A strong pitching performance was not enough as the Clarkson University Baseball team fell to the defending national champion Cortland Red Dragons on Thursday afternoon in Auburndale, Florida.

Clarkson is now 2-7 on the season while Cortland improves to 13-1.

Cortland took the lead with one run in the bottom of the third inning, but Clarkson came right back with a run of their own in the top of the fourth. Dom Pirro walked to start the inning and then moved to third on two groundouts. He was able to score when Connor Martin lifted a single to left center.

Cortland regained the lead in the next half inning with two runs, but once again Clarkson was able to immediately respond. Anthony Padrazo started the inning with a deep double to left field and then Chris Miller slammed a double to right field to score him.

Cortland scored one more run in the fifth to stretch its lead to 4-2.

Clarkson had a brief rally in its half of the eighth. Paddy Defino walked and then moved to second on a Martin sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout, Padrazo got an RBI of his own through a single.

However, Cortland was able to answer once more as a leadoff home run in the eighth opened up a two-run cushion that turned out to be the final margin.

Ian Castle started the game for Clarkson and pitched five innings, allowing just one earned run to go with four strikeouts. Joe Rooney relieved him, pitching the final three innings, allowing just one run on two hits. Padrazo had three hits while Brad Pearson and Pirro had a pair each.

Clarkson will close out the Florida portion of its schedule with a game against conference rival Rensselaer at 9:00 am. Clarkson will be looking to close its trip out with a victory although the game will not count towards the conference standings.