Ratliff no-hitter highlights sweep
| Travis Ratlif only allowed three base runners, all
on walks, in throwing the fifth no-hitter of the 2011 D-III
season. D3photograpy.com photo by Larry Radloff |
Cortland senior Travis Ratliff threw the 18th no-hitter in
school history as the nationally 20th-ranked Red Dragons defeated
Plattsburgh, 1-0, in the second game of a SUNYAC doubleheader.
Cortland also won the first game, 3-2, and is now 14-5 overall and
6-0 in the conference.
Ratliff allowed only three walks and struck out eight in seven
innings and is 2-2 on the season. His no-hitter is the third by a
Red Dragon in the last four seasons – Adam Brown
no-hit Cazenovia last season and current Minnesota Twins farmhand
Matt Tone threw a no-hitter at Oswego in 2008.
Freshman center fielder Adam Smith, who entered the game as a
defensive replacement in the bottom of the seventh, preserved
Ratliff’s no-hitter with a great running catch to
start the inning. Plattsburgh had the tying run reach on a two-out
Pat Shaughnessy walk, but Cortland senior catcher Justin Fredenburg
(Saugerties) threw out Shaughnessy trying to steal second to end
the game and seal the no-hitter.
Nick Thode was the offensive hero on the day. Thode drove in
all of Cortland's runs on the day including game two's lone run in
the top of the first. Adornetto walked with two outs and scored on
Thode’s double to left center. Thode finished
2-for-3 as the Red Dragons ended with five hits.
Ratliff walked Presto, the first hitter he faced, along with a
two-out free pass to Danny Roeser in the fifth. Both of those
runners were stranded at second.
The first game was a pitchers duel as Junior Aaron Schuldt allowed
four hits and struck out nine in eight and a third innings in the
win.
