SAN ANTONIO, TX – The nationally 24th-ranked Red Dragons overcame a 9-4 deficit to tie the score in the eighth inning, but host Trinity, ranked seventh nationally, scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 13-9 victory over the Cortland baseball team on Saturday afternoon.
 
Cortland is 7-6 on the season, having won 2-of-3 in this four game series against the Tigers, while Trinity ends a three-game losing streak and moves to 14-4 on the year.
 
JJ DeLawder (Hyde Park/Franklin D. Roosevelt) batted 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBI, and two runs scored for the Red Dragons. Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Danny Jackson (Lagrangeville/Arlington) had a hit and drove in two runs, while Ethan Gallo (Slate Hill/Minisink Valley) walked four times.
 
Will McCarthy (Farmingdale) started on the mound and allowed seven runs, five earned, over 1.1 innings. Zack Zarrilli (Farmingdale) tossed 3.1 innings in relief, allowing two runs and striking out five batters. Lawrence Citrola (East Northport/Northport) was charged with the loss after allowing four earned runs over 3.0 innings. Connor Durkin (Poughkeepsie/Roy C. Ketcham) recorded the final out.
 
Trajan Lee tossed five innings for Trinity, allowing four runs. He took a no-decision after the Red Dragons tied the game off the Tigers' relievers. Will Hellings pitched 2.1 innings for the win, allowing one unearned run. Five different players drove in multiple runs, led by Will Baker with three RBI.
 
Trinity scored two runs in the first, but the Red Dragons responded with two in the top of the second. The Tigers scored five in the bottom of the frame, before Cortland pulled to within 7-4 with two more runs in the third. Trinity added to its lead with two more runs in the fifth. Cortland rallied to tie the game at 9-9 with four runs in the top of the seventh and one run in the top of the eighth, before the hosts pushed four runs across in the bottom of the eighth to earn the win.
 
Nick Lazzara hit a two-run homer for the Tigers in the bottom of the first inning, as Trinity capitalized on a dropped fly ball in left field by Cortland. Luke Schartner (Bayport/Bayport-Blue Point) doubled to lead off the top of the second, moved to third on a single by DeLawder, and Gallo followed with a walk. Jackson singled up the middle to drive in a pair and tie the score.
 
Four different players had run-scoring hits for Trinity in the bottom of the second, with Baker delivering a two-run single as the key hit to help Trinity take a 7-2 lead.
 
DeLawder pulled Cortland to within three with a two-run homer to right in the third, driving in Lucas Granger (Horseheads), who had reached after being hit by a pitch.
 
Maddox McDonald drilled a ground-rule double, and Baker had another RBI, this time on a bases-loaded walk, in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 9-4.
 
DeLawder drove a ball out to deep right field leading off the top of the seventh inning, but was robbed of a second home run by a jumping catch over the wall by McDonald. The Red Dragons were still able to put together a rally to score four runs with two outs. After Gallo and Zachary Kringdon (Larchmont/Mamaroneck) drew walks, Dylan Tierney (East Greenbush/Columbia) lined a pinch-hit RBI single to center to drive in Gallo, and Bonacci followed with a three-run homer to right field on a hanging breaking ball.
 
The Red Dragons tied the score at 9-9 with an unearned run in the eighth inning. Marc Stockhausen (Bronx/St. Raymond) ripped a pinch-hit, single through the left side of the infield with one out and moved to second after DeLawder walked. Gallo grounded a ball to shortstop for a potential inning-ending double play, but the throw from the second baseman to first base was in the dirt and couldn't be handled, allowing Stockhausen to score from second.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Citrola walked the first batter but got the first and second outs with a fielder's choice and a strikeout. He then hit two straight batters to load the bases. Brandon Nelson pinch hit for Trinity, and smacked a two-run single to center, and Kaleb Woodward delivered a two-run single to right center off of Durkin. The Red Dragons had a batter reach in the top of the ninth on a leadoff single by Kringdon, but could not muster any more baserunners against Hellings.