CORTLAND, N.Y. – Second-seeded Ithaca College collected 16 hits off four Eastern Connecticut State University pitchers and scored ten unanswered runs in an 11-2 win over the No. 14 nationally-ranked defending national champion Warriors  in the first round of the NCAA Division III Cortland, NY Regional tournament Friday afternoon at Wallace Field.

Third-seeded Eastern (34-11) faces an elimination game Saturday at 8:30 a.m. against fourth-seeded and first-time opponent St. Joseph's College (L.I.), which lost its opener to top-seeded host SUNY Cortland, 9-2, in Friday's first game. Saturday's Eastern-St. Joseph's winner returns to play the Cortland-Ithaca loser in Game 5 Saturday at 3:30 in another elimination game. The Cortland-Ithaca advances to Sunday's championship round, needing one win to advance to the best-of-three Super Regional next weekend.

Eastern sophomore lefty Dan Driscoll (Waterford) didn't survive the fourth inning against Ithaca (29-14), allowing eight runs on ten hits for his fourth loss against eight wins. Ithaca senior righty Kyle Lambert pitched into the eighth inning for his seventh win in nine decisions Lamber gave up nine hits and both of Eastern's runs.

Fourteen of 16 hits were singles for Ithaca, which got seven hits, five RBI and five runs scored from 2-3-4 hitters Louis Fabbo, Garrett Callaghan and Matt Fabian. Riley Brawdey also had three hits and three RBI. Brawdey singled in the tying run in the second and drove in two more in the sixth that pushed the lead to 10-1.

Junior DH Alejandro Soriano's (Hartford) third home run of the season with two out in the second staked the Warriors to a quick 1-0 lead but the Bombers answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning fourth, chasing Driscoll after the first three batters reached. Sophomore centerfielder Ray Leonzi (Trumbull) extended his hitting streak to 21 with two hits but he was the only Eastern player with more than one. Junior rightfielder Jason Claiborn (Prospect) managed an infield single with two out in the third that extended his on-base streak to 18.

Sophomore righty Matthew Wootton (Milford) could open on the mound Saturday morning against St. Joseph's. Wootton is 6-1 with a 2.65 ERA in 11 appearances, all starts. Wootton won his first five starts this year and won the opening game of the Little East Conference tournament, 10-3, against the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth by pitching the first six innings.