PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -
Ryan Flansburg (Queensbury) tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing seven hits and one walk while striking out seven en route to an 11-0 win over Plattsburgh in the nine-inning opening game of a SUNYAC doubleheader. The Red Dragons completed the sweep over the Cardinals in the seven-inning nightcap with a 15-5 win to officially clinch the SUNYAC East division crown and guarantee themselves a spot in the SUNYAC playoffs.
The Red Dragons (20-4, 11-1 SUNYAC East) have now won 20 or more games in a season for 31 straight years (not including last year's shortened season).
With only four regular season games remaining, the Red Dragons are scheduled to play Brockport at home on Monday, May, 3, in a 1 p.m. doubleheader matchup that will count in the league standings, even though Brockport is part of the SUNYAC Western division. Cortland closes the regular season on Saturday with a doubleheader at Fredonia, another West opponent that will also count in the standings. As the East's top seed, Cortland will host an opponent to be determined in a SUNYAC tournament best-of-three semifinal series May 15-16.
Cortland 11, Plattsburgh 0
Flansburg, now 4-0 on the year with a team high 29 innings pitched and a 0.93 ERA, worked efficiently, needing only 85 pitches to shut out Plattsburgh for seven innings before turning it over to the bullpen.
Dan Hobbs (Saratoga Springs) pitched the final two innings, allowing no hits, no runs and no walks. Hobbs also recorded his first career at-bat with a plate appearance in the ninth.
Cortland started quickly, as its done often this spring, scoring two runs off Cardinals' starter Chase Blazak in the first on a
Colin BeVard (Syracuse/West Genesee) two-RBI single up the middle to score
Paul Franzese (Somers) and
Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon). BeVard finished 2-for-2 on the game and drove in Cortland's third run with an RBI triple in the fourth to score Giordano again.
Cortland struck again in the fifth with an RBI triple from
Antonio Pragana (Hopewell Junction/John Jay) that scored
Andrew Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) to increase the lead to 4-0. In the sixth, Giordano hit a solo home run, his fourth of the season, to give the Red Dragons a 5-0 lead.
The Red Dragons struck for four runs in the seventh on a
Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) RBI single to left, a Giordano two-run double, and an
Adam Mieczkowski (Vestal) two-run single. Cortland scored its 11th run in the eighth with a
Mat Bruno (Rye) double to left center.
Stephen Bryant and Christian Ott both went 2-for-4 in the game for Plattsburgh.
Cortland 15, Plattsburgh 5
Cortland took an early three-run lead in the first on a
James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) RBI single, Matt Kraft sac fly, and
Daniel Coleman (Saratoga Springs) RBI single. Cortland would go on to score in every inning of the game.
A season-high eight Red Dragons recorded RBI's in the victory. Krafft finished 1-for-2 with three RBI. Varian finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and BeVard finished 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Bryan Rivera (Rochester/Greece Arcadia) went 2-for-2 with two runs batted in, and
Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee),
Matt Funk (Pine Plains), Pragana, Michalski, Giordano and Coleman all drove in a run.
A defensive substitute at third base,
Scott Roberts (Escondido, CA/Del Norte) recorded his first Cortland plate appearance in the ninth, drawing a walk and scoring a run.
Shane Mugnolo (Howard Beach/Xaverian) got the start on the mound and went three and a third innings, allowing two runs on three hits, walking three while striking out two.
Liam Krasney (Greenville) was the first out of the pen, recording the final two outs of the fourth and striking out one.
Will McCarthy (Farmingdale) earned the win throwing the final three innings. McCarthy (1-0) allowed three runs on six hits while striking out two.
Stephen Bryant, Erik Matz, and Andrew Veit all went 2-for-3 for the Cardinals (4-12, 3-9 SUNYAC East). Matz drove in two runs and Bryant scored twice.
