Appleton, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team fell 11-3 to the State University of New York at Cortland Tuesday night in the best-of-three championship series opener at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Eagles, making their first appearance in the NCAA III World Series, drops to 36-15 on the season. The Red Dragons, in their 13th trip to the championship, improves to 44-4 on the year.
The second game of the best-of-three series is scheduled for Wednesday, May 27 at 11 a.m. If UW-L wins, the teams will play a third championship game starting at approximately 2:30 p.m.
The teams are meeting for the first time in school history.
SUNY Cortland, also seeking its first national title, took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a pair of unearned runs. Mark DeMilio reached on a throwing error to start the inning. He then stole second and advanced to third on Nick Hart's sacrifice bunt. DeMilio scored on Vinny Bomasuto's RBI groundout to make it 1-0. Anthony Simon then reached on UW-L's second throwing error of the inning, stole second and scored on Conrad Ziemendorf's two-out single.
The Red Dragons, ranked first in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Poll, scored three times in the bottom of the second to lead 5-0. DeMilo recorded an RBI on a UW-L fielding error as two runs scored on the play and Bomasuto later added a run-scoring single.
UW-L, ranked 22nd on the ABCA Poll, cut the deficit to 5-2 in the top of the fourth.
Ben Morgan walked with one out and advanced to second after
Shane Adler drew a two-out walk.
Travis Buxton-Verstegen singled to score Morgan and
Joel Zyhowski knocked in Adler to make it 5-2.
The Eagles made it 5-3 in the seventh as
Taylor Kohlwey singled with two outs and scored on
Justin Anderson's double, but the Red Dragons came back with three runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, Ziemendorf singled to score Hart while Simon later stole home. Austin Clock finished the scoring with an RBI double knocking in Fabio Ricci. Bomasuto had a sacrifice fly in the ninth while Simon added an RBI single and Clock walked with the bases-loaded.
Adler (0-4) suffered the loss for UW-L, pitching a complete-game. He went 8.0 innings, allowing 15 hits, 11 runs (seven earned) and two walks while striking out three.
Buxton-Verstegen finished 3-for-4 with an RBI while Zyhowski went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Alex Cordova finished 2-for-5.
Brandon McClain (6-1) earned the win for SUNY Cortland, going 5.1 innings, allowing six hits, two runs and two walks with four strikeouts.
Every starter had a hit for the Red Dragons as Ziemendorf went 4-for-5 with two RBI and Hart 3-for-4 with two runs. Simon finished 2-for-5 with three runs and an RBI as SUNY Cortland finished with 15 hits.
