Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score (PDF)
Game 2 Box Score (PDF)

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Senior Erin Keene's two-run home run in the sixth inning of game two helped Cornell salvage a split with reigning Ivy League champion Harvard on Friday afternoon at Niemand*Robison Field. Cornell won game two 10-8 after dropping the first contest 6-2 in eight innings.

In a rematch of last year's Ivy League championship series, Cornell hit sixth inning home runs in both games to take leads against reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Rachel Brown. The Big Red (10-11, 1-1 Ivy) was able to hold off the Crimson (13-8, 1-1 Ivy) in the nightcap after surrendering the lead in game one.

Keene's two-run shot ended a wild game two that saw the Crimson overcome an 8-3 lead to tie the contest before Keene's one-out shot off Brown gave Cornell the split.

Keene ended game two 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI, while Lauren Bucolo was also 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Kristen Towne was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and Sam Creamer also tallied two hits. As a team, the Big Red had 12 hits in the nightcap.

Lauren Marx picked up the win with 1.1 innings of hitless relief.

Cornell scored four times in the third and three more times in the fourth, highlighted by Bucolo's three-run blast to center. It was the first home run of the year by the sophomore. The Crimson rallied for four in the fifth and scraped across the tying run in the sixth when Jane Alexander doubled just inside the leftfield line to score Emily Gusse, who led off the inning with a single. That set up Keene's heroics.

The Crimson also rallied in game one, but did just enough to send it to extra innings and then scored four times in the fourth to pick up the win.

In a pitcher's duel between Brown and Cornell's Jenna Stoller, neither team could break through until the sixth. In fact, Cornell wouldn't have a batter reach until the fifth.

The Big Red struck first when freshman Linda Laeufer hit a one-out, two-run homer off Brown to give Cornell the 2-0 lead. Down to its final strike, Harvard was able to tie it in the top of the seventh on a Kasey Lange double to center with a full count and two outs.

An Erin Belles double with one out was squandered in the seventh, and Harvard responded by scoring four times in the top of the eighth to put the game away. The big blow came on a three-run homer by Jane Alexander with two outs to put the game out of reach against Brown, who scattered five hits while striking out 13 in her 8.0 innings of work.

Stoller settled down after a rough first inning and a half to scatter seven hits and four walks over 7.1 innings of work to take the hard-luck loss.

Cornell returns to action on Saturday, March 31 when it meets Dartmouth in a doubleheader beginning at 1:30 p.m. at Niemand*Robison Field. The game has been moved back an hour from the original schedule due to expected overnight rain.