CORTLAND, N.Y. – Shane Mugnolo (Howard Beach/Xaverian) allowed four hits and three runs, two earned, over six innings and Cortland held off a late Johnson & Wales comeback bid as the Red Dragons defeated the Wildcats, 10-9, in the final game of a three-game series between the schools.
 
Cortland, which won two of three games, improved to 13-6 with the victory. The Red Dragons return to action next Friday and Saturday at Oneonta in a three-game set to open SUNYAC play.
 
Mugnolo struck out three batters and walked two as he earned his first win of the season. Mike Hennessy (Stony Brook/Smithtown East), Cortland's third reliever, picked up the save after giving up one unearned run on two hits in the ninth.
 
James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI and Mat Bruno (Rye) finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Ben Rhodes (Amsterdam) ended 2-for-2 with an RBI, Nick Chemotti (Warners/West Genesee) was 2-for-5 with two runs, and Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) went 1-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored.
 
Johnson & Wales starter Kyle Cutler allowed two runs on four hits and a walk in three innings. Aidan Vining took the loss in relief with six runs allowed in two and two thirds innings. Four Wildcats registered multiple hits. EJ Leone was 2-for-3 with a double and RBI, Miles Kelly went 2-for-4 with a walk, RBI and two runs, and Xavier Botelho and Owen Davis were each 2-for-5.
 
J&W took a 2-0 lead in the first on an error and a Leone sacrifice fly. Cortland got back a run in the second on Antonio Pragana's (Hopewell Junction/John Jay) sacrifice fly, and the Red Dragons tied the game in the third on Rhodes' RBI single up the middle.
 
The guests briefly regained the lead in the fourth when Leone doubled and scored on a Cody Pfeifer RBI single. Cortland, however, took the lead for good with two runs in the fifth and added four runs in the sixth to take an 8-3 lead. The fifth inning featured an Adam Mieczkowski (Vestal) RBI groundout and Varian run-scoring double, and the sixth inning was highlighted Danny Coleman (Saratoga Springs) and Varian RBI singles, along with errors that helped lead to two runs.
 
The Wildcats plated three runs in the eighth to cut their deficit to two runs at 8-6. Leone hit a two-run single during the inning, with the third run scoring on a wild pitch. Cortland scored what proved to be two crucial runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Bonacci RBI single through the right side and a Varian RBI single to short.
 
Down 10-6, J&W made a final push in the top of the ninth. A walk, single and Kelly RBI single made it 10-7, and a throwing error during the play allowed another run to score. Leone's fielder's choice drove in a run later in the inning, but with the tying run on first Hennessy struck out a batter to end the game.