GRAND CHUTE, WIS. – Cortland scored seven runs in the top of the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie and the Red Dragons defeated Kean University, 10-5, in the opening round of the eight-team, double-elimination NCAA Div. III Baseball World Series at Fox Cities Stadium.

Cortland won its 23rd straight game and improved to 40-7-1 on the season. The Red Dragons will face Wheaton College (Mass.) in a winner’s bracket game Saturday at 4:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. Eastern).

Junior Ray Angelucci (Commack) earned the victory – his school single-season record 12th of the year. He has won 12 straight decisions since losing his first game vs. Bridgewater (Va.) Feb. 18. He won despite allowing nine hits, one walk and five runs – three earned – in six and two-thirds innings. He struck out three batters. Senior Brendan Hourihan (Yorktown Heights/Lakeland) did not allow a run over the final two and a third innings. He gave up two hits and no walks and struck out one.

Kean starter Kevin Herget was knocked out in the fourth inning and fell to 7-5 on the season. He permitted six hits and six walks, struck out three and was charged with six runs, all earned.

Cortland finished the game with 13 hits, with at least one by eight different players. Senior Matt June (Colonie) was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, a hit-by-pitch and two runs scored. Sophomore Max Rosing (Rockville Centre/South Side) was 2-for-4 with three RBI, junior Brian Barry (Smithtown/Smithtown East) went 2-for-4 with a walk, RBI and two runs and junior John Adornetto (Commack) was 2-for-5 with two RBI. Sophomore Tim Panetta (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) ended 2-for-5 with an RBI and junior Andrew Pezzuto (Hastings)  reached base three times on a double and two walks.

Eddie Jennings finished 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI and Steve Sanguilliano was 3-for-5 with a triple and two RBI as part of Kean’s 11-hit attack. Dylan Laguna went 2-for-4.

Cortland sent 13 batters to the plate and at one point had eight consecutive batters reach base during its decisive fourth inning. Junior Zack Graczyk (Carmel) led off with a walk and, with one out, June and Pezzuto each walked to load the bases. Adornetto lined a two-run single to left center to give the Red Dragons a 4-2 lead.

Charles Thielmann entered in relief and issued a walk to junior Michael LaTempa (LaGrangeville/Arlington). Rosing followed with a two-run single up the middle, Barry reached on a bunt single to plate a run and Panetta’s bunt single loaded the bases. Graczyk’s two-run single up the middle completed the inning’s scoring and gave Cortland a 9-2 lead.

The teams traded single runs in each of the first two innings. Cortland scored in the top of the first on a Rosing RBI fielder’s choice and Kean answered with a Sanguiliano RBI groundout. The Red Dragons regained the lead in the second on back-to-back two-out doubles by June and Pezzuto, but the Cougars tied the game again on Nick Ramagli’s squeeze bunt.

Down 9-2, Kean got a run back in the fifth when Sanguiliano singled with two outs, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Jennings RBI single. June, Cortland’s second baseman, kept a bigger rally from developing when he dove behind second base to field a ball hit by Laguna up the middle. While on the ground, June flipped to Adornetto at second for the inning-ending force play.

The Red Dragons put their final run up in the top of the sixth when Barry singled, stole second and scored on Panetta’s single to center.

Kean knocked out Angelucci in the bottom of the seventh. Vinny Galya reached on a one-out infield single and moved to second on an error during the play. Sanguiliano hit a triple to right center and drivein Galya, and he scored on a Jennings RBI single to left. Hourihan entered and hit the first batter he faced, but he got the final out on a come-back grounder. Hourihan retired the side in order in the eighth and allowed a pair of two-out singles in the ninth before getting a groundout to end the game.

Box Score

Video Highlights

D3baseball.com

NCAA Interactive Bracket

NOTEBOOK:

* Cortland reached the 40-win mark for the sixth time in school history. The other 40-win seasons came in 1998 (40-5), 2005 (43-9-1), 2007 (42-7), 2008 (42-5) and 2010 (40-10-1).

* The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) announced some of its top regional awards on Friday. Cortland head coach Joe Brown was chosen as the ABCA New York Region Coach of the Year for the third straight season and the eighth time overall. Junior pitcher Ray Angelucci was chosen as the ABCA New York Region Pitcher of the Year.

* Both matchups in the Cortland-Kean series history have occurred in the NCAA Div. III World Series opening round. In 2007, Kean defeated the Red Dragons, 4-1 in 12 innings, and the Cougars went on to win the national title.

* Cortland is 5-2 lifetime versus its next opponent, Wheaton College (Mass.), including a 4-3 win March 10 in Florida after a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning.

* Andrew Pezzuto’s brother, Greg, is competing this weekend in the NCAA Div. II World Series in Cary, N.C. Greg is a sophomore utility player for Southern New Hampshire University, which opens versus Minnesota State-Mankato on Saturday.

* Among the fans cheering for Cortland at the World Series is long-time Red Dragon head coach and Cortland field namesake Bob “Sparky” Wallace. He’s attending the World Series for the second time – he made the trip previously in 2010 when Cortland finished second nationally.

* Cortland head coach Joe Brown is sporting an interesting hairdo at the World Series – a Mohawk. After seeing his players with Mohawk haircuts at the SUNYAC tournament this spring, Brown promised the squad that he’d go with the same look if the Red Dragons won the NCAA regional last week at Farmingdale.

QUOTEBOOK:

Cortland Head Coach Joe Brown:

After coming out of the regionals where we didn’t have too many hits, that was a pleasant surprise, but we’re certainly capable of it. We felt that getting out of that regional, things change a little bit and we had a couple good days of practice. These guys had some good BP (batting practice) this morning.

(Herget’s) a good pitcher. The only thing, in my experience here, in talking with the guys is ‘throw out the numbers when you enter a tournament. It doesn’t matter who’s done what.

(on Matt June’s diving play to end the fifth)

He expects to make those plays…that play didn’t really surprise me because he practices it all the time. If he didn’t make it, at least the effort was there.

(on upcoming opponent Wheaton, who Cortland played in Florida this year)

They’re a very disciplined baseball team. They’re not going to make mistakes. Their guys are going to run. They’re going to put pressure on you. Their pitchers throw strikes. That game early on was a great game. We controlled the game most of the game, they took it away from us in the seventh or eighth inning, and he (Matt June) hit a bases-loaded single to win the game. At this juncture, I’m just happy to be 1-0 and I don’t care who we’re playing.

Senior second baseman Matt June:

In the regionals, we still hit the ball well. They just weren’t dropping. We expect to do this every game, so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

They started pitching around me after first two at-bats. I was waiting for my pitch but I didn’t really see much. I’ll take the walks and get on.

Our game with Wheaton (in Florida this spring) was an early-on game, so they didn’t see our best and we didn’t see their best. It was a good game and it came down to the last hit. I don’t think there’s any significance of playing them. We know a little bit about them and they know a little bit about us.