ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. – Senior
Adam Brown (Rochester/Greece Athena) earned a win in his Cortland debut and sophomore
Matt June (Colonie) and junior
Alex Coffey (Hilton) led a 13-hit attack as the Red Dragons defeated host North Carolina Wesleyan, 10-2.
Cortland, ranked 17th nationally in Division III, finished with a 2-1 record at the three-day Coldwell Banker Tournament of Champions with two wins over N.C. Wesleyan and a loss to Emory. Cortland was the tournament champion, followed by N.C. Wesleyan at 2-2 and Emory at 1-2.
Brown, an Ithaca College transfer, allowed only two hits and one walk and struck out three in four and two-third scoreless innings. He was pulled due to a predetermined pitch count limit with Cortland up 4-0 and earned the win since it was prearranged by the coaching staff that Cortland would use at least three pitchers. Junior
Michael Mahay (Whitesboro), junior
Kris Gentzke (Clarence Center/Clarence) and senior
Ed Southworth (Cortland) followed Brown on the mound. Southworth struck out two batters in a scoreless ninth inning.
June finished 3-for-3 with a solo home run and two runs scored. Coffey went 2-for-3 with two walks, a double and three RBI. Senior
Steve Nickel (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) finished 2-for-4 with a triple, double and RBI and senior
Adam Dimino (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) was 2-for-3 with a double, walk and RBI.
Cortland scored three runs in the second inning on a Coffey two-run double and a
Khyle Dimino (Brighton) sacrifice fly. June's leadoff homer in the fourth pushed the lead to 4-0. The Red Dragons added four runs in the seventh on back-to-back RBI doubles by
Adam Dimino and Nickel, a
Tommy Berardi (Commack) bases-loaded walk and
Khyle Dimino's second sacrifice fly of the game.
The host Battling Bishops scored twice in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back RBI singles by Justin Rahm and Nick Digby but left the bases loaded. Cortland's final runs came in the eighth on
Jason Simone's (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) grounder that was misplayed at shortstop and Coffey's RBI single.
Cortland returns to action March 5-7 with a trip to Long Island to face Old Westbury, Mount St. Vincent and Farmingdale State. Farmingdale won the NCAA Div. III New York Regional last spring, in Farmingdale, to advance to the World Series.
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