ITHACA, N.Y. – Sophomore Matt Collins hit a towering home run to left field and junior Jeb Bemiss pitched the baseball team's first nine-inning complete game in nearly two years, but Princeton scored twice in the ninth inning for a 4-2 victory on Sunday in the rubber game of an Ivy League series at Hoy Field.
 
Working on the heels of a masterful return to the weekend rotation with 7.2 scoreless innings last Sunday at Harvard, Bemiss was dealing right from the start against Princeton (10-22, 6-9 Ivy League). After working around a leadoff double, Bemiss set down the next nine straight to keep the teams scoreless through three inning.
 
The Tigers took the lead on David Harding's two-run homer to left in the fourth inning, but Cornell (9-21, 4-11) answered right back in the bottom of the frame. Senior Josh Arndt led off with a walk, then he moved up to second on a passed ball. Senior Will Simoneit's base hit to center put runners on the corners with no out, and sophomore Ramon Garza drove in Arndt with a sacrifice fly on which Arndt was able to just get under the tag of Princeton catcher Max West.
 
On the play, Simoneit moved up to second base, then another single by sophomore Nicholas Binnie again put runners on the corners. Binnie stole second and Collins drew a walk to load the bases, but Princeton starter Andrew Gnazzo followed with two of his eight strikeouts to minimize the damage. Cornell left the bases loaded again in the fifth.
 
Collins then led off the home half of the sixth by sending the first pitch soaring over the left-field wall to tie the game at 2. Bemiss then worked out a two-out jam with runners on the corners in the seventh, then a spectacular play by junior third baseman Alex Carnegie ended the Princeton eighth. He saved an extra-base hit when a ball was hit sharply down the line, only to see Carnegie stab it with his glove and all in one motion – still falling to his right – firing across his body to get the out at first.
 
The Big Red threatened in the bottom of the eighth when sophomore Nicholas Binnie drove a ball to the gap in right-center. It was good for a one-out double, but a perfectly executed relay cut Binnie down trying to stretch it into a triple.
 
Princeton finally pushed ahead for good in the ninth. Conor Nolan led off with a ground into the hole on the right side, only to see sophomore second baseman Ramon Garza making a diving stop. His throw to first was on target, but Nolan beat out the play. Taylor Beckett followed with a ground ball just out of Garza's reach to the right, and the Tigers had two on. West's sacrifice bunt moved them both into scoring position with one out.
 
With the infield in, Ramzi Haddad plated the go-ahead run with a grounder through the left side just out of reach of the shortstop. A failed pickoff attempt that bounced past first base allowed an insurance run to score.
 
Carnegie led off the bottom of the ninth by getting hit by a two-strike pitch to bring the tying run to the plate. But that's as close as the Big Red would come.
 
Bemiss' nine-inning complete game was the first for Cornell since Justin Lewis did it April 23, 2017 against Penn. Since the beginning of April, Bemiss has a 1.35 ERA with 29 strikeouts through 26.2 innings.
 
Up next for the Big Red is a non-league game against Binghamton at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Bearcats' Baseball Complex in Vestal.