Box Score AUBURN, N.Y. - Daniel Coleman was 3 for 5 with five rbis and two runs scored leading the SUNY Cortland baseball team to a 13-2 victory over Tufts University to win the NCAA Regional title on Monday.
The Red Dragons (31-7) advance to the Division III College World Series which starts Friday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Cortland defeated Tufts twice in the championship round to win the Regional, including a 6-4 final on Sunday. The Jumbos saw their season end with a 15-8 record.
Tufts' Peter DeMaria hit a 2-0 pitch for a home run to left-center with two outs in the top of the first inning giving the Jumbos a 1-0 lead. However, that would be all they would get against Cortland starter Shane Mugnolo (6 IP, 7 H, 1 R).
The Red Dragons would get the lead with two off Tufts starter Michael Volgende in the second. Coleman led off with a walk, was sacrificed to second, took third on a ground out to the right side and then scored on a base hit up the middle by Andrew Michalski. A wild pitch moved Michalski to second and then he scored on a Tufts error.
Jumbo Brandon Bay led off the third with a single up the middle and stole second, but Jimmy Evans and DeMaria were retired on deep fly balls and then Mugnolo got a strikeout to end the frame.
Cortland would have scoring opportunities in nearly every inning. They added a run in the third after Volgende walked the first two batters. Cortland catcher James Varian couldn't get a bunt down on three attempts, but Coleman followed with an rbi single through the right side. Still with runners on second and third and one out, the Red Dragons could not extend their 3-1 lead.
Red Dragon shortstop Ben Rhodes had a nice day defensively, and got it started by saving a run in the Tufts fourth. Kyle Cortese had hit a one-out double into the right-field corner. Ryan Daues then sent a ball up the middle which Rhodes gloved and threw him out while holding Cortese at third. Chris Bonacci then made a sliding catch in left on Ryan Noone to keep the Jumbos off the scoreboard.
The Cortland defense would be a factor throughout the game. In the fifth, Coleman at third knocked down a hard-hit ball by Brandon Bay that could have been extra bases and instead was a single. DeMaria would single later in the inning, but Mugnolo got a called third strike for the third out.
Matthew Krafft led off the Cortland fifth with a single up the middle, stole second and went to third o a ground ball. With two outs, Coleman, after fouling off several pitches, doubled to the right- center gap making it 4-1. Mat Bruno followed with a single past the shortstop and it was 5-1. That was all for Volgende (4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER), who was relieved by Silas Reed.
Tufts put two on with two out in the sixth as Daues walked and Noone singled through the right side. The inning ended when Scott Giordano made a sliding catch in shallow center field on a ball off the bat of Nate Bozzella.
The Red Dragons would break the game open in the bottom of the sixth, scoring five times after two were out. Krafft dumped a two-run single into center on a 3-2 pitch and Coleman hit a bases-loaded double to right-center giving Cortland a 10-1 advantage.
Reliever Bailey Gauther pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for Cortland, who then added a run in the bottom of the frame. Rhodes was hit by a pitch, sacrificed to second and scored on a seeing-eye dribbler through the right side by Bonacci.
Clay Sowell and Jackson Duffy had singles to lead off the eight against Gauthier, but he got the next three outs to quell the rally.
Giordano led off the Red Dragon eighth with a double and scored on a fielder's choice from Bruno, who then scored on a Tufts error for a 13-1 Cortland advantage.
An error and three hit-by-pitches led to the second Tufts run in the bottom of the ninth, with the rbi to Sowell. The Red Dragons would end the game and win the Regional on a 6-4-3 double play though.
Coleman was named Most Outstanding Player of the Regional. Krafft, who was on the All-Tournament team, went 2 for 3 with three runs and two rbis. Giordano scored twice, and Mugnolo improved to 4-1 with the victory.
Cameron Mayer, Sowell and DeMaria were on the All-Tournament team for Tufts. Bay, DeMaria and Sowell each had two hits in today's game. Volgende finished the season at 4-2 with the pitching loss.
