Box Score

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- The catcher tandem of Mike Lopez and Brandon Lee went 3-for-4 with four runs batted in as the Cornell baseball team rallied for an 8-7 victory over Northwestern on Monday afternoon at Chain O' Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Fla. The win lifted Cornell to 3-1 on the year and 2-0 on its current spring break trip.

Lopez was 2-for-3 on the day with a pair of runs batted in, while Lee came on and delivered a clutch two-run single in the eighth inning for the Big Red. Brian Billigen and Nate David both had a pair of hits for the Big Red, with Billigen driving in a pair and Matt Langseth scoring three times. Tony Bertucci worked two and a third innings of relief for the win, with David Rochefort picking up his second save of the year.

After Northwestern took a 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout in the third off Cornell starter Taylor Wood, the Big Red knotted the score in the fourth on a double by Marshall Yanzick and an RBI single by Mickey Brodsky. Cornell then took the lead in the fifth on Lopez's two-run home run, but Northwestern chased Wood from the game in the bottom half of the inning, scoring four times on a pair of two-run home runs. Bertucci came on to get the final out of the inning as Cornell trailed, 5-3.

In the bottom of the sixth, an RBI double stretched the lead to 6-3, but Cornell got the rally started in the seventh with an RBI single by Billigen, driving in Langseth from second. The Big Red then exploded for four runs in the eighth, making the score 8-6. With two out in the inning, Frank Hager started the rally with a single and moved to second on Nate David's single. After Jadd Schmeltzer was hit by a pitch to load the bases, a wild pitch scored Hager before Langseth walked to again pack the bases. Lee then singled, scoring a pair, with Billigen following with an RBI single of his own to finish off the rally as Cornell sent nine men to the plate in the inning.

Billigen came on to pitch in the eighth and gave up a triple and a double, scoring one run to move the Cornell lead to 8-7, but got a groundout to second to end the Wildcat threat. In the ninth, Rochefort got a groundout and a dou