The Utica College baseball team lost to visiting Cortland State 11-2 in the home opener for the Pioneers on Tuesday afternoon at the UC Baseball Field. The Pioneers totaled eight hits on the day - but stranded nine runners on base - as they dropped to 3-10 on the year. Junior first baseman Adam Bittel (New Hartford, CT/Northwestern Region) went 2-for-4 with one RBI, while Bryan Martinez-Torres went 2-for-3 at the dish. Sophomore Matt Zitt (Latrobe, PA/Greater Latrobe) struck out two in 5 1/3 innings pitched for Utica.

Cortland – winners of nine of its last ten games - improved to 17-6 overall. Third baseman Steve Nickel went 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs scored and two RBIs, while first baseman John Zilnicki went 2-for-4 with two RBIs to pace the Red Dragons.

Zitt gave up three runs on just two hits as Cortland jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Red Dragons added another run in the top of the second inning after a sacrifice fly by Nickel scored shortstop Damon Arnold.

After falling behind 5-0 in the top of the fourth, the Pioneers responded by tacking on two runs, to cut the deficit to 5-2. Bittel and Kevin Oquendo hit back to back RBI singles to score Anthony Di Salvo (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) and Russ Haentges in the bottom of the fourth to account for the Pioneers lone runs of the evening. UC was unable to keep the rally going after loading the bases and the Red Dragons led by three headed into the fifth inning.

Cortland tacked on five more runs over the course of the next two innings to put the game out of reach.

Jeremy Clark (Thorofare, NJ/Woodbury), Luke Manolescu (New York Mills, NY/Notre Dame), and Chris Podlucky (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) each tallied one hit a piece for the Pioneers. Rich Lange (Utica, NY/Notre Dame) and Adrian Jackson (Philadelphia, PA/Harriton) combined to hold the Red Dragons hitless, and gave up just one run, in the final three innings to close out the contest.

Utica returns to action Wednesday afternoon when it hosts the 23rd annual Jackie Robinson game against local rival Hamilton College. UC holds a 12-10 all-time series advantage in the Jackie Robinson game against the Continentals. The contest is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.

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