Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PHILADELPHIA – The baseball team handed Penn its first Ivy League loss of the season Saturday as part of a split of routs at Meiklejohn Stadium. The Big Red won the opener, 9-0, before falling in the night cap, 11-2, to remain three games back in Lou Gehrig Division chase.
 
Junior Matt Hall was 3-for-4 with a double in the first game. He, sophomore Jordan Winawer and senior Ryan Plantier had a team-high three hits over the two games. The teams will finish the four-game series with another doubleheader at noon Sunday.
 
Game 1: CORNELL 9, PENN 0 | Box Score
Sophomore Michael Byrne surrendered just four hits over six innings of shutout ball to improve to 3-2 on the season. He fanned a career-high eight batters while issuing two walks. No runners advanced past second base against Byrne before freshman Tim Willittes closed out the victory with a scoreless inning of relief in his first Ivy League appearance.
 
Plantier, junior Ryan Karl and freshman Tommy Wagner had two RBI apiece, and the Big Red offense exploded for eight runs over the final three innings to turn a close ballgame into a rout.
 
The Big Red staked Byrne to a 1-0 lead before he threw his first pitch. Senior Tom D'Alessandro worked a one-out walk, then stole second base – his team-leading 12th steal of the season. Junior Ryan Karl followed with a single to right field, advancing D'Alessandro to third. Plantier then hit a sacrifice fly to right, driving in D'Alessandro to give the visitors an early one-run lead.
 
Byrne kept the Quakers off the board to keep the Big Red out front – including striking out the side in the first inning. Cornell then built some insurance with a couple more runs in the fifth. Winawer led off with a double to right-center, then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by junior JD Whetsel. D'Alessandro followed with another bunt, pushing the ball up the first baseline to allow Winawer to score on the squeeze.
 
With the bases now empty and two out, Karl kept the offense going with a walk. He then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. That put him in position to score on Plantier's single up the middle and give the Big Red a 3-0 lead.
 
The onslaught continued with four more runs in the sixth. With one out, junior Kevin Tatum singled to left and came around to score on Wagner's double down the line in left. That chased Penn starter Dan Gautieri, but the offense continued. Wagner came around to score on a Winawer base hit, then Karl blew the game open with a two-out, two-run single up the middle to score D'Alessandro and Whetsel.
 
Senior Chris Cruz and Hall scored on RBI groundouts from Tatum and Wagner in the seventh inning to close out the scoring.
 
Game 2: PENN 11, CORNELL 2 | Box Score
The Quakers used a four-run fifth inning to build a 6-1 lead. The Big Red responded with one run in the sixth and loaded the bases with two out to bring the tying run to the plate, but Penn's Cody Thomson relieved starter Jake Cousins and escaped the jam.
 
Just like in the opener, Cornell took the lead in the top of the first. Whetsel led off with a single and moved up to third base on a one-out fielder's choice and error. Plantier followed with a double to drive in Whetsel. That also left Karl and Plantier in scoring position, but the Big Red threat ended with a pickoff and popout.
 
Cruz drove in the Big Red's second run with a two-out single to right in the sixth.