MOUNT BERRY, GA. - The Cortland baseball team opened play at the Berry College Invitational with a pair of victories, winning 13-2 over nationally fourth-ranked Belhaven University of Mississippi and rallying to defeat the host Vikings, 11-7.
 
Cortland (6-5-1) concludes play at the tournament Sunday with games versus Marietta College at 11 a.m. and Berry at approximately 2 p.m. - start times that have been pushed back an hour later than originally scheduled.
 
Cortland 13, Belhaven 2 (7 inn.)
 
Cortland handed the nationally fourth-ranked Blazers just their second loss in 15 games this season. The Red Dragons rallied from a 2-1 deficit to score four times in the top of the sixth and eight times in the top of the seventh to take a 13-2 lead, and the game was called after seven innings due to the tournament's 10-run rule.
 
Cortland earned its way on base 26 times via nine hits, 13 walks and four hit by pitches. Anthony Carlo (North Bellmore/St. Anthony's) finished 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored, Trey McGowan (Blue Point/Bayport-Blue Point) was 2-for-4 with a double, hit by pitch and two RBI, and Tristan Gatchalian (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) reached base in all five of his plate appearances with four walks and a hit by pitch, and he had one RBI.
 
Joe Yovino (Levittown/Division Avenue) homered and finished 1-for-2 with two walks and two RBI. Lucas Granger (Horseheads) went 1-for-2 with three walks and three runs, Nolan Smith (Hamburg) walked twice and drove in two runs, and Nick Vendola (White Plains) was 1-for-4 with an RBI and two runs.
 
Warren Miller (Plattsburgh) went five innings and earned his first collegiate victory. He allowed three hits and two runs with four strikeouts and three walks. Zack Zarrilli (Farmingdale) began the bottom of the sixth with Cortland up 5-2 and pitched two scoreless innings for the save. He gave one hit and no walks and fanned one batter.
 
Nick Thornton was 1-for-3 with an RBI and Jake McCann went 1-for-2 with a walk for Belhaven. Gunner Staten started for the Blazers and allowed three hits and two runs in five and a third innings. He walked six and struck out one. Caleb Menard, the first of five Belhaven relievers, took the loss after being charged with three runs, one earned, in a third of an inning.
 
Each team scored once in the third - Cortland on a Gatchalian bases-loaded walk and Belhaven on a Blake McCarthy RBI groundout. Thornton's sac fly in the fifth gave the Blazers a 2-1 lead, but Cortland answered with a four-run top of the sixth that featured a Yovino two-run homer, a McGowan RBI single and a Smith bases-loaded walk.
 
Cortland sent 13 batters to the plate in its eight-run seventh. Vendola started the scoring with a sacrifice fly, followed two batters later by a McGowan RBI double. Smith picked up his second bases-loaded walk of the game, two runs scored on a balk and a wild pitch, and Talon Elkins' (Syracuse/West Genesee) infield single brought home a run to make it 11-2. The Red Dragons' last two runs came later in the frame on a Reid Martin (Dansville) bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch.
 
Cortland 11, Berry 7
 
Cortland faced early deficits of 3-0 and 6-3, and was still down by one, 7-6, before pushing across five runs in the top of the eighth. McGowan started the go-ahead rally with a single and, following a Carlo walk, Gatchalian bunted to third. The third baseman's throw to first was wild, allowing McGowan to score the tying run and Carlo to move to third. Smith's groundout to first drove in the go-ahead run, Granger was hit by a pitch, and Logan Karwowski (Clay/Cicero-North Syracuse) hit a two-run double to right center. Karwowski eventually scored when he took third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error on the play.
 
Berry scored three in the first on a Riley Uhis RBI double, a wild pitch that scored Uhis two batters later, and a Daniel Hong RBI single later in the inning. Cortland tied the game in the second on a McGowan two-run single and a Smith RBI single.
 
In the bottom of the third, the Vikings went up by three again. Jacob Bridges drove in a run with a groundout, a run scored on a balk during the next at-bat, and Tanaka Mukono drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run.
 
In one of the game's most pivotal moments, Ryan McLaughlin (Warwick/Warwick Valley) entered to pitch with two outs and the bases loaded, and he induced a groundout to keep the game at 6-3. McLaughlin eventually went five innings, allowing one run on two hits with six strikeouts and four walks, and he earned the victory.
 
Cortland drew back within one with two runs in the fourth when Karwowski hit a two-out, two-run single. Berry plated a run in the bottom of the inning on a Chaz Moore RBI fielder's choice, but the Red Dragons responded again with a run in the fifth on Carlo's two-out RBI single to short.
 
After Cortland's five-run top of the eighth, Xander Payne (Medina) entered in what was technically not a save situation with Cortland up by four and one runner on with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. He got the first batter he faced to fly out, then allowed just one hit in a scoreless ninth to finish the game.
 
McGowan went 3-for-6 with two RBI and two runs scored, Danny Jackson (Lagrangeville/Arlington) was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks and two runs, Carlo finished 2-for-4 with a walk, RBI and two runs, and Karwowski went 2-for-5 with a double and four RBI. Gatchalian finished with two hits, including a double, and scored twice, and Smith drove in two runs.
 
Moore was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Uhis went 2-for-5 with a double, walk and RBI to led the offense for Berry (8-5). Eric Fountain started and allowed three runs on six hits in three innings, and Jackson Halla gave up three runs over four innings. Jon Strydom took the loss after allowing Cortland's five runs in the eighth.