Box Score (Game 1 - Penn 17, Cornell 2)
Box Score (Game 2 - Penn 12, Cornell 2)

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Cornell baseball team opened Gehrig Division play on Saturday at Penn, dropping both ends of a doubleheader to the Quakers. Cornell fell in the opener, 17-2, in seven innings, before losing in game two by a 12-2 score. Cornell falls to 2-8 in the Ivy League and 8-16 overall with the two losses, while Penn improves to 6-4 in league play and 16-14 overall.

Cornell batters struggled on the day in picking up just eight hits between the two games, with two of those belonging to Brian Billigen. Kyle Groth, Mickey Brosdky, Frank Hager and Matt Langseth each picked up a hit on the day, with Groth hitting a two-run home run in game one.

Cornell's pitchers didn't fare much better, as they allowed 29 runs, 22 of them earned, on 28 hits. Corey Pappel and Matt Hill took the losses in games one and two, respectively, while Rick Marks and Mike Kazley also saw time on the mound in the two defeats. Cornell also committed seven errors between the two games, contributing for seven unearned runs.

In game one, Penn broke open a scoreless game with an eight-run third inning, sending 14 men to the plate in the frame against Pappel. Penn batters combined for nine hits in the inning, all of them singles. The Quakers added another run in the fourth inning, an unearned run, as Penn chased Pappel from the contest after allowing 13 hits, with only one of them going for extra bases, a double in the second.

Cornell broke through onto the scoreboard in the fifth, as Nate David led off the inning with a walk and scored when Groth followed with a home run down the line in right. That would be the only scoring in the contest for the Big Red, which could only muster three hits in the game. Amazingly, despite the disparity in hits between Penn and Cornell (18-3), the Big Red had more extra-base hits than the Quakers (3-2).

Penn added eight more runs in the sixth to add insult to injury, sending 12 men to the plate in the inning, as the Quakers did all their offensive damage in just three innings.

In game two, the Big Red offense got off to a slow start, as Penn starter Todd Roth was perfect through four innings, retiring the first 12 Cornell batters before Hager broke up the perfect game with a single to lead off the fifth. By that point, however, the Quakers had already lead, 8-0, taking the lead for good with a pair of solo home runs to lead off the first inning off of Hill. Another solo home run by Jeremy Maas, his second of the game, made the score 3-0 in the third inning.

Penn scored five times in the fourth inning, with two of those runs being unearned. In the fifth, the Big Red finally got on the scoreboard after Hager's single. He then moved to second on Groth's walk, then to third on a groundout by Schmeltzer and scored on an RBI groundout by Matt Langseth.

Another home run, this time a two-run shot, and the fourth home run of the game by the Quakers, made the score 10-1 in favor of Penn after seven innings. Cornell got another run in the eighth as Langseth doubled to lead off the inning, moved to third on a groundout by Marshall Yanzick and scored on Billigen's single up the middle.

Cornell will try to square the season series with Penn on Sunday when the two teams meet in another doubleheader at Meiklejohn Stadium, with game one beginning at noon.