BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Seniors Spencer Scorza and Ryan Karl had three hits apiece, but the baseball team came up short in its season-opening doubleheader Saturday at Gardner-Webb. Cornell fell in the open, 2-1, then dropped the nightcap, 3-2, at John H. Moss Stadium.
 
Big Red got effective five-inning starts from senior Brian McAfee and junior Michael Byrne, but both ultimately took losses on a frigid day. The teams are scheduled to wrap up the three-game series at 1 p.m. Sunday.
 
Game 1: GARDNER-WEBB 2, CORNELL 1 (Box Score)
Scorza was 3-for-4 and Karl was 2-for-3 with an RBI single, but the Big Red couldn't rally despite outhitting the Runnin' Bulldogs by an 8-3 margin.
 
McAfee yielded two runs on three hits over five innings while fanning four and issuing no walks. Unfortunately for McAfee, all three GWU hits came consecutively to lead off the bottom of the third inning. Back-to-back singles set the stage for Henry Rundio's RBI double, then the Runnin' Bulldogs pushed a second run across on a sacrifice fly.
 
The Big Red scored its lone run in the sixth. Senior Dan Morris led off with an infield single, then went first to third on Scorza's one-out single through the right side. Karl then followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in Morris. Cornell couldn't advance a runner beyond first base the rest of the way.
 
Senior Nick Busto was terrific in relief, pitching the final three innings by setting down nine in a row and one strikeout.
                                 
Game 2: GARDNER-WEBB 3, CORNELL 2 (Box Score)
The Big Red stranded the tying run at third base on the game's final out, ending a rally that consisted of one run in both the eighth and ninth innings.
 
Morris led off the eighth with a pinch-hit double to left, then eventually scored after advancing a base on a pair of groundouts. Sophomore Jamie Smith then led off the ninth with a double to left-center and scored on senior Kevin Tatum's single up the middle.
 
Tatum moved up to second on junior Eliot Lowell's sacrifice bunt. After a popout left the Big Red down to its final out, Tatum advanced to third on a wild pitch. But that's as close as the tying run would get, with the game ending on a lineout to center. Tatum and sophomore Frankie Padulo had two hits apiece.
 
Byrne surrendered one run on three hits in five innings. He struck out five and issued just one walk, though that runner eventually came around to score in the fifth.
 
Sophomore Paul Balestrieri pitched the rest of the game, with the eventual winning run scoring unearned in the seventh inning.