Demonstrating its season-long plague of being unable to consistently combine good hitting with solid pitching, the baseball team (11-25) emerged with a split in yesterday’s doubleheader against Sienna College (19-20).
The Red took the first game, eking out 2-1 victory in a duel between the two opposing pitching staffs. However, though the team’s bats finally woke up for the later game, Cornell was unable to hold down the Saint’s offense for a second time and eventually dropped the game 10-9.
“Out pitching’s been gong back to the level that it was at last year,” said freshman Blake Hamilton about the solid work Cornell has been getting from the mound recently. “It’s really been the difference lately.”
Hamilton, who earned the save for his efforts, and sophomore reliever Michael Hudson combined to hold the Saints to just one run over the last three innings of the team’ s first outing to preserve the victory.
Offensively, it was a timely hit by sophomore Seth Gordon that proved to be the difference. After the Saints had tied the score at 1-1 in the top of the fifth, the Red responded immediately, as sophomore Josh Foster scored on Gordon’ s two-out RBI in the bottom half of that inning to put Cornell ahead for good.
Earlier, Dan Parant plated the Red’s first run of the game as he singled home senior Ned Van Allen in the second inning.
Sienna starter James Pacifico was credited with the tough loss, tossing six innings while giving up just two runs on six hits.
Whereas the first game was dominated by the pitchers, the second matchup could not have been more different. Becoming a prototypical slugfest, the Red and the Saints combined to cross the plate nineteen times on eighteen hits in the seven-inning contest.
Gordon hit a lead-off homerun for Cornell in the first inning to get the Red on the scoreboard first.
Meanwhile, senior starter Sam Sinkavich got the Red off to a good beginning, allowing no runs in his two innings of work. However, Sinkavich left the game after being hit by a pitch, and the Saints opened up their scoring in his absence, tallying three runs in the third off junior Matt Light and one more in the fourth against freshman Trevor Vieweg.
Cornell came right back, though, as its offense exploded for eight runs in the bottom half of the fourth. Sophomore William Pauly led the charge for the Red, scoring twice while also hitting a three-run home run. Freshman Jim Hyland also keyed the rally, tying the score on his two run single.
“The first pitcher was a lot tougher to hit,” said freshman Kaleb Hutchinson about the difference between the Red’s offensive production between the two games. After going 0-3 in the first contest, Hutchinson collected two hits and two walks in the second game. The lead for Cornell did not last long, however, as the Saints responded by scoring six runs in the next two innings to complete the come-from-behind victory.
Junior reliever Connor Kelly was credited with the loss after walking three batters who were all later brought home by Brian Schmotzer’ s timely double. Trevor Reid and Josh Courage earned the win and save, respectively, for the Saints after combining to hold the Red to just two runs over 3 2/3 innings of work.
Overall, the Cornell bullpen struggled, as it was unable to protect the lead. But Blake Hamilton did come on to make his second strong appearance in the doubleheader. Combined, the freshman allowed just one hit in his three innings of work.
“My arm felt really good out there. I just let it loose,” Hamilton said about appearing in the two games. “We have a big weekend coming up, so I hope it will be ready for that.”
Cornell will next be in action Friday when it hosts Princeton.
Archived article by Scott Reich