Cortland Sports Information Department
CORTLAND, N.Y. - Scott Giordano (Croton-on-Hudson/Croton-Harmon) homered on the first pitch of the bottom of the 10th inning to lift top-seeded Cortland past fourth-seeded Bridgewater State (Mass.), 4-3, in the opening game of the four-team, double-elimination NCAA Division III Cortland, N.Y. baseball regional.
Cortland (34-10), ranked eighth nationally in Division III, will face 19th-ranked and second-seeded Endicott in a winner's bracket game Saturday at noon. Endicott (37-7) defeated third-seeded St. John Fisher (30-15), 10-1, in Friday's second game. Bridgewater State (30-14) will play St. John Fisher in an elimination game Saturday at 8:30 a.m., with that winner playing another elimination game Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against the Cortland/Endicott loser.
Cortland trailed 3-0 entering the bottom of the seventh before rallying. Mat Bruno (Rye) hit an RBI double in the seventh to make it 3-1, but on a fly ball by the next batter Bridgewater State left fielder Joe Frechette threw out a runner at home trying to tag from third. In the bottom of the eighth, Giordano singled with two outs and Danny Coleman (Saratoga Springs) and James Varian (Hopewell Junction/Trinity-Pawling) each walked to load the bases. Paul Franzese (Somers) followed with a two-run single through the left side to tie the game.
Bridgewater State opened the top of the ninth by reaching on a wild pitch after a strikeout. Patrick Cashin singled to put runners on first and third and Dylan Beers (Woodbury/Monroe-Woodbury) entered in relief for the Red Dragons. The Bears attempted a squeeze bunt but Beers flipped the ball home for a tag out. A flyout put runners on first and third before Beers struck out the next hitter to end the inning.
Cortland had a shot at winning the game in the bottom of the ninth when Ben Rhodes (Amsterdam) led off with an infield single and pinch runner Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) stole second. After a one-out intentional walk to Antonio Pragana (Hopewell Junction/John Jay), a wild pickoff throw to second allowed Bonacci to take third. Bridgewater State escaped the jam with a strikeout and a caught stealing when Bonacci broke from third on a Pragana attempted steal and was caught in a rundown between third and home.
Beers retired the side in order, two by strikeout, in the top of the 10th and earned the victory after the Giordano homer. Beers didn't allow any hits, runs or walks and he struck out three in two innings.
Bridgewater State took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an Emerson walk, a Jay Wladkowski double and a Frechette RBI groundout to first. A lineout double play kept the game at 1-0. The Bears struck in the sixth on a Joey Molis RBI single, but with the bases loaded and one out lined to second for another inning-ending double play. The guests' final run came in the seventh when Cashin singled, was bunted to second by Kevin Lindsay and scored on Wladkowski's two-out RBI single.
Cortland starter Ryan Flansburg (Queensbury) allowed two runs on eight hits over five and a third innings. He struck out two and walked two. Mike Hennessy (Stony Brook/Smithtown East) gave up a run on a hit in an inning and a third and Justin Patsey (Hyde Park/Franklin D. Roosevelt) allowed two hits and no runs with two strikeouts in an inning and a third.
Giordano finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs, Bruno was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Franzese ended 2-for-4 with two RBI and Rhodes was 2-for-4 to account for nine of Cortland's 10 hits.
Bridgewater St. starter Matt Josselyn allowed only one run on six hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked one. Tyler Dasilva-Medeiros, the Bears' second reliever, took the loss after entering the game with two outs in the eighth just prior to Franzese's two-run single. Wladkowski was 3-for-5 with an RBI, Mathew Pigeon and Cashin each went 2-for-4, and Molis was 2-for-5 with an RBI as the Bears finished with 11 hits.
