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.
Courtesy: SUNY Cortland
