GRANVILLE, OHIO –
Ryan McLaughlin (Warwick/Warwick Valley) pitched six and a third scoreless innings and Cortland's offense registered 17 hits and scored at least once in each of the first seven innings as the Red Dragons opened NCAA Division III regional play with a 16-1 win over Kalamazoo College.
Cortland is the second seed at the four-team, double-elimination regional and will face host and nationally top-ranked Denison University in a winner's bracket game Saturday at 1:30 p.m., weather permitting. Denison (41-1) scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to defeat fourth-seeded Grinnell, 5-4, in Friday's first game. Third-seeded Kalamazoo (31-12) will face Grinnell in an elimination game Saturday at 10 a.m.
Cortland reached the 30-win mark for the 21st straight year (not counting the 2020 shortened season) and 31st time in the last 32 complete seasons. The Red Dragons are making their 33rd straight NCAA tournament appearance - a Division III record and the longest active streak among all NCAA levels. Cortland has won at least one game in all 33 of those tournaments.
McLaughlin improved to 8-2 after allowing five hits and three walks with two strikeouts in his six and a third frames.
Aaron Knuutila (Lockport) threw the final two and two thirds innings, allowed one run on three hits with two walks and a strikeout. The Hornets broke up Cortland's shutout bid with a run in the top of the ninth inning.
Jack McFerran (Selkirk/Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) finished 3-for-5 with a homer, double, two RBI and three runs scored and
Danny Jackson walked, tripled, doubled, drove in three runs and scored twice in six plate appearances.
Nolan Smith (Hamburg) was 2-for-2 with three walks, a double, an RBI and three runs scored.
Trey McGowan (Blue Point/Bayport-Blue Point) went 2-for-4 with a walk and RBI, and
Lucas Granger (Horseheads) and
Anthony Carlo (North Bellmore/St. Anthony's) each finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Tristan Gatchalian (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) finished with a double, walk, three RBI and two runs.
Logan Lockhart started for Kalamazoo and allowed five runs, four earned, in two innings. Cade Preissing was 2-for-4 with a walk and RBI at the plate for the Hornets.
Kalamazoo threatened early with a pair of walks to lead off the top of the first, but the Hornets stranded runners on first and third after a double play, walk and groundout.
Cortland took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Gatchalian RBI groundout, and the Red Dragons crossed the plate twice in the second on RBI singles by McGowan and
Talon Elkins (Syracuse/West Genesee). Cortland added two more in the third on a McFerran RBI single, with an error allowing a second run to score on the play.
Carlo's RBI single in the fourth made it 6-0, and the Red Dragons broke the game open with four runs in the fifth on a Granger RBI single, a Gatchalian two-run double and a Smith RBI single. McFerran homered in the sixth to push the lead to 11-0, and Cortland closed its scoring with five in the seventh on
JJ DeLawder's (Hyde Park/Franklin D. Roosevelt) bases-loaded walk, a Jackson three-run triple and a passed ball that let a run score.
