ITHACA, N.Y. - Ithaca rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Bombers defeated Cortland, 7-6, in a non-league baseball contest at Freeman Field. Both teams are now 20-11 on the season.
 
Trailing 6-4 with one out, Ithaca started its rally with singles by Ethan McDonough and Ethan Fantel. Matt Curtis walked to load the bases and Collin Feeney hit a two-run double to tie the game. After an intentional walk to load the bases, Ethan Daddabbo drew a walk to force in the winning run.
 
Five Cortland players finished with multiple hits. Dylan Tierney (East Greenbush/Columbia) went 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk and two RBI and Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Zachary Kringdon (Larchmont/Mamaroneck) finished 2-for-4 with a hit by pitch and RBI, Nolan Smith (Hamburg) was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI and Talon Elkins (Syracuse/West Genesee) finished 2-for-5.
 
For Ithaca, Fantel finished 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI, Ryan Laubscher was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI and Feeney went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. McDonough ended 2-for-5 and Logan Scully was 1-for-2 with two walks.
 
Both teams used multiple pitchers in "bullpen games." Nick Jessen (Syracuse/West Genesee) started for Cortland and allowed one unearned run and two hits with two strikeouts and a walk in two innings. Zack Zarrilli (Farmingdale) and Dylan Beers (Highland Mills/Monroe-Woodbury) were the next two of seven Red Dragon hurlers and each tossed one scoreless inning. For Ithaca, Ethan Murley started and tossed two hitless and scoreless innings. Sean Kelly, the Bombers' sixth pitcher, picked up the win after allowing no runs on one hit with a strikeout over the last inning and two thirds.
 
Ithaca took a 1-0 lead on Fantel's RBI single in the first and Cortland tied the game in the third when Tierney doubled and eventually scored on a Bonacci sacrifice fly. Cortland scored twice in the fifth on a two-out rally that included a Bonacci walk, an Elkins single, a Marc Stockhausen (Bronx/St. Raymond) walk and a Smith two-run double. The lead grew to 5-1 in the sixth. Cortland had a runner thrown out at home trying to score from first on a Tierney double, but Danny Jackson (Lagrangeville/Arlington) followed with an RBI single and another run scored on an error after a Bonacci bunt single.
 
Ithaca put up three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Tyler Pugliese walked with the bases loaded to bring home a run and Laubscher's two-run double off of Nick Hanson (Ladera Ranch, CA/Aliso Niguel) made it 5-4. Hanson, however, recovered after an intentional walk to strike out the next two batters to keep Cortland in front.
 
Cortland went up 6-4 in the seventh on an error, a wild pitch and a Kringdon RBI single. Ithaca had a runner on third with one out in the bottom of the inning and hit a fly ball to center. Bonacci made the catch and threw out the runner at the plate to end the inning. Tommy Lynch (West Seneca/Canisius) had entered with a runner on first in the seventh and held Ithaca off the board for two innings before allowing the Bombers' first three runners in the ninth. Lynch was charged with the three runs and the loss after Brady Mazzeo (Averill Park) allowed the final double and walks.