FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -  The Spartans saw their comeback bid fall just short against the nation's second-ranked team on Wednesday afternoon, as they dropped a tough 7-6 defeat to Cortland at the FSC Baseball Complex in the first game of the New York Regional of the NCAA National Tournament.

After falling behind 7-1 after two innings, Castleton fought back in the game and even put the tying run in scoring position in the ninth before ultimately coming up short against the Red Dragons. The loss drops the Spartans record to 33-15 while No. 2 Cortland improves to 35-7-1. Both teams return to action tomorrow for their second game of the tournament.

Senior Tyler Erickson (Naugatuck, Conn.) went the distance for Castleton, tossing 8.0 innings and giving up seven earned runs on 11 hits while walking a single batter and striking out one. David Brandt (Contoocook, N.H.) led the offense with three hits, three steals and two runs while Joe Borowski (Schenectady, N.Y.) and Macyn Clifford (Brookline, N.H.) each added a pair of hits as the team finished with 12 overall.

Brandt made sure the Spartans got off on the correct foot as he led off the game with a single. The senior then stole second and advanced to third on a groundout. Borowski gave Castleton the lead with a run-scoring single to right field. Borowski advanced to third on a single by Peter Wagner (Brattleboro, Vt.), but Wagner was thrown out trying to steal second to end the frame.

Erickson shut down the Red Dragons in the bottom of the first, however, he ran into trouble one inning later. Each of the first two batters singled, and after a force out at second, three consecutive singles scored one run and loaded the bases for Matt June (Colonie, N.Y.). June ripped a two-run double and two more singles in the frame gave Cortland a 6-1 lead after two.

Castleton found some offense again in the fourth, putting up a pair of runs to cut the deficit to three. Clifford got the two-out rally going with a single. Adam Greenlese (Shokan, N.Y.) singled as well and Mat Pause (Hartford, Vt.) reached on an error, which scored Clifford. Another single by Brandt scored Greenlese for the final run of the inning.

The Red Dragons got one run back in the bottom of the frame to make it a 7-3 game through four innings.

No one scored again until the top of the seventh. Brandt manufactured some offense once again with an infield single. He then stole second and third before scoring on an error by the catcher. A double play two batters later ended the inning with Castleton trailing just 7-4.

The Spartan bats came alive again in the eighth as Cameron Curler (Vergennes, Vt.) singled with one out. Clifford followed with an RBI triple, spelling the end of the day for starter Aaron Schuldt (Liverpool, N.Y.). After Greenlese was hit by a pitch, Pause reached on an error, which allowed Clifford to score and cut the Red Dragon lead to 7-6. A fielder's choice put runners on the corners, however Ryan Zielinski (Schenectady, N.Y.) flied out to end the inning.

Borowski walked to lead off the ninth and pinch runner DJ Detweiler (Starksboro, Vt.) stole second to get in scoring position with one out. However, back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat and ended the contest.

Castleton will now play at noon on Thursday and face the winner of the day's second game between host Farmingdale St. and Skidmore. Live stats for the game will be available on the Castleton Athletics home page.