PRINCESS ANNE, Md. — The baseball team started its season with a bang Friday, exploding offensively for a doubleheader sweep of Maryland-Eastern Shore, 15-4 and 7-0. Cornell pounded 24 hits in 15 innings. While it took the Big Red six games to plate 13 runs last season, it took all of 75 minutes this season.
 
Sophomore Chris Cruz hit a pair of home runs in the opener before adding two doubles in the second game, and senior Brian Billigen drove in six runs over both contests. Sophomore Connor Kaufmann earned the victory in Game 1, and freshman Brent Jones threw a three-hit shutout in a nightcap shortened by rain.
 
GAME 1 (Cornell 15, UMES 4) — Box Score
It took the Big Red six games to plate 13 runs last season. This season, it took all of 75 minutes over three innings. Billigen reached on an error on the first inning, then scored on Cruz's first homer. Junior Brenton Peters drew an RBI walk to score senior Marshall Yanzick and push Cornell's lead to three in the second inning before Billigen cleared the bases with a two-out triple into the gap in left-center to make the score 6-0.
 
UMES responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame to cut its deficit in half, but Cornell answered right back. The Big Red loaded the bases with no outs in the third to set the table for senior Brandon Lee's three-run triple to left field, restoring the six-run lead. Freshman JD Whetsel drove the next pitch for a double to score Lee and make the score 10-3.
 
A wild pitch and a walk followed, chasing Hawks starter Jacob Foreman after two-plus innings. Billigen then greeted reliever Zachary Saca with a two-run double to push the Big Red's lead to 12-3 before the offense tapered off for the rest of the game.
 
Kaufmann worked five innings to earn his second collegiate victory in his fifth start. He had four strikeouts to counter two walks. Four of the innings were scoreless. Senior righty Jeeter Ishida, a transfer from Arizona State, earned the save in his Cornell debut. He yielded one run in four innings of work.
 
GAME 2 (Cornell 7, UMES 0; five innings) — Box Score
Jones fanned six in his collegiate debut, allowing just one runner to advance past second base. The Big Red spotted him a two-run lead on a Billigen sacrifice fly and RBI single from freshman Kevin Tatum.
 
Cornell (2-0) blew the game open in the fourth, scoring four runs with two outs. Senior Frank Hager stole home for the first one, then Peters hit a two-run triple down the right-field line before later scoring on a Yanzick single to center. Cruz then led off the fifth with his second double of the game, later scoring on a Hager groundout.
 
Working around a walk, Jones struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth before the game was halted due to rain.
 
It's the first time the Big Red has opened its season 2-0 since 2009, which started with a doubleheader sweep at Navy. Cornell and UMES will square off in another doubleheader at noon Sunday.