No, that was not a Cornell football score. It was Cornell baseball, which defeated Towson, 27-14, in an absolute slugfest after dropping a 3-1 decision to Georgetown the day before.
With the help of six hits from junior Trey Baur and grand slams from senior Tommy Wagner and sophomore Will Simoneit, the Red poured it on.
Baur’s six-hit performance was the first in Cornell history. While many have hit five in a game — 14 times in program history — no one in a Cornell uniform had done what Baur accomplished Wednesday. The junior also hit his first career home run en route to breaking the record.
The Red’s 27 runs was the greatest offensive output from Cornell since 1903 when the team defeated Rochester, 27-0.
Cornell never trailed in this game, as the team jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the middle of the second inning. But Towson did not stay silent, knocking in five in the third to cut the margin down to 9-7.
Then, for the first time in the program since 2014, Simoneit hit a grand slam to give his team yet another boost. Three innings later, it happened again. Wagner followed suit and hit a grand slam of his own in what was monster 7th inning to put the Red up by 11. From that point on, Cornell was in the clear.
All nine of Cornell’s starting batters recorded hits for the third time this season. This team showed not only its ability to hit, but also its depth across the board; it takes a full team effort to put up 27 runs.
Of the six pitchers used, senior Jamie Flynn was awarded the win. Flynn pitched 1.2 innings with no earned runs and a couple of strikeouts.
The four home runs against Towson was a season high for the Red and was initiated by senior Frankie Padulo’s second homer of 2017 in the second inning.
That was not Cornell’s only affair in the Mid-Atlantic, however. On Tuesday, Georgetown got the best of the team from Ithaca with a 3-1 win, aided by hometown pitcher Nick Leonard’s 10 strikeouts and seven innings of one-run ball.
Cornell senior first baseman Cole Rutherford went 2-for-4 and scored the Red’s only run of the day thanks to some aggressive baserunning that helped him take home on an errant throw that went into the Cornell dugout as he tried to advance to third on a fielder’s choice ground ball.
The Hoyas broke the drought an inning before in the third, in questionable fashion, as a batter appeared to turn into a pitch with the bases loaded to bring home a man.
Georgetown added two more across the next six innings and walked away with the victory.
Cornell will look to keep its bats hot this weekend as it finishes interdivisional Ivy League play against Harvard and Dartmouth on the road. Harvard sits at last in the Red Rolfe Division with a 0-4 league record, while the Green paces the division with a 3-1 standing.
The Red will play two against the Crimson on Saturday and then another pair against the Green on Sunday, both at noon and both on the road.