Quatrani, Timely Fog Power Baseball to Series Win Over Brown

At 6:52 p.m. Saturday night at Booth Field, senior left fielder John Quinlan disappeared. As did baseball’s lead over Brown University. 

After splitting the first two games of the weekend series with the Bears, the Red exited the seventh inning of game three with a 13-10 lead. 

However in the top of the eighth inning, Cornell’s pitching — which was already struggling — completely collapsed. After recording an out, senior first baseman and pitcher William Jaun conceded a hit and three walks, the third time in the game a Cornell pitcher had walked-in a run. With the lead down to two, head coach Dan Pepicelli turned to a reliable arm from the bullpen: junior pitcher Chris Ellison. 

Ellison had pitched a four out save earlier in the day to secure a 9-6 win, so a five out save seemed reasonable. Instead, Ellison became the third Cornell pitcher to fail to record an out during the game after all three baserunners he inherited — and one more he faced — came around to score. 

Hoping to get Cornell — now trailing 13-15 — out of the inning was sophomore pitcher Ethan Van Sice, making his second collegiate appearance. Unfortunately for the Red, Van Sice walked in two more runs before Mark Henshon ripped a bases-clearing-double down the right field line to give the Bears a 20-13 lead. 

Then, the fog rolled in. 

It had been wet all day in Ithaca, scattered showers present throughout the doubleheader, but overall the visibility had been playable. But with the sun 36 minutes away from setting, a thick cloud of fog blew over the left field foul pole before settling in the outfield. 

The umpires, barely able to make out the Red outfielders, pulled the team off the field. After roughly 10 minutes, the obvious yet shocking result was confirmed: the game had been called due to National Collegiate Athletics Association safety rules and the deciding score would be reverted back to the seventh inning. 

Cornell, now victorious, had been saved by the weather. 

Opening play at home at Booth field for the second time ever, Cornell (9-8, 4-2 Ivy) fell in game on Friday to Brown (4-16, 1-5 Ivy), despite a valiant effort from starting pitcher junior Carson Mayfield. The righty pitcher threw six innings of two run ball, striking out six en route to outdueling his Bear counterpart Santhosh Gottam.  

Freshman pitcher John Hegarty entered the game in relief of Mayfield in the seventh with a 3-2 lead, but allowed hits to five of the first six batters he faced. Now trailing 5-3, Cornell’s offense scratched a run across in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a sophomore catcher Mark Quatrani sacrifice fly, but the Brown bullpen otherwise held the line to deliver Hegarty his second loss of the season. 

Game two, where first pitch was thrown seven and half hours before game three was called, was more what Cornell fans had come to expect from its team in Ivy play last season. After setting the program’s home run record in Booth field's first full season, Cornell (and Brown) failed to leave the yard on Friday. 

Quatrani changed that quickly on Saturday when he launched a 1-1 fastball over the batter’s eye in center field before the Bears could record an out in the bottom of the first.  

The blast gave Quatrani his first three runs batted in of the game, a total which he would add to twice. The reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year wasn’t the sole offensive producer, four other Cornellians reached base at least twice in the contest. 

“Our offense did a great job of keeping us in games,” Quatrani said. “When we’re all contributing, our offense can be really good.”

In the second inning Cornell threatened to blow the game open. A single and two walks loaded the bases for senior third baseman Max Jensen, who slashed .358/.455/.561 in Ivy League play a season ago en route to unanimous first team all-Ivy honors. Jensen earned his first of three runs batted in when he was hit by the third pitch of the at bat. With the bases remaining loaded, Quatrani returned to the batter's box. 

A season ago, the then-freshman homered twice in Cornell’s home opener against Dartmouth — including a grand slam. Quatrani came feet away from repeating the feat for a second year when he launched a rocket to right field that was caught by the Brown right fielder up against the fence. Still, the drive allowed sophomore infielder Owen Carlson to tag-up and score from third, extending Cornell’s lead to 5-0.   

With the solid early lead, sophomore starting pitcher Huxley Holcomb gave the Red 5.2 innings of solid pitching, giving up six runs (five earned) along with four punch outs. Holcomb exited the game in the sixth with a runner on second, handing the ball to senior outfielder and pitcher Ryan Porter (who began the game as Cornell’s designated hitter) with a 7-5 lead. Porter was unable to keep the inherited runner from coming around to score, but he was able to get out of the jam by inducing a groundout. 

Cornell would add two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a two-on one out Quatrani double and a sophomore infielder Kevin Hager sacrifice fly. Porter and Ellison would hold the 9-6 lead through the next three innings, working around a hit batter and walk in the eighth to secure Cornell’s first home win of the season.  

30 minutes after the conclusion of game 2, freshman pitcher Sam Keene faced Gunner Boree to begin game 3, nearly four hours before the game’s conclusion. The game three win — the first time in recent memory Cornell had won a baseball game that the team was trailing at its conclusion — promoted the Red to a three-way tie for second place in the Ivy League standings.

Next weekend the Red will head to New York City to take on Columbia, with first pitch of Saturday’s double header slated for 11:30 a.m. and Sunday’s contest at 12:00 p.m. All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+.

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