AUBURN, N.Y. – Seth Lamando (Hopewell Junction/Roy C. Ketcham) threw eight and third innings of four-hit shutout ball and struck out a career-high 14 batters as nationally top-ranked Cortland defeated Frostburg State, 6-0, during Day 2 of the NCAA Division III Baseball New York Regional.
Cortland (39-5) will face either Ramapo or Susquehanna in the winner's bracket final Friday at 11 a.m., while Frostburg finishes the season at 30-14. Both the Red Dragons and the Bobcats were in the 2015 NCAA Div. III World Series, with Cortland winning both matchups between the schools during pool play to eliminate Frostburg.
Lamando is now 9-0 with the victory. Three of the four hits he allowed came in the first four innings, and he walked three batters. His 14 strikeouts easily eclipsed his previous career best of 11, which he achieved twice last spring (versus Brockport in the SUNYAC tournament and versus Webster at the World Series).
Cortland took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Paul Dondero (East Islip) reached on a one-out bunt single and Steven Figueroa (Bronx/St. Raymond's) hit an RBI triple to right center.
The game stayed 1-0 until the sixth. Figueroa led off with a single and was bunted to second by Fabio Ricci (Hawthorne/Westlake). Austin Clock (Niskayuna) singled to center to drive home Figueroa and Conrad Ziemendorf (Penfield/Webster Schroeder) singled to left. With two outs, Justin Teague (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse) hit an RBI single through the right side, Connor Griffin (Cortland) lined a two-run single to center, and Nick Hart (Fredonia) finished the five-run inning with an RBI single up the middle.
Setht Lamando delivers a pitch during Cortland's 6-0 win over Frostburg. Lamando struck out a career-high 14 batters and allowed only four hits in eight and a third scoreless innings (photo by Darl Zehr Photography)
Frostburg had one runner reach base in each of the first six innings against Lamando, but only two of them reached second base and none made it to third. Lamando retired the side in order in the seventh, allowed a one-out single in the eighth, and struck out the first batter he faced in the ninth before being replaced with an unofficial count of 138 pitches. Adam Brant (Hyde Park/Our Lady of Lourdes) retired both batters he faced to end the game.
Figueroa finished 2-for-3 with a triple, walk and RBI and Hart was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Ziemendorf and Teague were each 1-for-3 with a walk. Eight Red Dragons recorded at least one hit as part of a 10-hit attack.
Cody Harman went 2-for-4 and Brad Garrant was 1-for-1 with a double and two walks for Frostburg. Bobcat starter Anderson Burgess (3-4) allowed nine hits, four walks and six runs in five and two thirds innings. He struck out six.
