Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Saturday was a true showcase of two extremes as the Cornell baseball team opened the Ivy League season with a doubleheader split against Dartmouth at Hoy Field. The Big Red got outstanding pitching from Corey Pappel in claiming the opener, 2-0, before nothing went right in game two, falling by a 16-1 margin.

Brandon Lee was outstanding at the plate for the day, going 4-for-5 with a solo home run in game two, with both Frank Hager and Brian Billigen picking up a pair of base hits. Hager also scored once and drove in a run, while Nate David drove in the other run on the day for the Big Red.

Pappel was outstanding in game one, working a complete game and allowing only three hits and three walks while striking out four to claim the victory. In game two, Matt Hill was saddled with the loss, allowing three earned runs in five innings, surrendering five hits and walking a pair while striking out three. Mike Kazley, Joe Sinopoli, Tony Tschosik and Ryan Michael each saw time in relief in game two, with both Tschosik and Michael holding the Big Green off the scoreboard late in the contest.

In the first inning of game one, Cornell took the lead on a perfectly executed hit-and-run with Hager delivering a single where the Dartmouth second baseman Jeff Onstott had vacated to cover for the running Mickey Brodsky. The play allowed Marshall Yanzick to score from second base, but Cornell, which had the bases loaded with only one out, could only get one run across the board in the inning.

Cornell added an insurance run in the third. Hager drew a one-out walk and moved to third on Lee's single through the right side, putting men on the corner. Nate David then grounded out to short, but Hager was able to score on the slow-roller, as Cornell took the 2-0 lead.

From there, it was all Pappel. Dartmouth could only muster five baserunners from that point on, and did not advance a man past second base as the Big Red ace shut down the high-powered Dartmouth offense to pick up his second win of the season. Shortstop Joe Sclafani had two of the three hits picked up by the Big Green on the day as Cornell won the first half of the twinbill.

The second game of the day started off much the same way, as both starters were strong early. Cornell's Matt Hill allowed only an RBI groundout in the fourth inning after Dartmouth's Ben Murphy allowed a rocket shot of a home run by Lee in the third inning, as the score was knotted at one through four innings.

It was in the fifth inning that things took a disastrous turn for the Big Red. Hill, who had cruised through the fourth on three straight swinging strikeouts, allowed the first two runners to reach on a single and a hit-batsman. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners 90 feet closer to home before Ennis Coble hit a grounder to third. Quick thinking by Cornell third baseman Hager resulted in a bullet throw home where Lee applied the tag on Chris O'Dowd coming home for the second out, and putting runners on the corners. Sclafani then hit a chopper off the plate that was fielded by Hill. The senior's throw to first was wide of the bag, pulling Brodsky toward the home plate side of the bag. Brodsky caught the throw with his foot on the bag, but was barreled into by Sclafani, separating the player from his glove with the ball still inside. Sclafani, who got into a brief shoving match with Cornell second baseman Matt Langseth, was originally ruled out, with the Cornell players returning to the dugout and with Brodsky laying injured just behind first base. The umpires conferred for a lengthy discussion, then ruled that Brodsky didn't have possession of the ball long enough and calling Sclafani safe at first. Cornell coach Bill Walkenbach disputed the call, only to have his argument fall on deaf ears, and found Langseth had been ejected from the game for his part in the scuffle with Sclafani, who had not been ejected.

From that point on, Cornell's pitching staff had problems finding the strike zone, as Hill hit a batter and then gave up a two-run single to Onstott as Dartmouth took a 4-1 lead after four and a half innings. Dartmouth then added six runs in the sixth, with Hill being charged with two and Kazley, who relieved the senior starter after two batters, getting only one out and allowing five straight hits, including a triple and a double book-ending three singles, as the Big Green sent 10 men to the plate in the sixth.

The seventh was more of the same, as four walks were joined by four hits in the inning as Dartmouth tacked on another five runs and sent 11 men to the plate. Onstott hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to tack on the 16th run, capping his day with five runs batted in.

On the flip side of the scoreline, Murray was outstanding, allowing only two baserunners on two hits and an error through the eighth inning, and only allowed a runner to reach second in the fifth inning when Vitiello, who replaced Langseth in the fifth inning, hit a one-out double to the warning track in left, but could not advance in the inning. Max Langford worked the ninth, surrendering only a pinch-hit single to Spencer Souza.

Cornell returns to action on Sunday when it plays host to Harvard in a doubleheader at Hoy Field in Ithaca. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 12 p.m.