led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on an infield single by
Casey Komanecky (Auburn).
Jon Warner (Tully) brought Dondero home with an RBI fielder's choice during the next at-bat.
The Red Dragons notched two more runs in the fifth when
Tyler Phillips (Hancock) reached first on an error and then advanced to second on a
Justin Teague (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) infield single.
Patrick Schetter (Beacon) hit an RBI single to right that advanced Teague to third and
Jack Massa (Shoreham/Shoreham-Wading River) drove him in with a pinch-hit RBI sacrifice fly to give Cortland the 3-2 lead.
The top of the sixth inning provided two crucial runs for the Red Dragons. Schetter brought in a run with an RBI fielder's choice and Warner scored on a throwing error. Ferrum scored a run in the bottom half of the inning off an RBI single from Christiaan Sowers.
With a runner on first and no outs in the top of the ninth, Smith forced the Panther batter to hit a grounder to short that resulted in Cortland's fourth double play of the game. Harrington came on later in the inning with runners on first and second and caused the batter to fly-out to center with the final pitch of the game.
Teague was 2-for-5 with an RBI for the Red Dragons. Schetter went 1-for-5 with two RBIs and Dondero was 1-for-4 with a double and a walk.
Comer was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Martin went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk for Ferrum. Brandon Turner pitched two-thirds of an inning and was charged with the loss. He allowed two hits, two walks, two runs (one earned) and struck out one.
