ONEONTA, N.Y. - The Oneonta baseball team opened SUNYAC play going 0-2 against Cortland on Monday afternoon. Cortland (8-8-1, 2-0 SUNYAC) won the opener 4-1 and defeated Oneonta (7-8, 0-2 SUNYAC) 18-6 in the second game. 

Cortland 4, Oneonta 1

In a closely fought first game, Cortland opened with two runs in the first inning. Dylan Mackenzie singled in a run from Jon Munoz, and stole home to make it 2-0. 

Oneonta answered in the bottom of the second, when sophomore Joey Dwyer (Shoreham, NY/Shoreham Wading River) led off with a home run to left field, cutting the lead to 2-1. 

The score remained the same until the top of the ninth, with senior Sean Liquori (Thiells, NY/North Rockland) striking out seven Cortland batters over five innings. Chris Bonacci drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run, and another run scored on a wild pitch.

Dwyer went 2-for-4, while senior Alex Wurster (Central Square, NY/Paul V. Moore) added Oneonta's third hit. 

Bonacci batted 3-for-4 with a double and a triple. 

Liquori (1-2) went 5.0 innings with two runs and seven strikeouts.

Luis Misla went all nine innings and struck out 13 Oneonta batters.

Cortland 18, Oneonta 6

After falling behind 4-0 in the top of the second, junior Logan Hutter (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown West/Smithtown) hit an RBI single to cut the Cortland lead to 4-1. Oneonta added another run with senior Liam Kaseta (Somers, NY/Somers) scoring on a Dwyer single. 

Oneonta scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth by capitalizing on some Cortland errors. Junior Josh Gilkey (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minor) reached home on a pitcher's error before freshman Lukas Jachens (Cornwall, NY/Cornwall Central) reached home to tie the game 4-4. Junior Anthony Foglia (Somers, NY/North Salem) doubled in two runs to go up 6-4. 

After two quick outs in the sixth inning, Cortland scored eight runs to retake the lead at 12-6. Mat Bruno hit a three-RBI double as Cortland recorded six hits. 

Cortland added five more runs in the eighth, with Mackenzie leading off with a home run. 

Senior Kyle Roper (Tappan, NY/Tappan Zee) went 4.0 innings with four strikeouts, while Cortland's Zack Zarrilli (2-0) picked up the win. Matthew Nochowitz grabbed the save by pitching the final three innings. 

Oneonta wraps up the three-game series against Cortland on Tues. Mar. 26 at noon on Red Dragon Baseball Field.