Cortland Sports Information Department
CORTLAND, N.Y. - Dylan Beers (Woodbury/Monroe-Woodbury) and Justin Patsey (Hyde Park/Franklin D. Roosevelt) combined to allowed two runs and Matthew Krafft (Cornwall) went 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored as top-seeded Cortland defeated fourth-seeded St. Joseph's University (Long Island), 9-2, in the opening game of the NCAA Division III Cortland, N.Y. Regional at Wallace Field.
Cortland (33-11) will face second-seeded Ithaca (29-14) in a winner's bracket game of the four-team, double-elimination tournament Saturday at noon. Ithaca defeated third-seeded Eastern Connecticut State, 11-2, in Friday's second game. St. Joseph's (30-10) and Eastern Connecticut (34-11), the defending national champion, will play in an elimination game Saturday at 8:30 a.m., with that winner playing the Cortland/Ithaca loser Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in an elimination game.
Beers upped his record to 9-1 with five and two thirds innings of six-hit ball. He struck out nine batters, including eight in the first four innings, and he walked two hitters. He allowed two runs in the top of the fifth, after Cortland had taken a 5-0 lead, on a Paul Gugliuzzo two-out, two-run double. Gugliuzzo and Phil Krpata each finished 3-for-5 for the Golden Eagles.
Patsey entered in top of the sixth with runners on first and third and two outs and got a groundout to end the threat. He continued for the final three innings for his third save of the spring, allowing no runs on four hits and one walk with one strikeout.
In addition to Krafft's 4-for-5 outing, Adam Mieczkowski (Vestal) went 3-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and two runs, Zachary Kringdon (Larchmont/Mamaroneck) was 2-for-4 with an RBI, Nick Chemotti (Warners/West Genesee) was 2-for-4 with a hit by pitch and Mat Bruno (Rye) finished 2-for-5 with a homer and two runs scored. Bruno's solo shot with two outs in the sixth was the 24th homer of his career, tying the Cortland school record held by Andersen Gardner (2007-10) and Alex Steele (1995-97).
Cortland took a 1-0 lead in the second on Hunter Holliday's (Camden) squeeze bunt following singles by Krafft and Kringdon. The Red Dragons tallied three in the third - the first when Bruno scored from second on a wild pitch and the other two on RBI singles from Krafft and Kringdon.
In the fourth, Chris Bonacci (Syracuse/West Genesee) and Chemotti were each hit by a pitch with one out and, with two outs, Mieczkowski hit an RBI single to left center to make it 5-0. Bruno's homer made it 6-2 in the sixth, and the Red Dragons closed the scoring with three in the eighth on a Mieczkowski RBI single and a Krafft two-run single.
St. Joseph's starter Jack Kelly allowed five runs on seven hits with two walks and a strikeout in three and two thirds innings.
Cortland is making its 30th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance (1993-2019, 2021-23; 2020 was canceled) - the longest streak in Division III history and about to be the longest active streak on an NCAA level with Division I Florida State's 44-year streak ending shortly. Cortland has won at least one game in each of those 30 NCAA appearances.
