CORTLAND, N.Y. - Brockport scored five runs over the final two innings and the second-seeded Golden Eagles defeated host and top-seeded Cortland, 6-1, in a winner's bracket game of the 2023 SUNYAC baseball tournament.
Cortland (30-10), ranked 25th nationally in Division III, will face fourth-seeded Oswego in an elimination game Saturday at noon. Oswego outlasted Oneonta, 9-6 in 11 innings, in Friday's loser's bracket game, eliminating Oneonta from the tournament. The Cortland-Oswego winner will play Brockport (27-15) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and would need to win that game to force a winner-take-all title game versus the Golden Eagles on Sunday.
Adam Douglas earned the win for Brockport, allowing one run on nine hits over seven and a third innings. He struck out seven and walked three. Matthew Colucci entered in the bottom of the eighth with one out and two runners on with Brockport up 3-1. He recorded a flyout and a strikeout to end that threat, and gave up a single and a hit batter in the ninth before retiring the final two batters for his second save of the year.
Cortland starter
Dylan Beers (Woodbury/Monroe-Woodbury) took a no-decision after giving up one run on three hits in six innings. He struck out one and walked three, one intentionally.
Tommy Lynch (West Seneca/Canisius), the first of three Cortland relievers, took the loss after giving up two runs in an inning and a third.
David Belsito went 2-for-4 with a walk and Ryan Mansell was 2-for-5 with two RBI for Brockport. Zach Eldred doubled, walked twice and scored twice. For Cortland,
Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) and
Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) each went 2-for-4, with Bonacci also drawing a walk, and
Mat Bruno (Rye) was 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Cortland scored in the third on consecutive singles by Bonacci,
Nick Chemotti (Warners/West Genesee) and Bruno. The Red Dragons finished the game with 10 hits and three walks but left 12 runners on base. Brockport tied the game in the sixth when Besito singled, was bunted to second by Nicholas Pastore and eventually scored on a two-out Mansell RBI single.
In the top of the eighth, Eldred hit a ground-rule double with one out and scored on a Patrick Bigham RBI triple. Mansell followed with an RBI single to right. The Golden Eagles added three in the ninth on RBI singles by Pastore and Josh Indek, with an error after the Indek single allowing the final run to score.
