CARY - Green Hope’s 4-3 win over Panther Creek Saturday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex ended with the Falcons leaning over the dugout railing as they urged home three seventh-inning runs.

In other words, just the way the late Matt Cossa would have enjoyed watching his alma mater play the sport he revered in a setting his family, friends and coaches say he would have loved.

"Matt was a competitor who would have been smiling the whole time,” said Green Hope coach Michael Miragliuolo, who coached the 2003 Green Hope graduate that died in 2006 from Hodgkins Lymphoma while in his junior year at North Carolina.

"He loved to be on the field with his teammates. It was a great to see all the people here, to have a chance to play in a great facility and to have our team come through at the end.”

This was the fifth annual “Bats for Matt” game organized by the Matt Cossa Memorial Foundation, and the early count is it raised over $23,000 for the Duke Cancer Institute. But it was the first year the event was staged at USA Baseball’s Coleman Field as the event with silent auction tables and family activities outgrew the Green Hope campus.

The USA Baseball complex is better known for hosting the national team and the NCAA Division II College World Series, and for that reason USA Baseball assistant facility supervisor Ronnie Rost said they welcomed the opportunity to attract more area residents out to the park.

"We like having such a community event, especially since it involves two Cary high schools,” Rost said. “It showcases to the citizens of Cary what kind of a venue we have here. We’re excited to be a part of such a good event.”

Panther Creek coach Harry Jones even agreed to give up a home game to be a part of it.

"This is a good thing to do for the community and a good thing for cancer research,” Jones said. “It was an opportunity for the kids to play in a great facility. It was win-win.”

Green Hope improved to 8-6 overall and 7-4 in the Tri-Nine Conference, while the Catamounts fell to 4-7-1 and 3-7.

Green Hope alum Colin Holloway played four years with Cossa and has helped organize or attended all five games. He traveled from Baltimore, where he’s an assistant materials manager for Under Armour.

"A lot of us have moved away, but this event brings us back home,” Holloway said. “Matt would have loved to play on such a great field. This place exudes everything you love about baseball. Who knows how big this can be?”

Green Hope was trailing 2-1 in the top of the seventh when Keaton Derks, up from the JV team and making his first varsity at bat, led off with a pinch-hit single.

John Hardin followed with a one-out walk, Stephen Pitarra doubled in Derks with the tying run and and Nestor Gomez singled in two more runs.

Senior Daniel Sondag, who came on in relief in the fourth inning, gave up his only run in the bottom of the seventh but got the final outs on a double play ground ball as he improved to 2-1.

"This facility is so nice it’s like playing in the big leagues,” Sondag said. “It’s nice to have a little something extra to play for, and it makes this more than just a win. Matt was a very inspirational guy from everything I’ve read and heard.”