Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Trailing Princeton, 3-2, in the eighth inning of game two of a doubleheader, a game the Big Red needed to win to grab a share of the Ivy League Gehrig Division title, freshman Frank Hager stepped up and delivered a two-run home run to left field, giving the Cornell baseball team a 4-3 victory and a share of its first division title since 2005. Cornell would win game two, 4-3, after dropping the opener by a 9-7 score.

Cornell and Princeton both finish at 10-10 in Ivy League play atop the Gehrig Division standings and will decide the division's representative in a single, nine-inning game on Wednesday at Cornell's Hoy Field. Game time has not yet been determined by the Ivy League office.

Cornell's hitters were outstanding on the day, posting 23 hits and scoring 13 runs against a very solid Princeton pitching staff. Scott Hardinger led the way, going 4-for-8 with a run scored, while Matt Langseth was 3-for-6 with a run scored and two more driven in. Nate David, Nathan Ford and Hager each added three hits on the day as a balanced Cornell offense rallied for the split.

Mickey Brodsky took the loss in game one, working 4.1 innings and allowing four earned runs on 11 hits, striking out a pair. In game two, Matt Hill got the start and worked the first five innings, allowing three Tiger runs on four hits and a pair of walks, but struck out seven. Patrick Lewicki and Stephen Osterer followed with a scoreless inning each, before David Rochefort came on to work the eighth and ninth, earning his second win of the season.

The two teams matched each other's output in the early stages of game one, as Princeton scored first in the first, only to have the Big Red knot the score at one on Nathan Ford's RBI single up the middle. After Princeton took the lead with another run in the second, it was Nate David stepping up and hitting a solo home run to left to again draw the Big Red even.

Princeton took the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth, capitalizing on an error on a failed pickoff attempt to score runs on a single by Dan DeGeorge and a double by Greg Van Horn, but Cornell rallied again, getting a pair of unearned runs of its own on Matt Langseth's RBI single up the middle in the bottom half of the inning.

In the fifth, the Tigers finally grabbed the lead for good as a one-out single and double put men on second and third, and chasing Brodsky from the contest. Mike Carroll came on and allowed a line-drive home run down the left-field line, staking the Tigers to a 7-4 lead. Cornell tried to chip away at the margin, scoring once on back-to-back doubles by Hardinger and Ford in the fifth, then adding a run on a double to left-center by David in the sixth, scoring Domenic Di Ricco from first, to cut the score to 7-6.

Princeton got a pair of insurance runs in the seventh, scoring two as the first three batters in the inning reached base. They would need that insurance as Mickey Brodsky hit a two-out, solo home run to cut the deficit to 9-7, but that would be as close as Cornell could come.

Game two started out in much the same way, with both teams scoring early and often. Princeton opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly by Jack Murphy, but Cornell grabbed the lead in the second on a two-out, two-run double by Adam Jacobs to the warning track in left-center. Princeton would respond with a pair of runs of its own in the third, taking advantage of a hit batsman, a walk and back-to-back singles to take a 3-2 lead.

Both Cornell pitcher Matt Hill and Princeton starter Langford Stuber then settled in, as Hill retired the side in order in the fourth and Stuber got out of a jam in the fourth and fifth, being aided in the latter inning by a lineout double play. Lewicki worked the sixth, allowing two walks but getting two groundouts and a strikeout to keep the Big Red down one, as Stuber retired the side in order in the bottom half of the inning. In the seventh, Osterer left men on second and third, but got a groundout to third to escape the inning unharmed.

Rochefort came on to work a perfect eighth, fanning a pair of Tigers in the process, to set up the decisive eighth inning. Ford opened with a single through the left side before Brodsky struck out swinging. Hager then belted a home run to left, giving Cornell back the lead. The Big Red then threatened some more, getting back-to-back singles from Di Ricco and David before Jacobs drew a two-out walk to load the bases, but Brian Billigen had a hard-hit groundout to second to end the rally.

Rochefort then worked the ninth, striking out the first batter he faced but then allowing a single up the middle to Derek Beckman. Beckman took second on a wild pitch, then got to third on Dan DeGeorge's groundout to first. With the tying run on third base, Greg Van Horn hit a chopper to third that was gloved by Ford, whose strong throw to first beat Van Horn by a half step, setting off the celebration from the Cornell dugout.

Cornell and Princeton will play a nine-inning game on Wednesday at Hoy Field to determine who will advance to the Ivy League Championship Series next weekend against Dartmouth.