CORTLAND, N.Y. – Sam Van Dorn (Medford/Patchogue-Medford) threw a three-hit shutout and also drove in the winning run on a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the seventh as Cortland defeated Buffalo State, 1-0, in the first game of a SUNYAC doubleheader. The Red Dragons (19-12, 11-3 SUNYAC) completed the sweep with an 8-1 win in the second game to remain in a tie for first place in the league standings.

Cortland will travel to Plattsburgh Monday at 1 p.m. for a makeup league doubleheader and will host Alfred on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in a non-league twinbill.

Cortland 1, Buffalo St. 0

Van Dorn locked horns with Buffalo State starter Oriana Castello for six and a half scoreless innings. Van Dorn improved to 8-7 after allowing three hits and no walks with one strikeout. Castello, now 9-6, gave up seven hits and two walks with one strikeout.

The winning rally in the bottom of the seventh started with an Alyssa Finno (Kingston) leadoff single up the middle. After a bunt attempt resulted in a force at second for the first out, Sabrina Caputo (Westbury/W.T. Clarke) reached on an infield single to put runners on first and second. Van Dorn then entered to hit from the flex spot and hit a looper between the pitching circle and the shortstop. The shortstop moved over to make a play but the ball, instead of bouncing, took a weird skid and got past the shortstop to allow the winning run to score.

Buffalo State's best scoring opportunity versus Van Dorn came in the top of the seventh. Sydney McIntosh doubled with one out and pinch runner Jenna Wlostowski moved to third on a groundout, but Van Dorn got the next hitter to foul out to first base.

Cortland had runners in scoring position three times, including a Skyler Hoyt (Endicott/Union-Endicott) one-out triple in the fourth and a Tori Scharff (Poughkeepsie/Arlington) leadoff double, followed by a one-out groundout to move her to third, in the fifth inning, but Castello pitched out of each of those jams.

Finno finished 2-for-3 and Hoyt was 1-for-2 with a walk for Cortland. McIntosh, Chelsea Davis and Julia Blujus each went 1-for-3 for the Bengals.

Cortland 8, Buffalo St. 1

Cortland jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings. Hannah Feldman (Buffalo/Sweet Home) hit a solo homer over the scoreboard in left field in the first, and the Red Dragons scored three in the second on a Victoria Brown (Queens/Archbishop Molloy) two-run single and a Kelly O'Gorman (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) sac fly.

Buffalo State (17-13, 6-6 SUNYAC) scored in the third on a Justine Silva walk, Alyssa Nichy single and Castello two-out RBI single. The Bengals, however, stranded runners on second and third after the Castello hit.

Cortland put up three insurance runs in the fifth. Taylor Felicello (Marlboro) led off with a triple and Feldman walked. Hoyt's double to left center drove in Felicello, and two batters later Scharff hit a two-run single to score pinch runner Megan Weber (Lockport/Starpoint) along with Hoyt.

The guests mounted a rally in the sixth, loading the bases on one-out hits by Castello and Davis and a two-out walk to Taylor Benton, but a strikeout ended that threat. Cortland closed the scoring in the bottom of the inning when O'Gorman led off with a triple and scored on a Felicello sac fly.

Cady Walts (Cortland) started for the Red Dragons and improved to 10-3 after giving up one run in six innings. She struck out six, walked two and allowed five hits. Courtney Kane (Bellport) pitched the seventh and recorded the first two outs before getting into some trouble with singles by Nichy and Blujus and a Castello hit by pitch, but she struck out the next hitter to end the game.

O'Gorman and Scharff each went 2-for-3 to account for half of Cortland's eight hits. Feldman reached twice on a homer and a walk. For the Bengals, Castello went 3-for-3 with an RBI and Nichy was 2-for-3. Starter Marissa Hayes took the loss after allowing four runs, two earned, on four hits in one-plus innings. Emma Richard allowed four runs over five innings of relief.