MOUNT BERRY, GA. - The Cortland baseball team finished with a 3-1 record at the Berry College Invitational after splitting two games on Sunday. The Red Dragons defeated Marietta, 18-5, before falling to the host Vikings, 17-7. Both games were called after seven innings due to the tournament's 10-run rule.
 
Cortland is now 7-6-1 on the season. The Red Dragons are scheduled to begin SUNYAC play with a three-game home series versus Plattsburgh next weekend - a single game Friday at 3 p.m. and a doubleheader Saturday at noon.
 
Cortland 18, Marietta 5 (7 inn.)
 
Talon Elkins (Syracuse/West Genesee) earned the win for the Red Dragons, allowing two runs on five hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked two. Luke Boule (Syracuse/Christian Brothers Academy), Cortland's second reliever, gave up one run on two hits over two innings with one strikeout.
 
Cortland's offense finished with 19 hits and eight walks. Anthony Carlo (North Bellmore/St. Anthony's) went 4-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and four runs scored. Jack McFerran (Selkirk/Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) was 3-for-4 with his first collegiate homer along with a double, three RBI and two runs, and Elkins went 3-for-3 with two RBI.
 
Nolan Smith homered and finished 2-for-3 with two walks, three RBI and two runs. Lucas Granger (Horseheads) was 2-for-3 with a double, walk and two RBI, Trey McGowan (Blue Point/Bayport-Blue Point) ended 1-for-2 with three walks and four runs scored, and Tristan Gatchalian (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) drove in two runs.
 
For Marietta (2-10), Michael Ciavolella finished 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI and Cam Coleman was 2-for-3 with a walk. Evan Wilson took the loss after allowing five runs in a third of an inning.
 
Cortland jumped out with six runs in the bottom of the first, highlighted by a Smith two-run homer and McFerran's three-run homer. A Gatchalian RBI groundout and an Elkins sacrifice fly made it 8-0 in the second.
 
Granger doubled in a run in the fourth, and Cortland's four-run fifth included a Carlo RBI double, and bases-loaded walks by Smith and Granger sandwiched around an Elkins RBI single. The Red Dragons plated five in the sixth, starting with a Nicholas Plue (Schenectady/Guilderland) run-scoring double. Jack Lawless (Rome/Rome Free Academy) hit an infield single to drive in a run, with another run scoring on an error. Another Marietta error, following a Matt Barkley (Brockville, ON/Thousand Islands Secondary) infield single, allowed a run to score, and James Bolton (Webster/Webster Thomas) closed Cortland's scoring with an RBI double.
 
Berry 17, Cortland 7
 
Playing its fourth game in just over 24 hours, Cortland fell behind 12-0 as the Vikings (9-5) scored six times in the second and six in the third. Berry led 17-2 before the Red Dragons put up five runs in the sixth, but Cortland couldn't reduce its deficit to less than 10 runs.
 
Smith homered for the second straight game and finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs. Danny Jackson (Lagrangeville/Arlington) was 2-for-2 and Carlo finished 2-for-4. Dan Collins (Poughkeepsie/Spackenkill) started and allowed five runs in an inning and two thirds.
 
Five Berry players registered multiple hits as part of an 18-hit attack. Chaz Moore was 3-for-4 with a walk, three RBI and three runs, Austin Jetmore finished 2-for-4 with a triple and five RBI, and Ethan Finch was 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBI. Daniel Hong was 2-for-2 with a walk, RBI and three runs, Riley Uhls ended 2-for-3 with a double, walk and two RBI, and Garrett Lang drove in three runs and scored twice.
 
Berry starter JohnMark Christopher went six innings for the victory. He gave up seven runs, four earned, on nine hits with three strikeouts and a walk. Cooper Chunn tossed a scoreless seventh inning.