AUBURN, N.Y. – Cortland broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the top of the eighth and Matt Funk (Pine Plains) allowed only two hits and a walk over five and two thirds scoreless innings of relief as the nationally 15th-ranked Red Dragons shut out 14th-ranked Eastern Connecticut State, 3-0, to stay alive at the NCAA Division III Baseball Auburn, N.Y. Regional.
 
Cortland (28-7), the second seed, will wait to learn its next opponent at the six-team, double-elimination regional. Weather postponed the other two games scheduled for Friday. Cortland will either play at 7:45 p.m. Saturday versus Mitchell, if Mitchell beats Merchant Marine earlier in the day, or the Red Dragons will play at 4:30 p.m. versus the Keystone/Tufts loser (if Mitchell is eliminated by Merchant Marine).
 
Cortland started its winning rally with a two-out Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) single. He stole second, which prompted Eastern to intentionally walk Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon). After Krafft stole third, James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
 
With a full count and the runners taking off on the pitch, Ben Rhodes (Amsterdam) hit a slow chopper to third. He beat the throw for an infield single, and due to the runners being in motion two runs scored on the play to give Cortland a 2-0 lead. The third run scored on an error on a grounder to short hit by Daniel Coleman (Saratoga Springs).
 
Zack Durant (Vernon/V-V-S) started for Cortland and gave up four hits and two walks with one strikeout in three and a third innings. He escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first with a strikeout and a double play, and Eastern also had runners reach second base in the second and third innings against Durant but couldn't score.
 
Funk entered in the bottom of the fourth with runners on second and third and one out after a Jack Rich single and a Ryan Bagdasarian double. Funk got the first batter to line out to center, with the runners not tagging, and a foul out ended the inning.
 
Funk got into some trouble in the eighth after John Mesagno led off with a single and went to third on a Dean Stavin two-out single, but he fanned the next batter. In the ninth he walked the second batter before inducing a game-ending double play. Funk struck out five batters while earning his first win of the season.
 
Giordano went 2-for-3 with a walk and a steal, Rhodes finished 2-for-4 wit a steal and two RBI, and Krafft was 2-for-5 and stole three bases. Cortland finished the game with six stolen bases.
 
Mesagno was 2-for-3 and Rich went 2-for-4 for the top-seeded Warriors (32-8). Starting pitcher Billy Oldham allowed only one run and scattered seven hits over seven and two thirds innings. He struck out five and walked none.