The baseball team headed into its second weekend of Ivy League play expecting competition from both Yale and Brown. As relatively uneventful as the two games against the Bulldogs were, the team’s doubleheader against Brown was the exact opposite.
Cornell (10-17, 2-6 Ivy) traveled to Yale on Saturday with a two-game winning streak, thanks to a sweep of Binghamton in which the team outscored its opponent 15-6.
In the first game, the Red took full advantage of its momentum after three scoreless innings. A double, hit-by-pitch, and a single by the heart of the Cornell lineup loaded the bases for sophomore left fielder David Bredhoff.
One pitch and one swing later, Bredhoff launched the ball out of the park for a grand slam and a 4-0 lead. Junior catcher Paul Hudson added to the lead in the top of the seventh with a solo shot of his own.
Yale scored a run in the bottom of the fifth, but a solid combined effort from senior Brendan McQuaid (3-2) and junior closer David Sharfstein limited the Bulldogs to seven hits. The Red took the win by a final score of 5-1.
McQuaid recorded two strikeouts and did not allow a single walk in six innings. Sharfstein was perfect in one inning of work.
Junior third baseman Jim Jackson lead the team going, 2-for-3. Bredhoff was 1-for-2 with four RBI.
“We made the plays and started the weekend off right. We played good defense and pitched well and got the run support that Brendan needed on the big home run by David Bredhoff,” senior centerfielder Andrew Luria said.
In the field, Cornell was perfect and did not commit a single error in the contest.
In the nightcap, Yale jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second that it would not relinquish. The Bulldogs added six runs to their lead in the bottom of the fourth to make open their lead to 8-0.
Cornell refused to go quietly and staged a rally in the top of the fifth that loaded up the bases, but Yale’s pitcher, Matt McCarthy, only gave up three runs.
Yale plated another run in the bottom of the eighth, which was the last one scored in the game. The Bulldogs earned a split of the day’s games with a 9-3 win.
Bredhoff and Luria both had two hits, one being a double for each player, on the night.
Freshman Conor Kelly (0-3) took the loss for the Red in 3-2/3 innings. He surrendered six runs, while striking out three and walking no one.
McCarthy pitched all nine innings for Yale and struck out seven with three walks.
“[Yale] definitely came back and some of our pitchers got rocked a little bit,” Luria summarized.
In Sunday’s action against Brown, the two teams staged a hit-fest and connected 43 times between them over the pair of games.
Brown jumped out to an early lead in game one and plated three runs in the bottom of the first to go ahead 3-0. The Bears were not done, however, and added one run in the second, two in the fifth, and three in the sixth to take the match by a score of 9-1.
Cornell scored its run in the fifth off a single by senior first baseman Flint Foley to send home senior second baseman Vince Santo. Foley’s hit was the only one for the Red and ended Brown freshman pitcher Chris Davidson’s bid for a no-hitter. Davidson’s struck out 13 and walked three in seven innings of work.
“It was one of the best performances I have seen in four years. [Davidson] pitched great and had a lot of speed,” Luria said. “He was throwing at least 90 miles per hour, had a great slider and we just had a hard time picking the ball up and doing anything with it. The kid pitched a great gameand it was frustrating.”
As for Foley’s single, Luria reported that, “It was a legitimate hit, there were a couple others that were questionable that they called errors, so it was a little debatable at some points, but that’s not to take anything away from David because he pitched a great game.”
The second game was a wild one as Brown banged out 20 hits and Cornell had 12.
Brown again struck early to score five runs in the first, but the Red responded with three of its own in the second, one in the third and four in the fourth to take an 8-5 lead. The advantage was only temporary, however, as Brown recovered in the bottom of the fourth to add more eight runs and regain the lead for good. The Bears went on to score three runs in both the fifth and seventh innings, while Cornell added two in the seventh and one in the ninth.
“We didn’t make the pitches to get them out,” Luria lamented.
After the last out was recorded, the game ended at 19-11 in Brown’s favor.
Four players for Cornell had two hits and fan equal number had one hit in the slugging match. Bredhoff was 2-for-5 with two RBI, a home run and a double. Luria was also 2-for-5 with a double and a home run giving him three RBI. Jackson was 2-for-5 with a double and Hudson was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
“Its real hard, although we scored 11 runs, to beat a team when they get 20 hits,” Luria said. “It was really frustrating because we hit the ball a lot better in the second game, but they certainly did too.”
Cornell used five pitchers in the contest. Sharfstein was solid again in one inning of work who, despite giving up two hits, escaped the eighth inning without yielding a run.
“He has a lot of talent and hopefully another couple of good years ahead of him,” Luria said of Sharfstein’s performances of late. “He’s a disciplined kid who works hard and he’s one of the top pitchers on our staff without question. He’s been very reliable throughout the year.”
As for the defense throughout the weekend, Luria had mostly positive comments to make.
“For the most part we were pretty good. In the second game [against Brown], we had a few errors, but defense was there for the most part,” Luria ended.
“They beat us, we didn’t beat ourselves.”
The Red is back in action tomorrow with a home doubleheader against LeMoyne before heading to Philadelphia, P.A. for four league games with Pennsylvania.
Archived article by Katherine Granish