April 18, 2001

Baseball Continues Skid, Drops Pair to LeMoyne

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Well, so what if Bears can’t swim better than Dolphins. They can certainly keep up.

Yesterday, the baseball team traveled to Syracuse looking to challenge the fact that sea creatures fare better in their watery homes than land animals.

Despite failing to disprove this truth, Cornell (8-17, 4-6 Ivy) gave the Dolphins something to remember.

LeMoyne College, the Red’s opponent over two games, was not your average run-of-the-mill, ‘I’ve never heard of them school.’ Dating back to the first meeting in 1964, the Dolphins have kept a tight hold over Cornell, winning 16-of-24 match-ups. In addition, the team has posted a solid 4.45 combined ERA and a .322 batting average on the year.

In game one, the Red succumbed 3-1 in a hard-fought contest. A solo home run by center fielder Andrew Luria in the top of the sixth made the only dent in Cornell’s score.

Freshman Glenn Morris (0-1) took the loss as he pitched 5-2/3 innings, yielded three runs off seven hits and fanned one.

LeMoyne was backed by a complete-game stint from Chris Marsh, who registered six strike outs and issued a free pass to only one Cornell batter.

Fighting a trend of melting down in the nightcap, the Red managed to give itself another good shot at coming out ahead. In the sixth inning, Cornell plated three runs to tie the score at 4-4. That would be the final run total for the visitors, but the home team responded in the seventh and last inning to take the game 6-4 off a two-run homer by Mike Pecchia, his only hit in the contest.

“A guy got a fly ball up in the air, and it went out,” head coach Tom Ford blandly commented on the homer.

Luria also contemplated the loss.

“I think that is just one of those things that happens,” he sighed.

Ivy League Player of the Week Erik Rico was responsible for three of the Red’s four runs thanks to a 2-for-3 endeavor at the plate. He singled in one of his RBIs and earned the other two when his hit sailed over the fence in the sixth.

Senior John Hardy (1-1) started for the Red and went five innings while striking out two. Junior Devin Corr (0-2) took the loss over 1-1/3 innings of relief.

LeMoyne seemed bothered by the Red as it used a total of five pitchers in the game. Tim Salvatore pitched the first five innings. Shane Burke then came in to face three batters and was followed by Chad Skidmore and Adam Shaver, who both faced two Cornellians. The Dolphins fifth and final pitcher, Andy Weimer, came on in the seventh and retired the side on three straight ground outs.

Luria emphasized the positive aspects of the twinbill.

“It was definitely good to come out the way we did and play solid baseball all the way through. We just played the way it was supposed to be played,” he said.

Ford was quick to dispel any notion that the team needed something to assure itself that it could compete with the big boys.

“I don’t think this team ever lacks confidence,” he asserted. “There were two pretty good teams going at it, and we just have to do a little better job of making our hits count.” They were very good baseball games that were well played and well pitched by both sides. We just didn’t come up with a couple extra hits we needed,” Ford continued.

Cornell will be back in action this weekend when it heads to New York City to face Columbia over four games.

“Baseball is kind of a funny game because you can’t look at things like[momentum]. We take each game a day at a time here,” Ford ended when asked if these games would be a stepping-stone for success against the Lions.

Luria, on the other hand, believes that the quality of Cornell’s play will give the team a boost come game time Saturday afternoon.

“LeMoyne is a very solid program, and it has shown that over the years. We sometimes step it up like that, like the game with Miami [on Spring Break]and last weekend against Penn. It is definitely very positive for us, and we need to have a big weekend this weekend and finish as strong as possible in the Ivy League. Hopefully we will use this as fuel to get our fire going.”

Archived article by Katherine Granish