SALISBURY, Md. ­– The No. 13 Salisbury University baseball team suffered its first loss of the season, a 4-1 defeat to No. 10 State University of New York at Cortland, Sunday at the SU Baseball Field.

The contest was the opposite of yesterday's 12-5 slugfest between the two teams, with both sides getting shutdown pitching for much of the afternoon.

Salisbury (3-1) starting pitcher, junior Dylan Anderson, would allow a single in the first inning but would quickly settle down. The Saratoga Springs, N.Y., native would work 1-2-3 innings in the second, third, fourth and sixth innings.

Cortland's starter Brandon McClain would match Anderson, keeping the Sea Gulls off the scoreboard.

The Red Dragons would get on the board first, pushing across two runs in the top of the fifth. Following a one-out walk, Max Rosing hit a fly ball that got caught up in the wind and went over senior Bill Root's head and went to the wall. Donny Castaldo scored from first base for a 1-0 Cortland lead. The Red Dragons (3-1) would add to the lead, after Rosing stole third, he was knocked in by Tim Panetta.

Anderson would respond in the sixth, setting the Red Dragons down in order. He would work the first batter in the seventh, giving up a walk, before being replaced by sophomore Connor Shockley. Anderson finished the contest having given up two runs, both earned, on three hits. The righty walked two and struck out a career-high seven Red Dragons in six innings of work.

Shockley issued a walk to the second batter he faced and nearly worked out of the jam. With two outs, Bryan Marotta grounded weakly to first baseman Mike LaBriola. LaBriola threw to second base, but the ball sailed over the head of shortstop Pete Grasso, into left field, allowing the Red Dragons to push their lead to 3-0.

After another walk, Shockley would get Mitch Hollander to fly out to right fielder Kyle Hayman to work out of the bases loaded jam.

The Sea Gulls would face a new Red Dragon pitcher in the bottom of the seventh, Mark Palumbo. McLain would leave after throwing six shutout innings, allowing three hits, striking out eight Sea Gulls while not issuing a walk.

Head Coach Doug Fleetwood would go to the bullpen for the second time to start the eighth inning, bringing in sophomore Jon Schmedel. The right hander would give up back-to-back infield singles to start the inning. Following a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up a base, Schmedel forced a popup to LaBriola, and got out of inning by making a bare-handed pickup on a chopper to the third-base side of the mound and a strong throw to get out of the inning.

The Red Dragons would tack on an insurance run in the ninth, taking a 4-0 lead.

The Sea Gulls would make some noise in the ninth, with Hayman starting the inning with a double down the right field line. He would be moved up a base when Grasso singled through the right side of the infield.

Sanzone would drive in the lone Sea Gull run, as he chopped one to the shortstop, the Red Dragons would erase Grasso but were unable to turn two, as Hayman scored. Up next was junior Jordan Gowe, who was hit by a pitch. The Sea Gulls wouldn't be able to push across another run, as Cortland got a game-ending double play.

Grasso continued his hot start to the season, going 2-for-4. For the season, the Wilmington, Del., native is hitting .692 (9-for-13) and has scored eight runs in the first four games of his college career.

The Sea Gulls will be back in action tomorrow, hosting Washington (Md.) College at the SU Baseball Field. First pitch for that contest is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.