CORTLAND, N.Y. - Cortland's offense posted a combined 25 runs and 30 hits in a doubleheader sweep over visiting Plattsburgh to open SUNYAC play. The Red Dragons won the first game, 11-1 in seven innings, behind a strong pitching performance from Warren Miller (Plattsburgh), and they rallied from an early five-run deficit to capture the second game, 14-8.
 
Cortland (9-6-1, 2-0 SUNYAC) and Plattsburgh (9-4, 0-2 SUNYAC) will conclude the three-game series Sunday at 9:30 a.m., weather permitting, at Wallace Field. That game was originally scheduled for Friday before being postponed.
 
Cortland 11, Plattsburgh 1 (7 inn.)
 
Miller improved to 2-0 on the season after allowing just two hits and one run in six and a third innings. He struck out eight and walked two. Xander Payne (Medina) gave up one hit and struck out one in two thirds of an inning. The game was called due to the SUNYAC's 10-run rule after the Red Dragons scored in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Miller walked a batter and allowed a Tyler Martin RBI double with one out in the top of the second after Cortland scored five runs in the bottom of the first After that double, Miller retired 15 of the next 16 batters he faced, with the only runner coming on a hit by pitch with one out in the sixth.
 
Cortland registered 11 runs on 15 hits and six walks. Lucas Granger (Horseheads) went 3-for-4 with three RBI, Tristan Gatchalian (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) homered and finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs, and Nolan Smith (Hamburg) was 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, an RBI and three runs scored. Danny Jackson (Lagrangeville/Arlington) finished 2-for-3 and Anthony Carlo (North Bellmore/St. Anthony's) was 1-for-2 with two walks, two RBI and two runs scored.
 
Plattsburgh starter Jack Castillo gave up seven runs, six earned, over four and two thirds innings. Martin finished 2-for-3 to account for two of the Cardinals' three hits.
 
Cortland's five-run first included a Smith bases-loaded walk, a Carlo RBI single, a Granger two-run single, and a run scoring on a throwing error after a fielder's choice. The Red Dragons scored twice in the fifth when Smith doubled, Carlo walked, and Granger and Logan Karwowski (Clay/Cicero-North Syracuse) hit back-to-back RBI singles.
 
In the sixth, Trey McGowan (Blue Point/Bayport-Blue Point) singled and scored two batters later on a Gatchalian homer to left. Smith followed with a double and scored on a Carlo single to make it 11-1. Gatchalian has a unique streak of homering in each of the last three days he's played at Wallace Field, although only once officially as a Red Dragon. As a player at Marywood last spring, he hit a homer in a loss to Cortland, and in the Red Dragons' exhibition fall mini-series with Ithaca he hit a homer in the opening six-inning game.
 
Cortland 14, Plattsburgh 8
 
Plattsburgh jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first, but Cortland kept the Cardinals off the board after that until a three-run top of the ninth with Cortland up 14-5.
 
Plattsburgh's first inning included runs scoring on a wild pitch and a passed ball, a Martin RBI single, and an Ian Warren two-run single. Cortland came back and tied the game with five runs in the bottom of the third. The Red Dragons loaded the bases on a McGowan double, a Talon Elkins (Syracuse/West Genesee) single and a Gatchalian hit by pitch, and Smith followed with a grand slam to left center to cut Plattsburgh's lead to 5-4. Carlo reached second on an error and scored the tying run two batters later on a Karwowski RBI single.
 
Cortland grabbed the lead with two runs in the fourth on two walks, an Elkins bunt single, a Gatchalian sacrifice fly and a passed ball that allowed a run to score. The Red Dragons added four in the sixth. Elkins tripled and scored on a Gatchalian single. Carlo brought in a run two batters later on a sac fly, and three batters later Jack McFerran (Selkirk/Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) hit a two-run single.
 
The Red Dragons plated three more runs in the seventh. Elkins led off with a homer, and later in the frame Karwowski hit a two-run double. Cortland nearly ended the game on the 10-run rule, but the next batter lined out to first. Plattsburgh scored three times without a hit in the ninth as the Cardinals drew five walks in the inning. Walks by Martin and Austin Caldwell forced in runs, and another run scored on a passed ball.
 
Elkins finished a double shy of the cycle as he went 4-for-5 with a homer, triple, two singles, an RBI and three runs. Smith was 2-for-5, driving in four runs on his grand slam and scoring twice. Gatchalian was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs, and Karwowski ended 2-for-4 with a walk and three RBI. Cortland finished the game with 15 hits and six walks.
 
Dan Collins (Poughkeepsie/Spackenkill) started for the Red Dragons but was replaced by Zack Zarrilli (Farmingdale) in the first inning. Zarrilli allowed one run on four hits with five strikeouts and a walk in three and two thirds innings. Ryan McLaughlin (Warwick/Warwick Valley) entered in the fourth with two runners on and two outs and induced a fielder's choice forceout to end the threat. He tossed three and a third innings and gave up no runs on two hits with two strikeouts and a walk, and he earned the win as Cortland took the lead for good while he was in the game.
 
For Plattsburgh, Warren, Frankie Kowal and Michael Piccirillo each finished 2-for-4. Isaiah Maines gave up seven runs, six earned, in three and a third innings and took the loss.