ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell baseball team earned a walk-off win in game one, then capped a Saturday afternoon sweep at Hoy Field with an epic comeback in a game two victory over Yale. The Big Red topped the Bulldogs 2-1 in the opener and 12-9 in the nightcap, improving to 5-11 (2-3 Ivy) with the sweep, while Yale fell to 12-8 (3-2 Ivy).
The Big Red rallied in both games, the first coming early and the second coming big. Cornell surrendered a single run in the first in the opener in a game where it looked like a single run may be enough, scratching together the tying and winning runs. In game two, it was an eight-run seventh that answered a six-spot for Yale in the top-half of the inning that rallied the home team back from a 9-2 deficit with 10 consecutive runs to close it.
Max Jensen was 5-for-7 with three doubles, a pair of RBI and three runs scored to pace a Big Red offense that scored 14 runs with eight extra-base hits and stole seven bases on the day.
Kevin Cushing earned wins in both ends of the doubleheader out of the bullpen.
Game One
Matt Barnhorst hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to right-center to score
Ryan Ross from third to give the Big Red a 2-1 win in a pitcher's dual, 2-1. The win handed Yale its first Ivy loss to 2022 after Luke Yachinich and
Kevin Cushing put together a gem on the mound.
Barnhorst's flyout made a winner of Cushing, who struck out three and surrendered just one hit over the final 1.2 innings in relief of Yacinich. The senior scattered four hits and one earned run while striking out seven in a fantastic effort for the Big Red. He was matched pitch-by-pitch by Yale's Mike Walsh, who went 7.0 innings and surrendered just three hits and one run with seven strikeouts.
Yale scored a run in the first, but Yacinich slowed the Bulldogs down from there. He escaped out of a two-on, one-out jam in the fourth after the Big Red knotted it up in the third, striking out the final two batters.
Jakobi Davis did the leg work to manufacture Cornell's run in the third, walking, stealing second, and taking advantage of two wild pitches to score his team-best 11th run of the year.
Cushing got out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts in the ninth, setting up Barnhorst's heroics. Ross walked to open the inning and Jensen singled up the middle. After XX Porter sacrificed them up a base with an excellent bunt, Barnhorst greeted new pitcher Carter Kessinger with the winning play on the second pitch.
Joe Hollerbach was 2-for-4 with both
Ryan Ross and
Max Jensen reaching with a hit and a walk. Yale's Colton Shaw had a pair of hits to lead the Bulldog offense.
Game Two
Cornell rallied from a 9-2 deficit, answering a six-run Yale sixth with an eight-run rally to turn a seven-run deficit into a one-run lead punctuated by a three-run pinch-hit homer by
Nathan Waugh.
Ryan Ross and
Max Jensen got things rolling earlier in the evening with consecutive two-run doubles to set up Waugh's big blast.
Yale grabbed a 1-0 lead before the Big Red went ahead when
Sam Kaplan hit a no-doubter to left to go up 2-1. Yale tied it in the fifth and went ahead 3-2 in the sixth with single runs in each frame, setting the visitors up for their big seventh.
Three walks and a single gave Cornell life after falling behind by seven, but even after consecutive two-run doubles, was still down 9-7. Two batter later, Waugh slammed the first pitch he saw to left-center for his third homer of the season.
Spencer Edwards had a solid effort in getting the start, allowing just two earned runs over 6.0 innings, striking out four and allowing just four hits. Porter picked up his first save after pitching the final two innings, allowing just one hit. Jensen was 4-for-4 with three doubles to lead five Big Red players with multi-RBI games.
The teams will play game three of the weekend series on Sunday, April 3 at 12 p.m. at Hoy Field.
