Joe Tardif went 3-for-3 with four RBI, including a three-run homer (Photo by Michael Clock)
CORTLAND, N.Y. - The nationally 14th-ranked Cortland baseball team jumped out to score six first-inning runs and defeated visiting Wells College, 17-4, in a non-league game. Fifteen Red Dragons registered at least one base hit as the team had 22 in total.
Cortland (13-6) was originally scheduled to travel to Oneonta this Friday and Saturday for a three-game SUNYAC series, but the games were moved to Cortland to accommodate for field conditions. There will be a single game Friday at 3 p.m. followed by a doubleheader Saturday at noon.
Joe Tardif (Cutchogue/Mattituck) was 3-for-3 for Cortland off the bench versus Wells with a walk, four RBI, and a home run. Patrick Schetter (Beacon) drove in three runs and went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Six consecutive hits, part of seven total in the inning, sparked the rally in the first as Cortland sent 11 batters to the plate. Doubles from Matthew Personius (Binghamton/Chenango Valley), Schetter and Matt Michalski (Buffalo/St. Francis), along with four singles, contributed to the big inning.
Justin Teague (North Syracuse/Cicero-North Syracuse), Personius, and Danny Coleman (Saratoga Springs) each finished 2-for-3 before being lifted for subs. Billy Kozak (Sidney) was 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored. Dan Schweitzer (Poughquag/Arlington) finished 1-for-3 with two runs, and Paul Dondero (East Islip) and Wyatt Myers (Chittenango) were both 1-for-2 with an RBI.
Andrew Barnes (Rochester, NH/Spaulding) started and was the winning pitcher for the Red Dragons. He pitched three innings and allowed one hit with a walk and a strikeout. He earned the win as the first Cortland hurler in a predetermined rotation. Frank Vesuvio (Armonk/Byram Hills) pitched a hitless eighth inning while striking out the side. Chris Puzakulics(Vestal), Jarrod Bellinger (Watertown), and Kyle Naugle (Fayetteville/Jamesville-DeWitt) also each threw scoreless innings without allowing a hit as Cortland made use of seven pitchers total.
Cortland added two runs in the third with RBI singles by Antonio Pragana (Hopewell Junction/John Jay) and Personius, then four more in the fourth including four singles and a leadoff double off the bat of Teague. Three runs in the fifth for the Red Dragons on Tardif's homer made the score 15-0. Wells outscored the Red Dragons 4-2 in the final four innings.
Tanner Dunkel went 1-for-3 for the Express (10-5) with an RBI, walk, and run scored. A.J. Nesci was also 1-for-3 with an RBI. Wells got on the board in the sixth inning without a hit as Dylan Nolan grounded out to score Dunkel, who walked to open the inning. They added three more in the seventh on a Derek Shea sac fly and RBI singles by Dunkel and Nesci.
(Recap by SUNY Cortland sports information student intern Kyle Lancto)
