Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PRINCETON, N.J. -- Junior Ryan Karl hit a pair of solo home runs, then the baseball team scored a pair of runs in the 14th inning on a balk and failed pickoff to win a wild 4-2 marathon affair in the opener of Sunday's doubleheader at Clarke Field. Princeton rallied to win the second game, 5-4, in the teams' Ivy League finales.
 
Sophomore Jordan Winawer enjoyed a five-hit day from the leadoff spot in both games. Cornell (18-21, 9-11 Ivy League) finished the season in third place in the Lou Gehrig Division.
 
The Big Red wraps up its season with a non-league doubleheader at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Canisius.
 
Game 1: CORNELL 4, PRINCETON 2 (14 innings) | Box Score
In a game originally scheduled for seven innings, junior starter Brent Jones surrendered just one run over eight innings. That lone blemish came in the first inning, when Princeton pushed across its first run on a sacrifice fly with runners at the corners. Jones settled down to end the inning on a swinging strikeout. The only time the Tigers had multiple runners on base against Jones the rest of the game came in the eighth, when the winning run stood on second base with out. Jones induced a popout from the next batter, which then turned into a double play with the lead runner trying to tag up on the play. Jones' final line was one run on five hits over eight innings, with seven strikeouts and no walks in an impressive no-decision.
 
Karl led off the fifth inning with a home run to right field against Tigers ace Michael Fagan, tying the game at 1. He then gave the Big Red a 2-1 lead in the 11th with another shot to right, this one coming with two outs. It was his team-leading ninth home run of the season.
 
But it didn't prove to be the winning run. A Big Red error allowed Princeton a runner to reach second base. Peter Owens followed with a single to right-center which not only plated the tying run, but put the winning run on first with one out. Freshman Scott Soltis was called upon from the bullpen and, after the bases were loaded with two outs following a fielder's choice, a single and a walk, he escaped the jam with by getting an infield pop-up.
 
Cornell surged ahead for good in a bizarre 14th inning. Junior JD Whetsel led off with a walk. Senior Tom D'Alessandro then punched a single through the right side of the infield to put runners on the corners with no outs. After D'Alessandro stole second to put two runners in scoring position, a balk allowed Whetsel to score and D'Alessandro to move up to third. After a strikeout for the first out, Princeton's catcher tried to pick off D'Alessandro, but the throw went wild and D'Alessandro came home to score an insurance run.
 
The Tigers didn't fade away quietly, bringing the winning run to the plate with no outs after a hit-by-pitch and an infield single. Senior Connor Kaufmann then came on to set the next three batters down in order -- to via strikeout -- to earn the save and preserve Soltis' first collegiate victory.
 
Game 2: PRINCETON 5, CORNELL 4 | Box Score
Winawer and Whetsel led off the game with back-to-back doubles into left field, spotting the Big Red an early lead.
 
The Tigers came back to tie the game in the bottom of the first before Big Red sophomore starter Michael Byrne settled down to keep the home side relatively quiet through five innings.
 
Cornell took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth when senior Chris Cruz, playing in his last career Ivy League game, followed a D'Alessandro leadoff walk with a home run to right field. It was Cruz's sixth homer of the season and the program-record 25th in his career.
 
But Princeton (13-26, 8-12) struck for four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a two-run lead into the final innings. Freshman reliever Tim Willittes kept the game close by getting the final two outs of the seventh inning after inherited runners at the corners and one out. Willittes also worked a 1-2-3 eighth.
 
That set the stage for Cornell's last gap in the ninth. Junior Kevin Tatum stroked a two-out triple into the gap in right-center, then came around to score on a wild pitch. That meant the tying run was at the plate, but a flyout ended the game.

Byrne took the loss, falling to 3-4 on the season despite having an impressive 1.86 earned run average. He struck out eight batters, pushing his team-leading strikeout total to 49.