On Wednesday, the Red (5-16) faced off against local rival Binghamton University (9-11). Sophomore Taylor Wood started for the Red against freshman Mike Augliera, who got a no decision. Wood was superb as he went seven strong, only allowing four hits and one earned run, and balancing five strikeouts against two walks.
Binghamton was the first to strike in the top of the 2nd, but the Red responded quickly in the bottom half of the inning with a homerun from sophomore Jadd Schmeltzer. The Red gutted out a win as senior third-baseman Nathan Ford went 2 for 4, driving in junior Scott Hardinger in the 6th and senior Adam Jacobs in the 8th for an insurance run.
[img_assist|nid=36708|title=Throw it like Nolan|desc=One of Sophomore Taylor Wood’s top weapons is a stinging fastball in the 90 mile-per-hour range.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
Cornell’s relief pitching kept Binghamton out of the game as sophomore Mike Carroll gave up one hit in the 8th and junior David Rochefort got his third save by striking out two and shutting out Binghamton in the 9th. Wood got the win for his efforts while Binghamton freshman relief pitcher Alex Adam picked up the loss.
The Red was on a four game skid that put put it behind many of its Ivy League rivals. Cornell is currently 2-6 among the Ancient Eight with 12 more Ivy league games to go in the season. The team stands tied for second in the Gehrig division, and is tied for 7th overall in the Ancient Eight. The team will have to rebound against its rivals if it has hopes to beat out Columbia for the Gehrig divisional championship.
The Red returns to Ivy League action this weekend against Penn. The Quakers haven’t won a game this season and should be and easy matchup for the Red, who desparately need to improve their Ivy record.
The Red hosts Penn on Saturday at Hoy Field.