CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland took an 11-0 lead after five innings and held off Plattsburgh for a 12-6 victory in the opening game of the four-team SUNYAC baseball tournament.
The nationally 20th-ranked and tournament top-seeded Red Dragons (29-10-1) will face second-seeded New Paltz in a winner's bracket game Friday. The game was originally scheduled to start at 10 a.m., but will not start until after noon, if played at all, due to the weather forecast. New Paltz rallied from an early 10-0 deficit to stun third-seeded Oswego, 12-11, in Thursday's second game. Plattsburgh (24-15) and Oswego will meet in an elimination game Friday, if weather allows.
Luis Misla (Tampa, FL/Riverview) improved to 7-2 after allowing two runs on four hits in six innings. He struck out seven batters and walked none. Misla became the second player in Cortland baseball history to strike out at least 100 batters in a season. He presently has 103 strikeouts; Mike Howell holds the school record with 109 in 2001.
Tommy Lynch (West Seneca/Canisius), Cortland's second reliever, entered with one out in the seventh and Cortland up 11-6. He blanked the Cardinals the rest of the way, allowing one hit and no walks and striking out four in two and two thirds innings.
Nick Marola (Saratoga/Scotia-Glenville) went 2-for-3 with a homer, double, walk, three RBI and two runs.
Zachary Kringdon (Larchmont/Mamaroneck) went 2-for-4 with an RBI,
Dylan Mackenzie (Canandaigua/Canandaigua Academy) finished 2-for-5 with a triple, double and RBI and
Mitchell Kelly (Webster/Webster Thomas) was 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs.
Mat Bruno (Rye) drove in three runs and
Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) ended 1-for-3 with two walks, an RBI and two runs.
Alex Kornblau and Andrew Veit each homered for Plattsburgh. Veit and Jack DeFayette each finished 2-for-4. Kolby Mordecki started and allowed seven runs, five earned, in three and a third innings.
Kelly's RBI single gave Cortland a 1-0 lead in the second. Marola led off the third with a homer and Mackenzie tripled in a run later in the inning to make it 3-0. Bonacci drew a bases-loaded walk, Bruno hit a three-run triple and
Nolan Smith (Hamburg) brought in a run with a sac fly during Cortland's four-run fourth, and Marola doubled in two runs, with a third scoring on an error during the play, in the fifth. Kringdon plated Cortland's final run with an RBI single in the eighth.
Kornblau hit a two-run homer in the sixth to put Plattsburgh on the board. The Cardinals' four-run seventh featured a DeFayette RBI double, an Austin Caldwell RBI groundout and Veit's two-run homer.
