NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Late heroics propelled the baseball team to a sweep of Yale in a doubleheader Sunday, 5-3 and 8-6, leaving the Big Red in first place in the Ivy League Lou Gehrig Division. Sophomore Chris Cruz popped a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to lead Cornell to a win in Game 1, then the Big Red surged ahead with a four-run ninth in the nightcap.
 
For Cruz, the blast was his team-leading eighth home run of the season, already matching the team-leading total from last season posted by Brian Billigen. Cruz also had a pair of stolen bases in the second game. Junior Houston Hawley pitched in both games, earning the win in the first game before closing out the second.
 
Cornell (21-6-1, 7-1 Ivy) is now riding a five-game winning streak heading into Wednesday's non-league game against Binghamton at Hoy Field. The game kicks off a seven-game homestand, which includes the start of divisional play and four games against Columbia next weekend.
 
Game 1 – Cornell 5, Yale 3 – Box Score
The Big Red got on the board in the second inning with freshman JD Whetsel's infield single scoring freshman Kevin Tatum from third with one out. Junior Brenton Peters then singled through the right side to drive in sophomore Ben Swinford and give Cornell an early 2-0 advantage.
 
Yale plated its first run in the fourth, then pullead ahead with two more in the sixth – the latter coming unearned on the Big Red's only error of the game.
 
Down to its final outs against Yale starter Pat Ludwig, Peters drew a one-out walk. The next batter was retired, then Yale turned to closer Kevin Fortunato. Billigen worked a walk to keep the inning alive and push the tying run into scoring position, then Cruz hit the decisive long ball.
 
Sophomore starter Connor Kaufmann worked into the sixth inning before yielding to Hawley, who recorded the final five outs to improve his record to 2-1. The victory ended a nine-game Big Red losing streak at Yale Field.
 
Game 2 – Cornell 8, Yale 6 – Box Score
Senior catcher Brandon Lee was 3-for-5 with a double, which led to him scoring the game's first run on senior Marshall Yanzick's two-bagger in the third.
 
Yale responded with two runs in the fourth, but Cornell came back to tie it on Billigen's solo home run to right in the sixth – his fifth homer of the season. Billigen then hit a two-run triple in the seventh. He was 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI in the game.
 
The game was tied once again after the eighth, setting up another Big Red charge in the game's final inning – the fourth straight game in which Cornell pushed runners across home plate in the final frame. Whetsel reached second on an error, then third on a wild pitch. Yanzick's bunt single scored Whetsel. After Billigen walked, Cruz hit a single to right to score Yanzick. After entering the game as a defensive replacement in the eighth, sophomore Tom D'Alessandro made the most of his lone at-bat of the game, hitting a two-run single for insurance runs that turned out to account for the winning margin.
 
Senior Rick Marks had a quality start, yielding three runs through seven innings. Junior TJ Parthemer worked the eighth, surrendering an unearned run, but he earned the win after the Big Red's four-run ninth. Hawley then worked the ninth.