AUBURNDALE, FLA. – Cortland, ranked 19th nationally in Div. III, scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning and defeated Stevens Institute, 11-5, in the Red Dragons' first game of a seven-game Florida spring break trip. Cortland is now 6-2 on the season while the Ducks fall to 4-5.

Junior Mike Assmann (Auburn) allowed only four hits and three runs, two earned, over six innings for the win. He walked three batters and recorded 11 of Cortland's 16 strikeouts. Freshman Rich Morris (Milton/Marlboro), Cortland's third relief pitcher, earned a save with one and a third innings of hitless and scoreless innings. He entered the game in the top of the eighth with the tying run on deck, got out of the inning and pitched the entire ninth.

Sophomore Matt June (Colonie) and senior Steve Nickel (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) each finished 4-for-5 as part of a 15-hit Cortland attack. June doubled, drove in two runs and scored twice and Nickel homered, drove in two runs and scored two times.

Junior Justin Fredenburg (Saugerties) went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored. Junior Jason Simone (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) was 2-for-5 with two steals and senior Damon Arnold (Wellsville) hit a three-run homer.

Russ Grimes went 3-for-5 with a homer and two runs scored for Stevens. T.J. Alcorn was 2-for-4 with an RBi and Tom Phillips finished 2-for-5 with a double.

Cortland's big first inning started when June singled and eventually scored on a Kevin Jackson (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham) RBI single. Simone added an RBI single and a two-out error allowed two runs to score and kept the inning alive. Fredenburg then singled and Arnold hit a three-run homer to give Cortland a 7-0 lead. June doubled for his second hit of the inning and scored on a Nickel RBI single.

Fredenburg doubled and scored on a June single in the third to extend the lead to 9-0. Stevens got a run back on a Grimes solo homer in the fourth, then scored twice in the sixth on a two-out, bases-loaded error that allowed two runs in. The Ducks closed to within 9-5 in the seventh on RBI singles by Mark Rasullo and Alcorn.

Cortland added two insurance runs in the eighth. Fredenburg doubled and eventually scored on a June RBI single. June was caught stealing, but Nickel followed with a solo homer, his third of the season.

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