Ninth-Inning Rally Sends Cortland to NCAA Div. III World Series
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Cortland rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth on a Michael LaTempa (LaGrangeville/Arlington) RBI triple and a P.J. Rinaldi (Bethel, CT) sacrifice fly and the Red Dragons earned a trip to the NCAA Div. III World Series with a 2-1 victory over Farmingdale State in the championship round of the NCAA New York Regional.
Cortland (39-7-1) finished 4-0 at the double-elimination regional and will be making its 11th World Series appearance. The Red Dragons will face the winner of the Mid-Atlantic Regional in the opening day of the Series on Friday, May 25, in Grand Chute, Wis. (near Appleton).
Trailing 1-0, Cortland started its winning rally with a John Adornetto (Commack) leadoff walk. Max Rosing (Rockville Centre/South Side) bunted Adornetto to second and LaTempa tripled to left center to drive in the tying run. Following a Tim Panetta (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) walk, Rinaldi hit a fly ball to center that was dropped, but still resulted in the game-ending sacrifice fly.
Farmingdale outhit Cortland by a 12-3 margin but managed only one run. The Rams took the lead in the top of the third when Anthony Alvino singled with one out, was bunted to second by Ryan McAllister and scored on a Frank Scarlato single to center. Scarlato finished the game 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Alvino and Terrence Bohonan were each 2-for-4.
John Molloy (Franklin Square/Carey) started for Cortland and allowed nine hits, one walk and one run in six and a third innings. He struck out three batters. Tyler Scott (New Paltz) pitched the final two and two-thirds innings for the victory in his first decision of the season. Scott gave up only three hits and no walks and fanned two.
Mike Dolce entered in relief of starter Connor Henson in the third and pitched six innings. He gave up two hits and four walks, struck out two and was charged with the two runs for the loss. Michael Santagata entered in the ninth to face Rinaldi.
Farmingdale had good scoring chances in the first two innings but couldn’t capitalize. The Rams stranded runners on first and second in the first and had the bases loaded with two outs in the second before Molloy recorded an inning-ending strikeout.
In the sixth inning, Scarlato doubled with one out. With two outs, Matthew Zsevc singled to center. Scarlato tried to score on the play but was thrown out at home by LaTempa.
One of Cortland’s best scoring opportunities prior to the ninth came in the bottom of the sixth. Andrew Pezzuto (Hastings) walked and was sacrificed to second by Adornetto. Pezzuto went to third on a groundout but was stranded after LaTempa lined out to short.
Pezzuto was named the NCAA Farmingdale Regional Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Panetta, Ray Angelucci (Commack) and Mike Hughes (Albany).
Box Score
Tournament Page
2012 NCAA Division III Farmingdale Baseball Regional All-Tournament Team
Tim Panetta - SUNY Cortland
Ray Angelucci - SUNY Cortland
Mike Hughes - SUNY Cortland
Ron Remi - Farmingdale State
David Zilnicki - Farmingdale State
Frank Scarlato - Farmingdale State
Matt DeRamo - Farmingdale State
Pat Lemmo - Ithaca
Andrew Sanders - Ithaca
David Brandt - Castleton State
Most Outstanding Player: Andrew Pezzuto - SUNY Cortland
