CORTLAND - SUNY Cortland scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to break a 5-5 tie as the nationally 17th-ranked Red Dragons opened SUNYAC play with a 7-5 win over Oswego State in the opening game of a doubleheader on Saturday, March 28. Cortland (13-6, 2-0 SUNYAC) completed the sweep with a 16-0 win in the second game.

In the opener, Cortland jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first, only to have Oswego eventually rally to tie the game. Cortland's five-run first was highlighted by a Steve Nickel (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) RBI single, a Paul Merriweather (Mount Vernon) RBI triple and a Matt Papillo (Bellmore/Mepham) RBI single.

Oswego freshman pitcher Rich Ireland (Mattituck) entered in the bottom of the second inning and held Cortland scoreless for the next six innings. Oswego got on the board in the fifth on a Brandon Wroblewski (Rochester/Greece Arcadia) RBI single and scored three in the seventh on Mike Levy's (Salisbury Mills/Washingtonville) two-run double and Josh Stoetzel's (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) RBI single.

The Lakers tied the game in the eighth with two outs on consecutive singles by Bryan Stark (Rochester/Greece Athena), Zack Owen (Rochester/Churchville-Chili) and Wroblewski. In the bottom of the inning, Alex Coffey (Hilton) led off with a single, followed by an Andrew Pezzuto (Hastings) bunt single. Shawn Bailey (Rochester/Webster Schroeder) then bunted, and Coffey beat the throw to third to load the bases. Papillo was hit by a pitch to force in the go-ahead run and Nick Palmiero (Rochester/Bishop Kearney) hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive in the final run.

Matt Tone (Rochester/Irondequoit) started for Cortland and allowed four hits and four runs, three earned, in six and two-third innings. He struck out seven and walked four and received a no-decision. Brendan Rowlands (Utica/Utica Notre Dame), the second Cortland reliever, received the win after allowing one run and striking out three in one and two-third innings. He gave up five hits and no walks. George Jweid (New Hartford) recorded the final two outs, following a one-out double by Oswego's K.C. Reardon (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse), to earn his first save of the season.

Nickel and Coffey each finished 2-for-3 with a walk and Mike Avery (Cortland) was 2-for-4. Ireland took the loss for Oswego despite allowing four hits, three walks and two runs over six innings.Wroblewski went 2-for-5 with two RBI, while Stoetzel and Reardon were each 2-for-5.

In the second game, Cortland senior Nicolas Blanco (Bronx/St. Raymond's) combined with two relievers for the shutout. He gave up three hits and three walks and struck out six in six innings. Sophomore Travis Ratliff (Levittown/Division Avenue) pitched two hitless innings with one walk and three strikeouts and senior J.J. Potrikus (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) allowed one hit in the ninth.

Cortland finished with 18 hits in the contest. Pezzuto went 3-for-3, Nickel was 3-for-4 with an RBI and junior Kevin Jackson (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham) was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer. Sophomore Nick Faust (Massapequa/St. Anthony's) came off the bench and hit a two-run homer as well as driving in a run on a fielder's choice. Mike Gimblette (Yorktown) finished 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs batted in.

Levy and Stark each finished 1-for-3 with a walk for Oswego (5-4, 0-2 SUNYAC).

Cortland scored four runs in the first, the first three on RBI singles by Nickel, Coffey and Gimblette. The Red Dragons added two in the fifth on Gimblette's RBI triple and Matt June's (Colonie) RBI single. Jackson hit a three-run homer in the sixth and Faust added a two-run roundtripper in the seventh. Cortland's five-run eighth featured three hits, three walks, a hit batsman and four wild pitches.

(Game story courtesy of SUNY Cortland sports information)