Cortland Standard .net

While SUNY Cortland has come close to capturing a national baseball title, having been a runner-up on two occasions, perhaps the program’s 13th trip to the NCAA Division III World Series will prove to be a lucky number.
The Red Dragons departed by bus for the Midwest this morning for their second consecutive World Series appearance at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in the Wisconsin hamlet of Grand Chute.
Coach Joe Brown’s squad has been ranked No. 1 in the country during this 40-4 campaign that featured capturing SUNY Athletic Conference regular season and playoff titles before shutting out RPI 7-0 this past Saturday to win the NCAA New York State Regional.
Eight teams will compete in the World Series which begins Friday and could continue on through next Wednesday, May 27. Cortland will face Webster University (34-13) out of Missouri on opening day, that Friday game a 2:15 p.m. start local time.
The World Series features a new format this year, mirroring the Division I College World Series. The tournament consists of two, four-team double-elimination pools. The two bracket winners will play a best-of-three series to determine the national champion.
The other teams in Cortland’s A Pool, Maryland’s Frostburg State (41-7) and New Jersey’s Ramapo College (32-14), will play Friday at 10 a.m. The Cortland/Webster winner and loser will match up with the Frostburg/Ramapo winner and loser, respectively, on Saturday.
Bracket play continues Sunday and, if needed, Monday, and the championship series will start on either Monday or Tuesday.
The B Pool opening day match-ups have Texas’ Trinity University (37-12) versus Georgia’s Emory University (30-13) while Wisconsin-La Crosse (33-13) takes on Maryland’s Salisbury University (33-4-1).
Ramapo is the lone school in this year’s field who has won a national title, that coming back in 1984. Cortland was national runner-up in both 2005 and 2010, while Emory was runner-up in 2007 and 2014.
Emory and Salisbury are each making their fifth Series appearance. Webster is in the Series for the third time, all since 2012. Ramapo has not played in the Series since winning its title in 1984.
Cortland’s 13 World Series appearances are the most by any Division III school since the division first adopted an eight-team field in 1991.
An Opening Ceremony will be held the evening prior to the World Series at Fox Cities Stadium on Thursday night. The ceremony will feature the introduction of the eight teams, presentation of the NCAA Elite 89 Award, team videos, and announcement of the ABCA All-America Team.
Cortland has four able starting pitchers ready for the World Series, Brandon Serio (7-0, 1.98 earned run average), Seth Lamando (5-0, 0.84), Alex Weingarten (8-1, 2.63) and southpaw Brandon McClain (5-1, 2.22). Lamando took a no-hitter into the ninth inning in a conference playoff win over Brockport, while McClain is fresh from that 7-0 blanking of RPI in the New York State Regional title game where he allowed just four hits and struck out 10 batters.
Outfielder Vinny Bomasuto was the MVP of the regionals, hitting a pair of two-run homers while batting .529. He leads the team with five home runs on the season, and shares the team lead in RBIs with center fielder Conrad Ziemendorf with 38 apiece.