Box Score (PDF)
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The baseball team took advantage of two Hartford errors in the ninth inning to cap a rally for a 4-3 victory over the Hawks on Saturday at Griffith Field.
With the game tied at 3 in the final frame, senior
Ryan Karl led off the inning by reaching first on a fielding error by the first baseman. A successful sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitting senior
Dan Morris pushed Karl to second base with one out, then freshman
Dale Wickham hit a ball that again eluded the Hawks' first baseman and allowed Karl to score and give Cornell (1-4) its first victory of the season.
The Big Red trailed 3-1 entering the bottom of the eighth, but got rolling with sophomore
Frankie Padulo's one-out infield hit to bring up the top of the order. Junior
Jordan Winawer stroked a double to right, advancing Padulo to third, then senior
Kevin Tatum hit a sacrifice fly to foul territory in right to drive in Padulo. Winawer alertly took third on the play, which proved pivotal when Hartford reliever Jeremy Charles uncorked a wild pitch and allowed Winawer to score the tying run.
It was a Winawer's second run of the game, as he also gave the Big Red a 1-0 lead in the first. He drew a leadoff walk, then scored on senior
Spencer Scorza's double to right-center. Sophomore
Jacob Weston and freshman
Ellis Bitar also had doubles for the Big Red.
But Hartford (2-3) took the lead in the top of the second. A pair of batters reached on separate errors on the infield, and both came around to score and give the Hawks a 2-1 lead. Senior
Kellen Urbon earned the no-decision in the start, yielding four hits, two unearned runs, two walks and five strikeouts. He stranded runners on third base in three of his five innings.
Hartford pushed across another run in the senior
Nick Busto's first inning of relief, but Busto — who earned the win — settled down and worked consecutive 1-2-3 innings to set the stage for the Big Red rally. Busto then worked out of a jam in the ninth when the Hawks had runners on the corners with two out, recording the final out on a caught stealing.
Cornell wraps up play at the weekend tournament at 10 a.m. Sunday against Virginia, the top-ranked team in the nation.
