UTICA, N.Y. – Senior Steve Nickel (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) went 3-for-3 with two doubles, two RBI and three runs scored and senior John Zilnicki (Riverhead) finished 2-for-4 with a double, walk and RBI as Cortland defeated Utica College, 11-2, in a non-league matchup. The Red Dragons, ranked 15th nationally by the ABCA and 21st by D3baseball.com, improve to 17-6. Utica is now 3-10.

Sophomore Brendan Hourihan (Yorktown Heights/Lakeland), the first of six Cortland pitchers, earned the win and is 2-0 on the year. He allowed four hits and two runs, one earned, in three and a third innings. He struck out two and walked two. It was predetermined by Cortland's coaches that the Red Dragons would use at least three pitchers since Hourihan was on a pitch count, so Hourihan was awarded the victory since he remained the pitcher of record after he left the game.

Cortland scored three runs in the first on a Nickel RBI double and an Adam Dimino (Honeoye Falls/Honeoye Falls-Lima) two-run single. Nickel drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the second and the Red Dragons added a run in the fourth on Damon Arnold's (Wellsville) squeeze bunt that scored Zilnicki.

Utica posted its two runs in the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles by Adam Bittel and Kevin Oquendo. Bittel finished 2-for-4 and Bryan Martinez-Torres was 2-for-3 to account for half of the Pioneers' eight hits.

Cortland got a run back in the fifth when Nickel led off with a double and scored later in the inning on a Zilnicki bases-loaded walk. The Red Dragons broke the game open with four runs in the sixth. Andersen Gardner (Fairport) singled in a run, with a second run scoring on an error during the play. The next run scored on a passed ball and the final run came on a Khyle Dimino (Brighton) RBI single.

Jason Simone (Utica/Thomas R. Proctor) completed the scoring in the seventh with a two-out RBI single. Simone, Khyle Dimino and Adam Dimino each reached base three times in the game on a hit and two walks.

Utica starter Matt Zitt was the losing pitcher after giving up seven hits and eight runs in five and a third innings. Cortland's five relievers did not allow any runs. Michael Mahay (Whitesboro) tossed one-hit ball over two innings, followed by Brandon DeRosa (Fairport) for two thirds of an inning. Rich Morris (Milton/Marlboro), Cody Crego (Holland Patent) and Tyler Forger (Clayton/Thousand Islands) pitched one inning apiece.

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