GRAND CHUTE, Wis. - State University of New York-Cortland designated hitter Pat D'Auria described Sunday's elimination contest with Chapman University as a "heavyweight boxing match."

     Indeed, Sunday's affair was a back-and-forth battle. Cortland State had to rally three times from deficits to Chapman. And the teams combined for 27 runs, 33 hits, four innings where teams batted around the lineup, eight different pitchers … and two weather delays at Fox Cities Stadium totaling one hour and 35 minutes.

     "I told the guys after Chapman went up in the third inning, 'Guys, this is going to be a heavyweight boxing match. We're going to have to slug it out.' … This is it, we're fighting. We lose, we go home. We've got a lot of seniors on our team and we're not ready to be done yet."

     And in the end, Cortland State got the knockout blow, rallying to score a 15-12 victory over Chapman in the wild contest, remaining alive in the double-elimination tournament and sending home the No. 2-ranked team in the country in the process.

     With the win, Cortland State (41-8-1) set a new school record for single-season victories and will face the winner of Sunday's other elimination game between Rowan University (42-9) and Wartburg College (36-10), in another elimination game on Monday, scheduled for 12 p.m.

     "I'm awfully proud because we battled and battled and battled," said Cortland State coach Joe Brown. "We got down a little bit and things didn't go quite well early for our pitching. Chapman does a phenomenal job of putting the ball in play, and they had some very, very quality at bats which wore some of our pitchers out a little bit. We just had to keep rolling them out there until we came up with Kenny."

    Kenny - Cortland State reliever Ken Hartling, the fifth pitcher used by the Red Dragons on Sunday - shut down the Panthers after he came into the game in the fourth inning. Despite having to deal with two extended rain delays, Hartling was effective, not allowing a hit or a run in his five-and-a-third innings of work.

     "I just located my pitches, kept it down and let the defense do the work," Hartling said.

    "He had to accept a new role," Brown said of Hartling. "Last year, he was a starting pitcher for us and got six to eight starts. We went into this year and asked him basically to go to the bullpen for us, and it was his day (today)."

    Hartling struck out three and walked four, only having to deal with five baserunners in his extended time in relief.

    "He made good pitches, and we had some opportunities and didn't capitalize on them," said Chapman second baseman Justin Hallenbeck, who went 3-for-6 at the plate on the day. "It kind of summed up our whole day. We had opportunities to keep the merry-go-round game going, and he (Hartling) made some good pitches. We didn't clutch up in times that we needed to."

    Meanwhile, the Red Dragons came up with their clutch hits at key times, rallying three times from deficits to score the win.

    Shawn Ensel and Nick Wilson scored each of the three times they came to the plate in the third, fourth and fifth innings, with each netting two singles.

    In the third inning, Cortland State sent nine batters to the plate and scored five runs, again sent nine batters to the plate and scored four runs in the fourth inning, and did the same in the seventh inning to take the lead for good.

    Andy Mead hit a clutch two-run single with the bases loaded to spark the first rally in the third inning, followed by a two-run double off the left-center wall by D'Auria, who ended the game going 3-for-5 with five RBI.

     "It was just one of those weird games, and that's the way it goes," said Chapman coach Tom Tereschuk. "It was a really unusual game to have a high-scoring game like that. For us, we normally have really good pitching and defense, and it didn't come out that way today."

    But Chapman battled back in its half of the fourth, taking the lead back at 12-7. The Panthers sent 11 batters to the plate in the frame, scoring seven runs on six hits. Hallenbeck and Travis Otott each clouted two-run doubles, Brian Brubaker had a run-scoring single and Scott Zine drove in a run on a triple.

    A run-scoring single by Zach Tacelli, a sacrifice fly by Travis Robinson, and a two-run single by D'Auria were key hits in the fifth inning for Cortland State, as the Red Dragons scored four runs to trim the lead to 12-11.

    Jimmy Basnight opened the seventh for the Red Dragons with a solo home run to left field, tying the game at 12-12, and took the lead on a run-scoring single by D'Auria. Two more runs came across following a throwing error on an infield grounder to give the Red Dragons their eventual margin of victory.

    All nine hitters for the Red Dragons had at least one hit. Mead went 3-for-4 with three RBI, and Ricky Piovesan, Tacelli, Ensel and Wilson had two hits each. Jimmy Basnight, Ensel and Wilson scored three runs each.

    Chapman took the early lead, scoring in each of its first four innings. Hallenbeck had three hits, including a two-run double, in his first four at-bats, scoring three runs. Mooneyham had two run-scoring singles and scored a run himself, while C.J. Castillo doubled and scored, and Kyle Redding singled to drive in a run and scored himself.

    Hallenbeck ended up with two RBI and three runs scored for Chapman, while John Alexander, Zine, Mooneyham, Brubaker and Otott had two hits each. Otott drove in three runs, and Zine and Mooneyham had two RBI each.

    Jon Rockfeld started on the mound for Cortland State and allowed eight hits and four runs in an inning-and-a-third. Ryan Hooper, Toby Youngs and Jason Chyr pitched in relief before Hartling entered the game to earn the win for the Red Knights.

    Jeff Green started for Chapman and struck out four, but allowed seven runs, six hits and three walks. Billy Sulentor pitched one inning for the Panthers, and Scott Akamine pitched four-and-a-third innings of relief, taking the loss.

    The game was delayed for the first time for 48 minutes in the middle of the fifth inning, due to a threat of severe weather in the area. The game was delayed for the second time in the middle of the seventh inning due to rain for 47 minutes.