AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The baseball team cranked out 25 hits over two games Saturday, earning an 8-6 victory over Bowling Green before suffering a 13-9 loss to Maine at Lake Myrtle Park at the RussMatt Central Flroida Invitational.
 
Seniors Kevin Tatum and Spencer Scorza paced the Cornell (2-7) offense with two hits in each game, and Dan Morris drove in a total of four runs over the two games. Senior Brian McAfee, the reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Week, earned the victory against Bowling Green.
 
Cornell wraps up its four-game stretch at the tournament at 10 a.m. Sunday against Huntington in Lakeland.
 
CORNELL 8, BOWLING GREEN 6 (Box Score)
Junior Jordan Winawer drove in two runs with a double to spark the Big Red's three-run second inning, then Cornell put up a four-spot in the sixth inning to inflate its lead to 8-1.
 
Tatum scored Cornell's first run after leading off the bottom of the second with a double, then freshmen Dale Wickham and Ellis Bitar came around to score on Winawer's two-bagger down the right-field line. Doubles by Scorza and sophomore Jamie Smith led to the Big Red's fourth run in the third inning.
 
After surrendering a run-scoring double in the second inning, McAfee settled down to retire the next eight BGSU batters. No Falcons runners advanced past first base for the rest of McAfee's outing.
 
Cornell's lead ballooned in the sixth inning, which started with sophomore Frankie Padulo's one-out walk. A couple of errors and hit-by-pitches kept the inning moving, and Morris and Scroza provided run-scoring singles.
 
Bowling Green kept the game interesting with three runs over the seventh and eighth innings, then the Falcons cut their deficit to two runs on a two-run single by Cody Callaway and brought the tying run to the plate. Cornell summoned sophomore Paul Balestrieri from the bullpen, and the closer struck out the next two batters to earn his first save of the season.
 
MAINE 13, CORNELL 9 (Box Score)
Cornell struck first with Tatum's RBI double and sophomore Jacob Weston's RBI single in the second inning. But nine of the Black Bears' runs were unearned on three Big Red errors — with most of them coming in Maine's seven-run third inning.
 
Cornell's deficit inflated to eight runs after four innings, but the Big Red rallied for a run in the fifth inning after three consecutive singles by junior Eliot Lowell, Winawer and Morris. Cornell then struck for four more runs in the seventh in an impressive two-out rally. Scorza singled and Smith walked, setting the table for Tatum's RBI double. Freshman Trey Baur followed with a two-run double, and Weston then plated Baur with his own double to right to bring the score to 10-7.
 
Maine countered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning before Cornell's last gasp in the ninth. Walks by Tatum, the pinch-hitting Wickham and Winawer loaded the bases for Morris, who delivered with a two-out, two-run double to right. With the potential tying run on deck, Maine was able to end the threat — and the game — with a flyout.