It was a split weekend for the baseball team (2-4), as the Red dropped a two-run contest against Villanova (7-6) on Friday and stole one from an overmatched La Salle (1-11) squad on Saturday.
The Red ended its four-game losing streak with a strong pitching performance on Saturday afternoon, which saw three Red pitchers combine to throw a three-hitter.
The team couldn’t hold on to an early lead on Friday as it came out on the short end of a 7-5 thriller against Villanova at Villanova Ballpark in Plymouth, Pa.
Sophomore Kaleb Hutchinson and senior Matt Goodson both went 2-for-3 on the afternoon. Freshman Domenic Di Riccio and senior Michael Weiss each collected extra-base hits in the affair along with two RBIs a piece, as Di Riccio notched a double and Weiss legged out a triple. Freshman Brant McKown also recorded a double in the Red’s loss.
The Red took the early lead, scoring twice in the first inning thanks to Di Riccio’s double, which scored Hutchinson and sophomore Brian Kaufman. The Red scored twice in the fourth inning to extend the lead to four on the strength of Weiss’ two-out triple.
Senior Rocky Collis pitched well early, as he allowed three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings of work. After giving up an unearned run in the fourth, the Wildcats finally got to Collis in the fifth as Villanova’s Jeremy Hunt hit a two-out three-run homer to tie the game. The Wildcats scored two more in the seventh and tacked on one more in eighth.
After Goodson scored McKown on a single with no outs, Cornell brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth three times but couldn’t extend the game as Villanova took the victory.
It was junior Jim Hyland’s day on Saturday as the Pittsburgh, Pa., native received the 6-1 victory over La Salle, allowing only two hits in five innings of work.
Freshman Chris Carls was excellent in relief, allowing just one hit in 3 2/3 innings. Sophomore Walker Toma came in with one out in the eighth and closed out the victory for the Red.
The Red jumped out with the lead early as it took advantage of four Explorer fielding errors to score four unearned runs. Despite the abundance of La Salle miscues, the Red was still able to pound out 10 hits, with senior Seth Gordon, Kaufman and senior William Pauly each collecting two.
With the Red up by one, the Explorers tied the game as Mike Essery doubled to right to open the bottom half of the third.
He later advanced to third on a deep fly ball before scoring on Justin Handler’s RBI groundout.
That would be the closest the Explorers came to winning the game, as Pauly ended all hopes for La Salle when he notched his first home run of the season in the fifth inning. The shot was a two-run bomb that sailed over the left field wall.
Sunday’s game, scheduled against Villanova, was cancelled due to rain. A makeup date has not yet been announed for the game.
Archived article by Tim Kuhls
Sun Assistant Sports Editor