ITHACA, N.Y. – Junior Cole Rutherford turned in a monster seven-hit day, and the baseball team rallied to win both games of a doubleheader against Columbia on Saturday at Hoy Field, 7-4 and 4-3. Cornell scored the tying and go-ahead runs in its penultimate at-bats in each game to win three times in the Lou Gehrig Division four-game series.
 
Cornell (12-14, 5-5 Ivy League) kept pace with division leader Princeton, which also won three of four games in its weekend series against Penn. The Big Red is tied for second with the Quakers three games back of the Tigers, while Columbia (10-21, 4-8) falls to five games off the pace.
 
Cornell returns to action at noon Wednesday for a interdivsional doubleheader against Dartmouth at Hoy Field.
 
Game 1: CORNELL 7, COLUMBIA 4 (Box Score)
Junior Frankie Padulo hit a three-run home run and Rutherford added a pair of RBI doubles before junior Rob Pannullo earned his first collegiate save in just his third appearance.
 
Down 4-3 entering the bottom of the fifth, sophomore Ellis Bitar took an 0-2 pitch off his toe to get the leadoff runner on base. Rutherford followed up by roping a double into the gap to score Bitar and tie the game. Sophomore Dale Wickham then singled to put runners on the corners, chasing Columbia starter Josh Simpson. Freshman Mark Fraser greeted Lions closer Harrison Egly with a single to the opposite field to send Rutherford home with the go-ahead run.
 
Cornell tacked on another run in the frame on a balk, but Columbia got the tying run on base in the top of sixth. Pannullo was essentially perfect in his Ivy League debut, getting a pair of flyouts to strand his inherited runners before working a quiet seventh to close it out.
 
Columbia pushed an unearned run across in the first inning and threatened several times to expand on the lead. Two walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with two outs in the third, but Big Red sophomore starter Justin Lewis got a fielder's choice grounder to end the threat. The Lions' leadoff hitter then reached in the fourth on catcher's interference — the Big Red's third error of the game — but sophomore center fielder made a diving catch on a liner toward the gap and came up throwing to double off the runner on first.
 
Padulo's blast briefly gave the Big Red the lead in the fourth. An infield single by senior Eliot Lowell and a walk by freshman Parker Morris set the stage. After a mound visit from the Columbia pitching coach, Padulo jumped on the first pitch he saw and sent it over the wall in left field for his first collegiate home run.
 
The Lions bounced right back take a 4-3 lead in the fifth, chasing Lewis with two on and one out. A pair of RBI singles tied the game, then a walk loaded the bases. Senior reliever Michael Byrne got a swinging strikeout for the inning's second out, but Will Savage drew an RBI walk to put the Lions in front before Cornell's rally.
 
Byrne earned his team-high third victory in relief. Rutherford was 3-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs.
 
Game 2: CORNELL 4, COLUMBIA 3 (Box Score)
The 3-4-5 batters in the Big Red order combined for all eight of the team's hits, including a 4-for-4 effort from Rutherford. Fraser and Wickham were both 2-for-4 with doubles, and Wickham also stole his fourth base of the year. Junior starter Peter Lannoo yielded no walks while working into the eight inning to earn his second victory of the year, and junior Austin Wahl earned his first career save.
 
For the third time in the four-game series, Columbia scored in the first inning — this time taking a commanding 3-0 lead behind a one-inning start from Thomas Crispi and five effective innings from piggybacking righty Ethan Abrams. The only run to come across on Abrams' watch was scored by Fraser on a sacrifice fly by senior Jordan Winawer.
 
Lowell then worked a two-out walk in the sixth inning to load the bases, but Abrams got a groundout to escape the jam with his final pitch of the day.
 
Cornell then scored all three of its seventh-inning runs with two outs to pull ahead for good. Junior C.J. Price was hit by a pitch, then Fraser smashed an RBI double into the gap to cut the home side's deficit.
 
Rutherford then hit his third double of the day to score senior pinch runner Marlon Rainville, tying the game at 3. Wickham followed with a single to center and Rutherford narrowly beat the relay throw home for the go-ahead run.
 
Meanwhile, Lannoo settled in after the rough first inning and soldiered on into the eighth inning before a couple singles ended his day. Junior Jamie Smith came on and got an out on his only pitch of the day, ending the threat. Wahl struck out two in the ninth inning to earn the save.
 
Rutherford's four-hit effort was the Big Red's second of the season, matching the output of Bitar in a game last weekend at Yale.