ITHACA, N.Y. – Starting pitchers Connor Kaufmann and Brian McAfee were lights-out, and late offense early and early offense later propelled the baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Columbia on Saturday, 2-1 in extra innings and 3-0.
 
Kaufmann pitched a complete-game eight innings in the opener, surrendering just one unearned run in the third inning and five hits. Cornell (23-7-1, 9-1 Ivy League) then scored the tying run in the seventh to force and extra frame, where Ryan Plantier hit a sacrfice fly to right with the bases loaded to score Brian Billigen with the winning run.
 
The Big Red then jumped on Columbia (13-18, 5-5) early in the second game, scoring three runs in the first inning. That proved to be all the offense in the lightning-fast pitcher's duel, which was over in just 1 hour, 45 minutes. McAfee surrendered just three hits in eighht shutout innings, then Kellen Urbon worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his sixth save of the season. Frank Hager was 2-for-3 in the game with an RBI double in the first.
 
Game 1 – Cornell 2, Columbia 1 (8 innings) – Box Score
Columbia starter Pat Lowery was stellar, fanning eight while yielding just two hits and no runs through six innings – but the Big Red was able to mount a charge against closer David Spinosa. Kevin Tatum was 2-for-3, driving in the tying run with a double in the do-or-die seventh.
 
Frank Hager set the stage for a Cornell rally in with a leadoff single back up the box. Spenser Souza then emerged from the dugout to pinch run. After a pair of fouled bunt attempts, Tatum drove a ball into the gap in left-center that allowed the speedy Souza to score easily and knot the score at 1. After falling behind 0-2 in the next at-bat, senior Brandon Lee slapped a productive groundout to the right, allowing JD Whetsel – pinch-running for Tatum – to move to third with one out. Swinford then drew a walk to put runners on the corners. A groundout provided the second out, advancing Swinford to second. Peters was then walked to load the bases, but a swinging strikeout left three stranded and sent the game to extra innings.
 
Tom D'Alessandro made a sparkling catch deep in the left-centerfield gap for the final out in the top of the eighth, turning the game over to the heart of the Big Red order. Billigen led off by lacing a single off the side of the mound and into center, bringing up cleanup hitter Chris Cruz. He fought off a pitch on his hands, muscling the ball over the infield into left-center and Billigen aggressively took third on the play, putting runners on the corners with no out. Plantier, making his first at-bat after coming on to play first base in the top of the frame, then drove in the winner with a sac fly to right.
 
The only run to score on Kaufmann was unearned in the third. With runners on first and third and two out, the Lions put on a delayed steal to try to plate the runner. Nick Ferraresi departed first and stopped in the middle of the baseline, trying to get caught in a rundown. Cornell read the play and threw the ball back home, but the throw sailed high and allowed the run to score.
 
Great defense helped the Big Red cause in the sixth. After a leadoff single, third baseman Ben Swinford erased a potential sacrifice bunt by fielding, turning and throwing out the lead runner at second. The new runner on first tried to advance to third when the following batter singled, but right fielder Cruz gunned him down at third. An infield error eventually helped the Lions load the bases with two out, but Kaufmann induced a threat-ending groundout and worked through a quiet seventh. In two home starts this season, Kaufmann has yielded just five hits and no earned runs through 15 innings.
 
Game 2 – Cornell 3, Columbia 0 – Box Score
Late-arrivers may have missed all of the offense, which came in the bottom of the first. Peters led off with a double to right-center, then Marshall Yanzick's single to center put runners on the corners with no out. With one out, Cruz hit an RBI groundout to plate Peters. Hager's RBI two-out double pushing Yanzick in from third, then Tatum drove in his second run of the day with a single down the left-field line.
 
Columbia starter Tim Giel was terrific otherwise, with no Big Red runners advancing past second base the rest of the way. He also set Cornell down in order in each of the final four innings. But thanks to the best start in McAfee's young collegiate career, the Big Red didn't need anything else. McAfee needed 98 pitches to work eight innings, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth. Alex Black singled throughout the left side to end that hope, then Cruz and Billigen both delivered sliding catches to set up a strikeout to retire the side.  
McAfee is now 5-0 with just five walks in a team-high 43 innings.
 
Cornell and Columbia square off in another Gehrig Division doubleheader at noon Sunday. The Big Red remains one game ahead of Princeton – which swept a doubleheader with Penn on Saturday – for the division lead.