Cornell baseball traveled to Yale University to play a three games series starting Saturday and ending Sunday. The Red were able to overall best the Bulldogs, winning the series 2-1.
In the first match on Saturday, Cornell started the first inning off strong, taking a 2-0 lead. Sophomore catcher Mark Quatrani earned a run batted in allowing senior outfielder John Quinlan to find home plate. Senior infielder Max Jensen scored the other point thanks to sophomore infielder Kevin Hager’s hit.
Yale responded in the second inning by scoring a run and bringing the score to 2-1. While the third inning was scoreless between the two teams, in the fourth inning, the Red’s offense came to life and produced five runs to take a decisive lead of 7-1.
The cascade of runs started with senior John Porter stealing home plate. Then, Jensen earned an RBI as junior outfielder Caden Wildman scored. Quatrani earned his second RBI of the game, assisting sophomore infielder Owen Carlson to score. An error at shortstop for the Bulldogs gave Quatrani and Jensen the opportunity to notch two runs on the board.
In the fifth inning, Porter hit a solo (if it was a solo) home run, and Yale remained unable to generate runs with a score of 8-1 heading into the sixth inning. But that inning would turn out to be the game changer for Yale as it scored five runs to bring the game to a close score of 8-6.
In the seventh inning, Porter scored a run, and Jensen earned his second RBI. In the eighth inning, the Red scored three times thanks to Quinlan’s two RBIs and Wildman’s hit allowing Hager to score.
With the score at 12-6 at the bottom of the eighth inning, Yale responded by scoring three runs across each of the last two innings. While the Red did not score until the tenth inning, it was able to narrowly escape Yale, winning the first game with a final score of 13-12.
Hours later, the Red played Yale again — but this time the Bulldogs would jump out in front with three runs in the first inning. The Red responded in the second inning with two runs thanks to senior outfielder Jakobi Davis and senior first baseman and pitcher William Jaun finding home. In the third inning, Davis earned an RBI and helped Hager score and Jensen also added a fourth run to the scoreboard bringing the score to 4-3 in the Red’s favor.
The fourth and fifth innings were scoreless for both teams. By the sixth inning, the Red’s offensive spark came back as Wildman, Carlson and Quinlan scored. Yale would score one more run, but the Red would win the game with a final score of 7-4 and hold the 2-0 advantage over the series.
On Sunday, the teams faced each other for the third and final time. This time, Yale would take the lead in the second inning, scoring four runs to take the score to 4-0 Bulldogs.
The third inning would again be all Yale, as freshman Jack Dauer hit a three-run home run, nearly doubling the lead the Bulldogs held over Cornell.
Cornell’s offense struggled to come to life until the fifth inning when Quinlan was able to score thanks to Jensen. The Bulldogs responded with two runs in the sixth inning — increasing its margin to 9-1.
The seventh inning saw the Red produce two runs as a result of Quatrani’s hit that allowed junior infielder TJ Swidorski to score, and a bases-loaded situation which allowed Quinlan to score the last run that either team would produce of the game. The Red fell with a final score of 9-3.
After playing 15 games away, the Red will finally play its first home game of the season against Binghamton University on Tuesday March 25 at 3 p.m. with coverage of the action available on ESPN+.
