CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Wilkes University Colonels traveled to Cortland Monday afternoon to face the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons.
 
The Colonels (21-15) upended Cortland (26-8), ranked sixth in the latest D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll, with a six-run burst in the fifth inning to claim a 7-6 victory over the Red Dragons.
 
A Michael Patrizio (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) bunt brought home the Colonels first run of the day in the top of the third to give them a 1-0 lead, but a pair of home runs by Cortland gave them a 3-1 lead with a two-run home run in the third and a solo home run in the fourth.  The Navy and Gold pieced together what turned out to be a game-winning response in the top of the fifth inning.  A Jason Spezzaferra (Maywood, NJ/Hackensack) single started off the scoring before a Peyton Schuck (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan Academy) single brought in a pair of runs to give them a 4-3 lead.  A Zack Luksic (Shavertown, PA/Dallas) home run would prove to be the game-winner, a three-run home run to right field to make it 7-3.
 
The Red Dragons didn't give up, however, and a pair of walks followed by a home run to left center put Cortland within one in the bottom of the eighth.  A key double play followed by a groundout kept the Colonels lead safe heading into the final frame.  The Colonels managed to load the bases with a walk and a pair of singles but were unable to give themselves breathing room off of it.  A double with one out for the Red Dragons put the tying run in scoring position, but a line out followed by a fly out ended the threat and gave the Navy and Gold an upset victory.
 
Tegan Shortlidge (Berwick, PA/Berwick) earned the win with 5.1 innings pitched and a pair of strikeouts, while Sawyer Kemp (Nescopeck, PA/Berwick) earned his eighth save of the season with two innings of work and one run allowed.  Luksic finished three of five on the day with three RBIs, while Spezzaferra finished three of four with an RBI.  Chase Vrabel (Gibsonia, PA/Pine Richland) finished two of four at the plate and accounted for two of the Colonels seven runs.
 
The Colonels look to carry their momentum into their final Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom series of the season against King's.  The first of three games will be a cross town trip to face the Monarchs Friday with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in a series the Colonels lead 20-13 in the live stats era.  The Colonels will then host the Monarchs for a Senior Day doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday at Bruggeworth Field.