CORTLAND, NY – Zachary Kringdon (Larchmont/Mamaroneck) hit a tiebreaking two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Cortland baseball team overcame an early three-run deficit for a 5-3 victory over visiting Oneonta on Monday afternoon at Wallace Field to sweep the series.
Cortland has won seven straight, and moves to 17-10 (8-3 SUNYAC) on the season. Oneonta falls to 16-9-1 (6-3 SUNYAC) on the year.
Kringdon batted 2-for-3 with two RBI, and homered for the third consecutive game. Talon Elkins (Syracuse/West Genesee) went 3-of-4 with two singles and a double and scored one run. Adam Mieczkowski (Vestal) went 2-4 at the plate with a home run and an RBI. Marc Stockhausen (Bronx/St. Raymond) had a double and drove in two runs.
Nick Jessen (Syracuse/West Genesee) started on the mound for Cortland, pitching 4.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and striking out two batters. Brady Mazzeo (Averill Park) pitched the final 4.2 innings, and earned the win. Only two Oneonta players reached base against Mazzeo, one by walk and one by hit. He didn't allow a run and struck out four batters.
Oneonta's offense was highlighted by Joey Dwyer hitting two singles and driving in two runs, and scoring Oneonta's third run. Logan Hutter batted 2-for-3 with one RBI. Joseph Monserrat drew two walks.
James Torres started for Oneonta and pitched five innings of three-run ball with two strikeouts. Tom Roefaro took the loss, tossing 2.0 innings and allowing two runs. Eric Korzeniewski struck out three batters in a scoreless eighth inning.
Oneonta opened the game with a 3-0 lead after the first inning, but Jessen and Mazzeo kept Oneonta from scoring for the remainder of the game. Cortland scored twice in the third and tied the game in the fourth, before Krindgon's homer in the seventh gave Cortland the winning runs.
Oneonta strung together singles by four of its first six batters, scoring three times on a two-run single by Dwyer and an RBI single by Hutter. Following the offensive spark, Torres pitched a shutdown 1-2-3 inning.
Oneonta threatened in the third when Ryan Cronin and Dwyer hit back-to-back singles through the right side, followed by an intentional walk to load the bases with one out. Jessen then induced a ground ball to third base, where Dylan Tierney (East Greenbush/Columbia) stepped on third and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.
Sparked by the momentum shift, Cortland scored twice in the bottom of the third. Elkins doubled down the leftfield line on the first pitch, and Chris Bonacci followed with a walk. Stockhausen drove in both runners with a double down the leftfield line.
In the fourth inning, Cortland would even the score at 3-3 on the back of a solo home run down the leftfield line by Mieczkowski, his first of the season.
The game would remain even until Cortland scored two in the bottom of the 7th inning. Lucas Granger (Horseheads) led off the inning with a four-pitch walk. With two outs, Kringdon lined a two-run homer to left field for the game-winning runs.
Mazzeo continued his excellent relief work, including throwing a scoreless eighth inning on just five pitches. Hutter led off the ninth with a single for Oneonta, but Mazzeo retired the next three batters to close out the game.
