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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2001/04/20/baseball-set-for-columbia/)

April 20, 2001

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Baseball Set for Columbia

By ryan | April 20, 2001

The Gehrig Division standings could be shuffled once again this weekend when the Cornell baseball team (8-17, 4-6 Ivy) travels to Andy Coakley Field for a quartet of games with the Columbia Lions (12-22, 6-6 Ivy). The two teams will renew a rivalry that began way back in 1885.

The Red, despite bringing up the rear of the division, is just three games behind first-place Princeton, while Columbia trails the Tigers by 2. Penn is also tied with the Lions. The Quakers will host Princeton this weekend in a pair of doubleheaders as well.

If things go Cornell’s way, it is possible for it to be tied at the top spot on Sunday night. This would take a sweep by both the Red and either a three or four-win weekend by Penn. A three-win weekend for the Quakers means a tie with Princeton, while a sweep for Penn means a tie with the Quakers for the Red. Either way, Cornell has to sweep in New York City.

On the other hand, a bad showing on the Red’s part could result in elimination from the playoff race. A Columbia sweep will land Cornell at least five games out of first, and the remaining Ivy schedule prevents a comeback.

Both teams enter the contests anxious to end their losing streaks. The Red has dropped its last four games, the most recent two on Tuesday to LeMoyne. Both of those defeats were by two-run margins. Cornell’s last Ivy action was on Saturday, when it lost both ends of a doubleheader to Penn, rounding out a split on the weekend.

Meanwhile, Columbia will be trying to stop a three-game skid. On Wednesday, the Lions were bombed by Rutgers, 20-2. Columbia last took on an Ivy opponent on Saturday as well, when it dropped a pair of matches to the Tigers.

On Fire

Junior outfielder/pitcher Erik Rico is riding his own personal hot streak from last weekend. He earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors for his performance in the Penn series. Rico led Cornell at the plate with five extra-base hits on the weekend, including a clutch homer in the Friday nightcap.

Head coach Tom Ford declined to comment on the weekend’s action.

Archived article by Alex Fineman

Related

Heavyweight Crew Wins Goes Trophy

By ryan April 23, 2001

This weekend, the Cornell men’s heavyweight crew accomplished something it hadn’t done in nearly a decade. By going to Annapolis, Md., and returning to East Hill with the Goes Trophy and the Stagg Cup, the crew established itself as an irrefutable national powerhouse. The annual competition has pitted three perennial strong crews in Navy, Syracuse, and the Red against each other since 1955. The Goes Trophy is given to the winner of the first varsity race, which the Red (4-0) won during this year’s contest by four seconds over runner-up Syracuse with a time of 6:05.7. The Stagg Cup goes to the the team totaling the most points in the first and second varsity and first novice races. The Red won both varsity races and placed second behind Navy in the first novice race. On Saturday, the women’s novice boats dominated Penn and Rutgers while the first varsity boat dropped to 1-4, taking third place in the race with Rutgers winning at 6:35.16. Yesterday saw Cornell’s first varsity boat drop another race to a strong University of Virginia squad by a nine second differential. The most exciting race of the weekend came when UVA literally inched out Cornell’s second varsity boat by eight tenths of a second. It was then the novice crews’ turn to put on yet another show for the Inlet Faithful — winning the first novice race by nearly 12 seconds and the second novice race by a 16.8 second margin. The men’s lightweight crew (1-5) traveled to Mass., on Saturday to take on Columbia, Penn, and MIT for the Geiger Cup. For the fifth straight year Columbia walked away with the title, winning the first varsity race by ten seconds over the second-place Red boat with a time of 6:19.9. The Red was second in the overall standings but could not break the Lions streak which began in 1997 after the Red had won the award for the prior five years. The men’s lightweight crew was then stunned yesterday by a very fast Yale squad which swept each of the five races in which Georgetown also competed. The best showing of the day came from the Red’s second freshman boat which lost in a tight race from start to finish by one second with a time of 6:17.3. The heavyweight men next head to Yale to take on the Bulldogs and Princeton. The lightweights take on Dartmouth in Ithaca next Saturday and the women are at Brown on that same day. Archived article by Scott Jones
W. Tennis Gets Swept

By ryan April 23, 2001

The women’s tennis team’s (13–9, 2–5 Ivy) last matches of the season and senior captain Ngozi Amobi’s last matches of her collegiate career ended in disappointment against Pennsylvania and Princeton (7–10, 3–4) this weekend. The Quakers began strong on Saturday, sweeping every doubles match. The Red was unable to rebound, losing five out of the six singles matches. The sole Red victory was won in a close match in the No. 6 spot, with Cornell sophomore Alex DelPrete beating Rachel Shwecky in a three–set thriller, 5–7, 6–3, (7–5). DelPrete was also part of a tightly contested doubles match with partner Nicole Chiu — eventually falling to the Quakers 8–6. Amobi lost 6–3, 6–1 at the No. 2 spot. The Tigers handed the Red a similar fate, prevailing 5–2. Suzanne Wright had a particularly bright day, winning her singles match 5–0, while teaming up with DelPrete to win her doubles match, 9–8 (5). Amobi closed out her illustrious career with a win — joining forces with Laura Tallent to win her doubles match 8–5, thereby giving the Red the doubles point. Already making great strides towards becoming a powerhouse, the team returns a great amount of experience next season and looks forward to improving its Ivy League record. Archived article by Meryl Conant