PRINCETON, N.J. — The baseball team ended a seven-game losing streak on Friday when it defeated Princeton, 13-4, in the second game of Friday's Ivy League doubleheader at Clarke Field. The Tigers won the opener, 1-0, despite the third complete game of the season from Big Red starter Kellen Urbon.
 
The Big Red has assured itself of a third-place finish in the league's Lou Gehrig Division for a second straight year. Cornell has finished last in the division just once in seven years under guidance of Bill Walkenbach, the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball.
 
Princeton (7-30, 4-14) and Cornell (10-26, 7-11) will wrap up their Ivy League schedules with a doubleheader at noon Sunday at Hoy Field in Ithaca, N.Y. There will be a special ceremony between the games to honor the last several home games for the team's 13 seniors.
 
Game 1: PRINCETON 1, CORNELL 0 (Box Score)
Urbon recorded a career-high six strikeouts in the hard-luck loss, scattering five hits and surrendering just one run in the sixth inning.
 
Princeton's Tyler Servais led off by hitting a grounder into the hole on the left side of the infield that he legged out for a single. After a sacrifice bunt moved Servais to second base, Urbon jammed Billy Arendt — but the ball looped over the left side of the infield and allowed Servais to come around to score the game's only run.
 
Arendt ended up on second base after a fielding error, but Urbon alertly retired him at third base on a weak comebacker by Asher Lee-Tyson. Urbon then fanned Danny Hoy, Princeton's leading hitter, to minimize the damage.
 
Sophomore Tommy Wagner was 2-for-3 to account for half of the Big Red's hits against Powers. One of Wagner's singles came on the first pitch in the top of the seventh, when he lined a single into center field. But the threat was neutralized when Wagner was caught stealing during a strikeout, and Powers induced an infield popup for the final out.
 
Sophomore Frankie Padulo had a double, and freshman Dale Wickham had a single to account for the Big Red's other hits. Senior catcher Matt Hall gunned down two would-be base-stealers in the game.
 
Game 2: CORNELL 13, PRINCETON 4 (Box Score)
Padulo was 4-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs, and senior Ryan Karl and freshman Ellis Bitar were both 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Cornell's output of 13 runs is a season high, surpassing the 10 runs it scored against Yale on March 29 and Brown on March 30.
 
Karl and Padulo smacked back-to-back doubles to either side of the left fielder to drive in the first two runs of the game in the second inning. After moving up to third on a groundout, Padulo scored the third run on Bitar's blooper into shallow right.
 
Senior Dan Morris made a nice running snag of ball into the gap in the bottom half of the frame. Catcher's interference kept the inning alive for Princeton, but Cornell starter Paul Balestrieri rung up Brett Geren on a pitch over the inside corner with two men on to end the threat.
 
Morris then led off the third inning with double, then he aggressively moved to third on a flyout to center. Senior Spencer Scorza then walked, and Wagner hit a sacrifice fly to left that allowed Morris to trot home for the Big Red's fourth run. The inning stayed alive on a fielding error. Padulo followed with a double to left that drove in Scorza.
 
Princeton gets on the board with Nick Hernandez's two-run homer to right in the bottom of the third. But the Big Red blew the game open with five unearned runs in the fourth — all with two out. Scorza later hit a two-run double in the seventh.
 
Balestrieri, pitching in his home state, earned his first victory of the season with a six-inning start. Senior Nick Busto earned the save by working three innings of scoreless relief, including three strikeouts.