La VERNE, CALIF. – Cortland and nationally 14th-ranked University of La Verne played to a 7-7 tie in non-league baseball action at La Verne. The game was stopped after 10 innings due to darkness. Cortland is now 4-7-1 on the season and La Verne is 7-3-1.
The game was tied 5-5 before La Verne took the lead in the bottom of the eighth. The Leopards loaded the bases with no outs, but it looked like Cortland might escape unscathed after the next two plays – a squeeze bunt attempt toward third and a grounder to short – resulted in force outs at home. Matt Rice, however, drew a two-out walk to give the hosts a 6-5 lead.
Tommy Lynch (West Seneca/Canisius) entered and the next batter flied out to end the inning.
In the top of the ninth,
Jon Munoz (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown) led off with a walk and
JJ DeLawder (Hyde Park/Franklin D. Roosevelt) was hit by a pitch.
Mat Bruno (Rye) bunted to advance the runners, and a wild throw to first allowed Munoz to score the tying run. DeLawder was thrown out at the plate by the right fielder, but Bruno was able to go to third, and he scored the go-ahead run on a
Dylan Mackenzie (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) sac fly to right.
La Verne tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. Matthew Diaz singled with one out and Noah Garcia doubled to drive in Diaz. Lynch got out further trouble with a pop up and, after an intentional walk, a foul out to left. Each team had one baserunner in the 10th – Cortland on
Nick Marola's (Saratoga/Scotia-Glenville) two-out walk and La Verne on a Malachi Francois two-out single. Lynch picked off Francois to end the 10th, and the game was stopped at that point due to darkness.
Cortland scored two runs in the first on a DeLawder RBI single and Bruno sac fly. La Verne got a run back in the first on a Nathan Perry RBI single and had the bases loaded with one out before Cortland turned a double play to end the inning. The Leopards took a 3-2 lead in the second on Logan Corthell's sac fly and Anthony Salcedo's RBI single.
Cortland plated two runs in the third on an error and a wild pitch, and
Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) hit an inside-the-park homer in the fourth to put the Red Dragons on top 5-3. La Verne came back with a Ryan Vosika RBI single in the fourth and a Nolan Anguiano sac fly in the sixth to tie the game at 5-5.
Justin Patsey (Hyde Park/Franklin D. Roosevelt), the first of four Cortland relievers, allowed two runs over four innings of relief with three strikeouts, no walks and five hits permitted. Lynch gave up three hits, one walk and one run with two strikeouts over the final two and a third innings. La Verne used six pitchers. Mikey Rogozik gave up one run on two hits with a walk and a strikeout in three middle innings. Ethan Galindo tossed two and a third innings of one-hit scoreless ball with a walk and a strikeout and Devin Avila didn't allow a hit or run in an inning and two thirds. He struck out one and walked one.
Bonacci went 2-for-5 with his inside-the-park homer, a walk, RBI and two runs, and Munoz finished 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs. Diaz and Garcia each had three hits to lead La Verne's 14-hit attack.
