ITHACA, N.Y. – Junior Justin Lewis turned in a masterful five-hit shutout on Saturday, helping the baseball team stay in its pennant race after a split of a doubleheader against Penn at Hoy Field. The Quakers won the first game, 5-0, before the Big Red rebounded to win the night cap, 2-0, in a lightning-fast twin bill that saw no use of either team's bullpen.
 
Not only did senior Tommy Wagner extend his hitting streak to 12 consecutive games, he also now has multiple hits in six straight — all within Ivy League play.
 
By keeping pace with first-place Penn (19-16, 9-5 Ivy League), Cornell (18-13, 7-7) remains tied for second place in the Lou Gehrig Division heading into another doubleheader between the teams at noon Sunday.
 
Game 1: PENN 5, CORNELL 0 (Box Score)
Jake Cousins kept the Big Red bats off balance, then a two-run single up the middle from Matt Tola in the sixth inning blew the game open.
 
Cornell mustered just three hits against Cousins, who fanned 10 in a seven-inning complete game. Penn struck first with a run in the top of the second, but junior Ellis Bitar reached third with two out in the bottom half of the inning on a dropped fly ball to deep right. Cousins was able to retire the next batter to escape.
 
Penn had two on with out in the top of the fourth when a ball was stroked toward the gap in right-center, but junior Kyle Gallagher made a sliding catch to his right to likely keep two runs from scoring.
 
Senior Tommy Wagner broke up Cousins' no-hit bid with a single in the fourth, but advanced no further than first base.
 
Penn had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth, and Cornell pulled its infield in. Senior starter Tim Willittes induced a weak ground ball to second base, which senior Frankie Padulo turned on to first to get the second out. But Tola broke from third and although the throw beat him home, he got under the tag to double Penn's lead.
 
Penn loaded the bases in the sixth with two groundball singles and a swinging bunt, then Tola laced a two-run single up the middle to give the Quakers some breathing room.
 
Willittes took the loss despite pitching well for Cornell. It was his second complete game of the season.
 
Game 2: CORNELL 2, PENN 0 (Box Score)
Lewis headlined a clean game taking just 1 hour, 40 minutes to complete with the Big Red's first nine-inning shutout in nearly 17 years (Nick Bayer vs. Columbia on April 24, 2000). Lewis not only issued no walks across nine innings, he only went to a three-ball count four times while throwing off-speed pitches for strikes at will.
 
After a frustrating first game, the Big Red offense pounced early in the second. Junior Ryan Krainz led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk, then Bitar pulled a single through the left side. Wagner followed with a base hit through the right side, allowing Krainz to score and Bitar to take third.
 
Sophomore Will Simoneit then muscled a ball off the end of the bat just out of reach of the leaping Penn shortstop, giving him a two-out single that drove in Bitar to stake Lewis to a 2-0 lead.
 
The junior lefty ran with the lead, with no Penn runners advancing past first after Sean Phelan's first-inning double. Freshman Kaleb Lepper helped that effort, making his first start since suffering an injury at the start of Ivy League play on April, making a diving catch on a looping liner to left off Tola's bat in the eighth inning.
 
Penn brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth after an infield hit, but Lewis got his sixth strikeout on a 3-2 pitch against the Quakers' cleanup hitter, then induced a groundball fielder's choice to end the game.