GRANVILLE, OHIO – The Cortland baseball season came to a close as the second-seeded Red Dragons lost one-run decisions to both top-seeded and nationally top-ranked Denison and to third-seeded Kalamazoo during the second day of the NCAA Division III regional, hosted by Denison.
Cortland lost to Denison, 4-3, as the Big Red scored in the bottom of the ninth after Cortland scored twice to tie the game in the top of the inning. Cortland then had a late comeback fall just short in a 7-6 loss to Kalamazoo. Denison and Kalamazoo will play in the championship round Sunday at noon, with Denison needing one win to advance to the Super Regional and Kalamazoo needing two victories.
Cortland finishes the season with a 30-12-1 record. The Red Dragons were making their 33rd straight NCAA tournament appearance, extending their Division III record, and the program reached the 30-win mark for the 21st straight full season.
Denison 4, Cortland 3
Denison improved to 42-1 with its 41st consecutive victory, but for the second straight day had to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth (the Big Red beat Grinnell, 5-4, to open the regional).
Down 3-1, Cortland rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth. With two outs, pinch hitter
Joe Yovino (Levittown/Division Avenue) hit a solo homer to left to draw Cortland within a run.
Talon Elkins (Syracuse/West Genesee) bunted for a single, and
Tristan Gatchalian (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) reached on an error to keep the inning alive.
Nolan Smith (Hamburg) walked to load the bases, and
Jack McFerran (Selkirk/Ravena-Coyemans-Selkirk) was hit by a pitch to force in the tying run. A flyout kept the Red Dragons from taking the lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Max Fishbein led off with a double for the Big Red and pinch runner Brady Olsen advanced to third on a Cade Nowik sacrifice bunt. Pinch hitter Jack Rollo ended the game with an RBI single to deep center over a drawn-in outfield.
Cortland took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a Smith bases-loaded walk with one out, but the Red Dragons left the bases loaded. Denison tied the game on Erik Sundgren's solo homer in the bottom of the first, and the hosts took a 2-1 lead in the second on Bobby Haarde's two-out RBI single.
Denison added a key insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. Nowik singled and Haarde bunted for a single to put runners on first and second with no outs. Eron Vega's flyout advanced Nowik to third, and Jack Lutte's sac fly to right drove in the run.
Warren Miller (Plattsburgh) started for Cortland and allowed two runs on three hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked four.
Zack Zarrilli (Farmingdale) gave up two runs on four hits with one strikeout over three and a third relief innings.
Denison starter Robbie Lee gave up one run on four hits in five and two thirds innings. He struck out seven and walked five. Max Mullen, the Big Red's third reliever, retired the only batter he faced in the top of the ninth and earned the win.
Cortland held a slight 8-7 edge in hits, led by Elkins going 2-for-5 and Smith finishing 1-for-2 with three walks.
Lucas Granger (Horseheads) was 1-for-1 with two walks. For Denison, Haarde finished 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Kalamazoo 7, Cortland 6
Cortland trailed 7-3 entering the bottom of the seventh but scored twice in the inning on
Anthony Carlo's (North Bellmore/St. Anthony's) sac fly and
Danny Jackson's (Lagrangeville/Arlington) RBI single. Gatchalian led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer to left to make it 7-6, but Cole Bronoel-Cuthrell finished off the save by retiring the next three batters.
Robert Ahlgren, the second of three Kalamazoo relievers, entered in the third and picked up the win as the Hornets took the lead for good at 4-1 with three runs in the top of the fourth. Bronoel-Cuthrell with one out, runners on first and second and Kalamazoo up 7-5. He got a strikeout and groundout to end that threat, struck out the side in the eighth, and allowed only the Gatchalian homer in the ninth.
Kalamazoo (33-12) took a 1-0 lead in the third on a Robert Newland RBI single, and Cortland knotted the game in the bottom of the inning on a Gatchalian sac fly. The Hornets' three-run fourth included a Henry Donohoe two-run single and a run scoring on an error.
Cortland pulled within 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs,
Logan Karwowski (Clay/Cicero-North Syracuse) walked and
Trey McGowan (Blue Point/Bayport-Blue Point) singled to left center. The throw attempting to retire Karwowski at third sailed high and out of play, allowing a run to score and McGowan to move to third. McGowan then scored on a wild pitch.
The Hornets went up 6-3 in the sixth on Cade Preissing's RBI single and Jackson Isaacs' sac fly, and they tacked on a run in the seventh on a Newland RBI single to short.
Cortland outhit Kalamazoo, 9-7. Gatchalian went 3-for-4 with a homer, two RBI and two runs, McGowan was 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs, and Elkins went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.
Connor Hayden (Aliso Viejo, CA/Aliso Niguel) started and allowed four runs, three earned, in three and two thirds innings. He struck out four and walked one.
Dan Collins (Poughkeepsie/Spackenkill), Cortland's fifth reliever, kept the Red Dragons within striking distance by pitching perfect eighth and ninth innings. He struck out four batters.
Newland was 3-for-5 with two RBI and Donohoe went 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBI for Kalamazoo.
