WINCHESTER, VA. – The nationally 20th-ranked Cortland baseball team recorded two victories to start a three-game weekend at Shenandoah University, defeating Susquehanna University, 13-4, and throwing a combined two-hitter in an 11-2 win over the nationally 11th-ranked and previously unbeaten homestanding Hornets.
Cortland finished with a combined 30 hits over the two contests.
Dylan Mackenzie (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) was a combined 6-for-10 with eight RBI.
Cortland (4-3) completes the weekend's action on Sunday versus Susquehanna at 1 p.m.
Cortland 13, Susquehanna 4
Cortland finished with 13 hits in the win over the River Hawks.
Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs,
Andrew Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis) went 2-for-3 with a triple and three runs scored,
Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBI and Mackenzie was 2-for-3 with three RBI.
Nick Chemotti (Warners/West Genesee) and
Hunter Holliday (Camden) each drove in two runs.
Zachary Kringdon (Larchmont/Mamaroneck) was 1-for-2 with a walk and
Mat Bruno (Rye) ended 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored.
Shane Van Dam (Cranford, NJ) started and allowed two runs on two hits over three-plus innings. He struck out five and walked two. He was lifted in the fourth due to a predetermined pitch count and was awarded the victory.
Liam Krasney (Earlton/Greenville) gave up an unearned run over one inning and
Mikey Wandell (Newark Valley) allowed an unearned run on two hits with a walk and a strikeout over two and a third innings.
Zack Zarrilli (Farmingdale) tossed an inning and two thirds of scoreless relief with one hit allowed and one strikeout, and
Xander Payne (Medina) tossed a scoreless ninth with one walk allowed.
Dillan Weikel took the loss for Susquehanna (5-2) after allowing seven runs, six earned, in two and two thirds innings. Sean McCulloch went 2-for-4 and Tony Rossi, Lance Book and J.P. Yore each drove in a run.
Cortland scored three in the first and twice in both the second and third innings to go up 7-0. Susquehanna put up three runs in the fourth, but the Red Dragons answered with six in the bottom of the inning.
Cortland 11, Shenandoah 2
Mackenzie finished 4-for-6 with five RBI as part of Cortland's 17-hit attack. Chemotti was 3-for-5 with a walk, two RBI and two runs,
Mitchell Kelly (Webster/Webster Thomas) was 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI, Michalski finished 2-for-3 and Bruno was 2-for-5 two doubles, a walk, an RBI and two runs.
Kameron Hartenstein (Meriden, CT/Maloney) was 1-for-2 with a double and RBI and Bonacci was 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs.
Shenandoah entered the game with 9-0 record, including a 4-1 win over Oswego just prior to facing Cortland.
Anthony Fusco (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown) started and allowed two runs on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts in two innings. After that point, Cortland's bullpen did not allow a hit over the final seven innings.
Tommy Lynch (West Seneca/Canisius) was awarded the victory after giving up one walk and fanning two in two and a third innings.
Matteo Ragusa (New York/Poly Prep Country Day) entered in the fifth and struck out one and walked three in two thirds of an inning.
James LaBruno (Oceanport, NJ/Shore Regional) entered in the sixth with one runner on and no outs. He got into some trouble with a walk, wild pitch and hit batter that loaded the bases with no outs, but then struck out the next two hitters and induced an inning-ending fielder's choice grounder. LaBruno went the rest of the way for a four-inning save, finishing the game with six strikeouts and one walk.
Mackenzie hit a two-run single in the first to put Cortland ahead. The Hornets tied the game in the bottom of the first on a walk, hit-by-pitch, wild pitch and RBI groundouts from Colby Martin and Pearce Bucher. Mackenzie, however, hit another two-run single in the second, and Hartenstein hit a two-run double in the third to give Cortland a 6-2 lead.
Cortland added three in the sixth on a Bruno RBI double and run-scoring singles from Chemotti and Kelly. Chemotti hit another RBI single in the eighth and Mackenzie drove in a run with a groundout in the eighth.
Reilly Owen took the loss for Shenandoah after allowing six runs in two and a third innings.
