NEW PALTZ, N.Y. -
Jake Casey (Homer) tossed six and a third scoreless innings and
Justin Teague (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) and
Jack Massa (Shoreham/Shoreham-Wading River) combined to drive in five runs as nationally sixth-ranked Cortland registered a 6-2 victory at New Paltz.
Cortland (23-5, 8-2 SUNYAC) will travel to Plattsburgh for a doubleheader Friday at noon and a single game Saturday at noon (the doubleheader was moved from Saturday to Friday due to the weather forecast). The Red Dragons will then return to New Paltz for a doubleheader Sunday at noon. Cortland and New Paltz were originally scheduled to play their three-game series in March, but were postponed due to snow.
Casey improved to 2-0 after allowing five hits and no walks over his six and a third scoreless frames. He struck out four batters. Kyle Eckert started for New Paltz (10-9, 3-4 SUNYAC) and gave up one run on three hits in five-plus innings. He struck out three and walked four.
Cortland broke a scoreless tie with a run in the top of the sixth.
Steven Figueroa (Bronx/St. Raymond's) led off with a walk, took second on a wild pitch, and moved to third on a
Paul Dondero (East Islip) bunt single. Teague hit into a fielder's choice force out to drive home Figueroa.
The Red Dragons extended their lead to 3-0 in the eighth when Teague got on via an infield single and Massa hit a two-run homer to left. Cortland added three insurance runs in the ninth on a
Marcos Perivolaris (Mattituck) pinch-hit RBI single and Teague's two-out, two-run single.
New Paltz broke up Cortland's shutout bid in the ninth against reliever
Payten Boice (Homer), who had held the Hawks scoreless after entering with one out in the seventh. Jake Williams was hit by a pitch to start the inning and he Nick DePietro singled. Boice induced a double play grounder - the fourth twin killing turned by the Red Dragons - but Justin Ganca followed with an RBI double. Ganca moved to third on a balk and scored on an error to chase Boice.
Kashaun Curry (Middletown) entered and got the next batter to hit into a game-ending fielder's choice.
Teague finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and Massa was 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBI. Figueroa was 1-for-3 with two walks and
Matt Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) reached base three times on a hit, walk and hit-by-pitch, and also registered a sacrifice bunt. For New Paltz, DePietro and Anthony Pantano each went 2-for-3 and Dwayne Page finished 2-for-4.
