NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The Cortland baseball team clinched the top spot in the SUNYAC standings after splitting a doubleheader Saturday at New Paltz. The Red Dragons (24-10-1, 13-2 SUNYAC) won the opener, 13-2 in eight innings, before having a rally from an 11-run deficit come up just short during a 13-11 loss in the second game.
 
Cortland will host the four-team SUNYAC tournament Thursday through Saturday, May 9-11, at Wallace Field. The Red Dragons are scheduled for five games this week to close out the regular season - Tuesday at home versus Alfred State, Wednesday at Cobleskill in a recently added game, and a three-game league series at home versus Fredonia on Friday (single game) and Saturday (doubleheader).
 
Cortland 13, New Paltz 2 (8 inn.)
 
Luis Misla (Tampa, FL/Riverview) went seven innings for his fifth win of the season. He allowed two runs on five hits with nine strikeouts and two walks. Liam Krasney (Greenville) pitched a scoreless eighth. The game was called after eight innings due to the SUNYAC's 10-run rule.
 
The Red Dragons finished with 19 hits, including six players with two or more. Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) finished 4-for-5 with a triple, double, walk, two RBI and two runs. Luke Schartner (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) went 3-for-4 with a hit by pitch, RBI and two runs and Dylan Mackenzie (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) ended 3-for-5 with an RBI.
 
Nick Chemotti (Syracuse/West Genesee) was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Mat Bruno (Rye) closed the game 2-for-5 with a walk, two RBI and two runs and Nolan Smith (Hamburg) went 2-for-5 with a double, two RBI and two runs.
 
New Paltz starter James McGovern allowed 11 runs on 16 hits in six and a third innings. The Hawks scored their two runs in the third on back-to-back RBI singles by Anthony  Pericolosi and Matt Sarni.
 
Cortland scored three in the first and five in the second to take an early 8-0 lead. Smith doubled in two runs and JJ DeLawder (Hyde Park/Franklin D. Roosevelt) hit a sac fly in the first. Bonacci, Bruno, Smith and Chemotti each had an RBI single in the second. Schartner added an RBI single in the fourth, Bruno singled in a run during a two-run seventh and Jon Munoz (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown) and Bonacci had RBI singles in the eighth.

New Paltz 13, Cortland 11
 
Cortland trailed 13-2 entering the top of the sixth inning before chipping away with three runs in the sixth, three in the seventh and three in the ninth to close the final margin to two runs.
 
New Paltz finished with 16 hits, led by Tommy Kreider who went 4-for-5 with a double, RBI and three runs. Pericolosi was 2-for-5 with a triple, double, four RBI and two runs, Fabian Apicella went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Michael Boccarossa was 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs.
 
Cortland registered 15 hits, with nine of those coming from the top three batters in the lineup. Bonacci went 3-for-5 with a hit by pitch, RBI and three runs, Schartner went 3-for-6 with two RBI and two runs, and Bruno finished 3-for-5 with a double, walk and three RBI. Kameron Hartenstein (Meriden, CT/Maloney) was 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs, Danny Jackson (Lagrangeville/Arlington) came off the bench and finished 2-for-3, and Chemotti ended 2-for-5 with a walk.
 
New Paltz scored seven times in the bottom of the second, all against Cortland starter Devin Georgetti (Rochester/Gates Chili), to take a 7-2 lead. The Hawks added five in the fourth and one in the fifth. The last two of Cortland's six relievers, Greg Mays (Troy/Tamarac) and Zack Zarrilli (Farmingdale), each pitched two scoreless innings. Mays allowed just one walk among the seven batters he faced and Zarrilli gave up two hits and fanned one batter over the seventh and eighth innings.
 
Liam Ryan went five innings as New Paltz's starter for the win. He gave up two runs on three hits with four strikeouts and five walks.
 
Cortland's three-run sixth featured RBI singles by Schartner and Bruno and a Mitchell Kelly (Webster/Webster Thomas) bases-loaded walk. The Red Dragons, however, left the bases loaded - three of the 14 runners they stranded in the contest. Schartner singled in a run, Bruno walked with the bases loaded and Smith hit a sac fly to drive in Cortland's runs in the seventh.
 
The ninth started with Bonacci being hit, followed by a Schartner single and Bruno RBI double. The Red Dragons' next two runs, however, came via outs - a Smith RBI groundout and a Kelly sac fly - to make it 13-11. Chemotti singled to bring the potential tying run to the plate before a flyout ended the game.