The top-ranked Cortland baseball team earned its first-ever national championship with a 6-2 win over 20th-ranked Wisconsin-La Crosse in the NCAA Division III World Series on Wednesday in Grand Chute, Wis.
The win gave the Red Dragons a 2-0 series victory over UW-L.
.@RedDragonPride wins the #NCAAD3 Baseball National Championship! #d3b pic.twitter.com/clFwZqLUHN
— NCAA Division III (@NCAADIII) May 27, 2015
Cortland trailed 2-1 heading into the top of the ninth inning when Matthew Michalski led off the frame with a single. An error on Justin Teague’s sacrifice bunt attempt allowed Teague to reach base and Michalski moved to second. Mark DeMilio walked to load the bases.
» Box score
Nick Hart’s single to centerfield drove in Michalski and Teague to give Cortland a 3-2 lead.
The Red Dragons weren’t done yet. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third and a strikeout by Andrew Ziegenfus, Conrad Ziemendorf reached second on an error by the UW-L shortstop and DeMilio scored to give Cortland a 4-2 lead.
Fabio Ricci’s single drove in two more runs to give the Red Dragons a 6-2 lead.
Travis Laitar came on to pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning and after giving up a walk, he struck out a batter and coaxed a double-play ball to end the game.
Adam Brant was the winning pitcher with one scoreless inning of relief. Cortland starter Seth Lamando pitched seven strong innings with nine strikeouts and two earned runs.
Cortland finishes the season at 45-4, setting a school record for wins (43 was the previous record).
Cortland had made 12 previous trips to the D-III World Series starting in 1995 with two runner-up finishes.
The Red Dragons reached the World Series with wins over Oberlin, Amherst and RPI in the regionals.
In the World Series Cortland registered a win over Webster and two wins over Frostburg State before winning the two games over UW-L.
