SALISBURY, MD. – After allowing four first-inning runs, the nationally ranked Cortland baseball team scored 13 unanswered and defeated Castleton St. 13-4 to open Saturday's doubleheader held at Salisbury University. The Red Dragons dropped game two 6-3, which included five runs scored in the first two innings by the Spartans.
Cortland (12-3), which is ranked first nationally by the American Baseball Coaches Association and second by D3baseball.com, is next scheduled to play at Ithaca on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.
Cortland 13, Castleton St. 4
Jeff Cooke (Rome/Rome Free Academy) picked up his third win of the season for the Red Dragons. He pitched six innings and allowed four runs (three earned), five hits and struck out seven.
Michael DeCarlo (Wynantskill/Troy) pitched the next one and two-thirds innings and surrendered two hits and fanned two.
Kashaun Curry (Middletown) recorded the final out of the eighth and
Billy Goncalves (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) struck out one and didn't allow a hit in the ninth.
Castleton St. took an early first inning lead off a Zach Bahan grand slam. Cortland countered in the bottom half of the inning with six runs.
Patrick Schetter (Beacon) had an RBI single and
Justin Teague (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) earned an RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Nate Budge (Central Square/Paul V. Moore) hit an RBI sacrifice fly and Matt Personius (Binghamton/Chenango Valley) followed up with a two RBI double. Personius would later score on a wild pitch.
The Red Dragons continued to increase their lead on RBI singles from
Steven Figueroa (Bronx/St. Raymond's) and Teague in the second. Budge added another RBI on a fielder's choice later in the inning. Teague hit an RBI double in the fourth as did
Shawn Kelly (Smithtown/Smithtown East) in the sixth to increase the lead to 11-4.
Sean Getman (Oneonta) brought in Cortland's final runs on a pinch-hit two-run homer in the eighth.
Teague was 2-for-2 with a double and three RBIs and Schetter was 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Red Dragons. Budge, Getman and Personius drove in two runs each.
Charles Stapleford was charged with the loss for the Spartans. In two innings, he allowed nine runs (seven earned), six hits, three walks and struck out one. Bahan went 1-for-4 and drove in the only four Castleton runs on his first inning homer. Deagan Poland and Jonathan Lindau each went 2-for-4.
Castleton St. 6, Cortland 3
Davis Mikell pitched a complete game and earned the win for Castleton (2-2). He surrendered three runs (one earned), seven hits, three walks and struck out nine. Dillon Benham was 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs and Poland went 3-for-5 with an RBI.
Jon Warner (Tully) scored in the top of the first for Cortland off a wild pitch. Benham had an RBI single in the bottom of the inning for the Spartans to even the score. Getman hit a solo homerun in the second for the Red Dragons to take a brief 2-1 lead.
The Spartans scored four times in the bottom of the second to pull ahead. Pat Mumford and Poland each hit RBI singles and Benham drove in two more runs with a single to right. Mumford scored an insurance run for Castleton in the fourth when he reached home on a double play.
Marcos Perivolaris (Mattituck) added the final run of the game for Cortland in the seventh when he scored on an error.
Warner went 2-for-3 with two walks and Perivolaris went 2-for-4 with a double for the Red Dragons.
Alex Weingarten (East Rockaway/Lynbrook) was charged with the loss for Cortland. In three innings, Weingarten allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits with four strikeouts.
Patrick Merryweather (Baldwinsville/C.W. Baker) came on in relief and pitched four hitless innings while fanning two.
Payten Boice (Homer) allowed a hit and two walks in the final inning of work.
