ITHACA, N.Y. – The baseball team was mathematically eliminated from postseason contention Friday when it was swept by Princeton in a Senior Day doubleheader at Hoy Field.
 
Princeton (20-19, 12-6 Ivy League) won the opener, 4-3, in eight innings before Chad Powers flirted with a perfect game en route to a 6-1 Tigers victory in the night cap. With Columbia beating Penn in the first game of their doubleheader Friday, Princeton can clinch the Lou Gehrig Division title with another Lions victory later this afternoon.
 
Cornell (13-23, 6-12) got three hits and an RBI on the day from both junior Cole Rutherford and sophomore Dale Wickham.
 
Game 1: PRINCETON 4, CORNELL 3 (8 inn.) (Box Score)
The Tigers' Billy Arendt chopped a ball over third base and down the line for a leadoff double in the extra inning, then junior reliever Jamie Flynn came on and struck out the side — but only after Arendt scored following a wild pitch and a one-out single through a drawn-in infield.
 
Cornell scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to force the eighth inning. Junior C.J. Price led off with a first-pitch single and senior Jordan Winawer moved pinch-running freshman Parker Morris to second base with a perfect sacrifice bunt. Sophomore Ellis Bitar followed with a single to center, and the Big Red had runners on the corners with one out.
 
Princeton then turned to Chris Giglio out of the bullpen, but Wickham smacked his first pitch into center field to drive in the tying run. That moved the potential winning run to second base, but Giglio got out of the jam and ultimately earned the victory.
 
Cornell junior starter Peter Lannoo took the hard-luck loss, bouncing back and working into the eighth inning after yielding two runs in the first. A Danny Hoy double put two runners in scoring position with one out. The Tigers pushed both across on an RBI groundout from Nick Hernandez and a run-scoring single from Zack Belski. The Tigers then plated an unearned run in the fifth to push its lead to 3-0.
 
Cornell managed extra-base hits against Princeton starter Cameron Mingo in consecutive innings — including a two-out Wickham triple in the third and a leadoff double from Rutherford in the fourth — but couldn't capitalize on either.
 
The Big Red finally broke through in the fifth. Back-to-back one-out singles from Winawer and Bitar gave the home side multiple base-runners for the first time on the day. Freshman Mark Fraser then hit a towering double that one-hopped the wall in center field and scored both runners, cutting Cornell's deficit to 3-2.
 
Lannoo worked quiet sixth and seventh innings to set up the extra-inning finish. He worked at least seven innings in each of his final four starts.
 
Game 2: PRINCETON 6, CORNELL 1 (Box Score)
The Tigers' Chad Powers took a perfect game into the seventh before Wickham lined a single into center field with one out. He later turned an enormous jump into a stolen base and scored when Rutherford served a single to right, and the Big Red cut its deficit to one run. It turned out to be Cornell's only two hits in the game.
 
Princeton took that lead by scoring a run in the first inning, then adding another in the fifth — both without the help of extra-base hits, and both coming with two outs. Sophomore pitched a career-high 6 1/3 innings and fanned five batters — tying a career best he posted once during his freshman season.
 
The Tigers tacked on three runs against five different relievers to give itself a cushion, and Princeton's Danny Thomson worked an inning to close out the game in a non-save situation. Jesper Horsted was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI for Princeton.
 
There was a special ceremony in between the games to honor the final home game in the career of the Big Red's seniors — Michael Byrne, Eliot Lowell, Collin McGee, Marlon Rainville, Ryne Veenema and Jordan Winawer.