Casey Ryder, Staff Writer |
This past Saturday, Mar. 26, the men’s baseball team lost to Cortland 15-2. The game was the finale of a three-game series between the two teams with Cortland winning both games the day before.
The game was a pitcher’s duel in the initial stages. In the first inning, both teams failed to get anyone on base. Then in the second inning, Cortland was unable to capitalize after Danny Coleman walked and Oneonta struck out twice following a Liam Kaseta single.
Cortland’s Andrew Michalski started the third inning off with a well-executed bunt which put him on first. He then advanced to second off a sacrifice bunt from his teammate Matthew Krafft. On the next play, Michalski advanced home to open the scoring following an error at first base by Oneonta.
In the bottom half of the inning, Oneonta failed to muster anything up offensively and Cortland led 1-0 heading into the fourth.
The top of the fourth is where Cortland began to dominate. First, with runners on first and second, Chris Bonacci bunted and after an error at third base, both runners made it home while Bonacci advanced all the way to third. Following that play, they extended their lead to 4 when Bonacci made it home off a Ben Rhodes groundout.
Oneonta struggled to get any offense going throughout the game and in the top of the fifth Cortland continued to dominate. With runners on the corners, it would once again be a bunt from Bonacci that would start the scoring. Bonacci bunted, James Varian made it home from third, and following an error from the Oneonta pitcher, Antonio Pragana advanced from first to third while Bonacci made it to second. Following that, Ben Rhodes walked to load the bases, and then Andrew Michalski walked to put Cortland up six. Lastly, Bonacci advanced home following an error from the Oneonta pitcher and at the end of the inning, Cortland led 7-0.
After a few scoreless innings, Cortland came alive again in the top of the seventh. Following a series of hits that led to the bases being loaded, Matthew Krafft hit a grand slam to extend the lead to 11.
Moving into the eighth inning, Cortland continued to build their lead. With the bases loaded, Dylan Tierney hit a fly ball to right field and the ball was dropped by the Oneonta right fielder. The error brought two Cortland players home, Adam Mieczkowski from first to third, and Tierney to second. After that, Hunter Holiday hit a single to center field bringing Mieczkowski home and Tierney to third. Lastly, following Matt Funk’s fly out to left field, Tierney tagged up from third and at the end of the inning, Cortland led 15-0.
In the bottom of the ninth, Oneonta managed to get two runs on the board off of a pair of Cortland errors, but it was far too little to make up for the massive deficit that Cortland had created and Cortland won the game 15-2.
Taking on Cortland was always going to be a tall task for our boys. Heading into the series D3baseball.com had them ranked seventh in the nation and with their trio of victories over Oneonta, their record now improves to an impressive 16-6.
Looking ahead for our boys, they have a number of road games coming up beginning with a three-game series that starts today at Brockport. Obviously, the last few results have been tough, but we know the team has what it takes to bounce back. When the team does eventually return to Red Dragon Baseball Field on April 12 against Union, be sure to get out and give them your support. Go Red Dragons!
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