Cortland Sports Information Department
AUBURN, N.Y. – The SUNY Cortland baseball team scored 10 runs over the last five innings to break open a tight game and the Red Dragons defeated Tufts, 13-2, in the championship game of the NCAA Division III Auburn, N.Y. Regional at Falcon Park.
Cortland (31-7) earned its 15th trip to the NCAA Division III World Series and its first since 2016. The Red Dragons will face Salisbury University (Md.) (29-4) during the opening day of competition Friday, June 4 at 7:45 p.m. Central (8:45 p.m. Eastern) at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Cortland will also be joined by Rowan (N.J.), St. Thomas (Minn.), Washington-St. Louis, Adrian (Mich.), Wheaton (Mass.) and Johns Hopkins (Md.) in a tournament format that will feature two four-team, double-elimination pods, with the two pod winners then playing a best-of-three series for the title.
Regional tournament MVP Daniel Coleman (Saratoga Springs) went 3-for-4 with two double, five RBI and two runs scored to lead the Red Dragons. Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) went 2-for-3 with two walks, two RBI and three runs, and starting pitcher Shane Mugnolo (Howard Beach/Xaverian) earned the win after allowing just one run on seven hits with five strikeouts and three walks in six innings. Krafft and Mugnolo joined Coleman on the all-tournament team, along with Matt Funk (Pine Plains), the winning pitcher against top-seeded Eastern Connecticut on Friday, and Scott Roberts (Escondido, CA/Del Norte), who earned the win Saturday versus Mitchell.
For Tufts (15-8), Peter DeMaria was 2-for-4, including a solo homer in the top of the first that gave Tufts a 1-0 lead. The Jumbos, however, didn't score again until the top of the ninth. Clay Sowell and Brandon Bay each finished 2-for-4. Starter Michael Volgende took the loss after allowing five hits and five runs, four earned, in four and two thirds innings. He struck out four and walked four.
After falling behind, Cortland took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Coleman walked, moved to second on a Mat Bruno (Rye) sac bunt, went to third on a groundout and scored on Andrew Michalski's (Buffalo/St. Francis) single up the middle. Michalski took second on a wild pitch and scored on an error on a ball hit by Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee).
Coleman's RBI single in the third extended the lead to 3-1, and it stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth when the Red Dragons added two runs – the first on a Coleman RBI double and the other on a Bruno RBI single.
The Red Dragons broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Bonacci walked, then stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Paul Franzese (Somers) walked and stole second, and Krafft hit a two-run single to center. After a Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon) walk loaded the bases, Coleman cleared them with a three-run double to right center and Cortland led 10-1.
Bailey Gauthier (Camillus/West Genesee) relieved Mugnolo to start the seventh and shut down the Jumbos on two hits over the next two innings. Bonacci hit an RBI single in the seventh to make it 11-1, and the Red Dragons scored their final two runs in the eighth on a Bruno RBI fielder's choice and an error on a Michalski grounder to the pitcher. Spencer Weyand (Hornell) started the ninth, recorded one out and was charged with an unearned run, resulting when Sowell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded by Funk after he entered. Funk, however, induced a grounder to short by the next batter for a game-ending double play.
REGIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Camren Varney (Mitchell)
Vince Montone (Keystone)
Joe Raab (Merchant Marine Academy)
Cameron Mayer (Tufts)
Clay Sowell (Tufts)
Peter DeMaria (Tufts)
Matt Funk (Cortland)
Scott Roberts (Cortland)
Shane Mugnolo (Cortland)
Matthew Krafft (Cortland)
MVP - Daniel Coleman (Cortland)