PRINCETON, N.J. — A seven-run first inning was the first of 11 unanswered runs scored by the Cornell baseball team in its resounding 15-2 victory over Princeton at Clarke Field on Sunday afternoon.
Junior left fielder
John Quinlan and sophomore right fielder
Caden Wildman both went 3-for-5 at the plate to pace Cornell's offense, which pounded out 15 hits. Quinlan and Wildman were two of six Big Red players with multi-hit days, joined by junior third baseman
Max Jensen, senior first baseman
Braden Mack, senior second baseman
Matt Barnhorst, and junior center fielder
Jakobi Davis.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher
Ethan Hamill was stellar on the mound for the Big Red (3-11, 1-2 Ivy League) as he picked up his first win in 2024. Hamill logged Cornell's third consecutive quality start, scattering two runs on five hits over his 6.2 innings of work while issuing three walks and fanning a trio of Tiger hitters. Freshman left-handed pitcher
Nathaniel Jennewein logged the remaining 2.1 innings, striking out three Princeton batters and allowing just two baserunners (one walk, one hit batter).
Kyle Vinci hit a two-run home run for Princeton (6-13, 2-1 Ivy League) to match the Tigers' career home run record. Princeton starting pitcher Caden Shapiro could not escape the first inning after yielding seven runs on four hits over two-thirds of an inning.
Cornell leaped out to its seven-run first-inning lead behind a bases-loaded hit by pitch drawn by freshman catcher
Mark Quatrani, a two-run double by Mack, and a grand slam by Davis.
Princeton reliever Julian Ramirez held Cornell's offense in check as he tossed 2.1 scoreless innings of relief of Shapiro. In the fifth, the Big Red tagged submarine-style pitcher Jacob Faulkner for three runs to take a 10-0 lead.
Jensen scored the first run of the fifth inning on the first of four Princeton errors on the day. Mack doubled home Wildman with two outs before scoring on an RBI single by Barnhorst.
In the sixth, Jensen posted his second hit of the day, and his seventh of the series, with an RBI double that increased the Big Red's lead to 11-0.
Vinci thwarted Cornell's shutout bid with a two-run home run in the home half of the sixth after Jake Bold drew a leadoff walk.
The Big Red plated the game's final four runs over the last two innings, beginning with Wildman's two-out RBI single in the eighth.
Barnhorst opened Cornell's three-run ninth with a solo home run with one out to dead-center field before Waugh extended his hit streak to 18 games with a two-out, two-RBI single.
Jennewein recorded all three strikeouts in the ninth inning after issuing a leadoff walk, marking his first collegiate appearance with multiple strikeouts.
GAME NOTES
• Sunday was the 265th meeting between Cornell and Princeton, dating back to the inaugural meeting on May 19, 1888. The Big Red now sports a 102-161-2 mark against its Ancient Eight rival.
• Cornell's 15-run performance was its highest scoring output against Princeton since defeating the Tigers, 15-9, on April 20, 2019, at Hoy Field. It was the most runs by the Big Red on Princeton's home field since falling in an April 27, 2001 slugfest, 20-17.
• The 15 runs scored by the Big Red was its most since its 15-9 victory over Princeton on April 20, 2019, and was its most runs scored in a road game since defeating Towson, 27-14, on April 5, 2017.
• Davis' first-inning grand slam was the Big Red's first bases-clearing home run since
Matt Barnhorst, one year to the date, against Yale (March 24, 2023). It was also the first round-tripper for Davis since April 21, 2023, also against Princeton, snapping a 64-at-bat homerless drought.
• The seven-run frame was Cornell's first since the opening game of an April 15, 2023, doubleheader against Harvard in an 11-6 triumph over the Crimson at O'Donnell Field in Cambridge, Mass.
• Waugh's 18-game hit streak is the longest by a Cornell player since Marshall Yanzick collected hits in 19 straight games across the final five games in 2011 and the opening 14 contests of the 2012 campaign.
• Quinlan crossed home plate four times in the contest, marking the first four-run game by a Cornell player since
Sam Kaplan against Dartmouth on April 23, 2022.
• Hamill's 6.2-inning start was the longest of his collegiate career, besting a pair of six-inning outings from last season. His three strikeouts were also the most he has had in any appearance this season.
UP NEXT
Cornell will return to Ithaca for its first trio of home games of the 2024 campaign when it welcomes Dartmouth (6-9, 2-1 Ivy League) to Booth Field next weekend. The series between the Big Red and Big Green will begin on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled for an 11:30 a.m. start. All games of the Ivy League series will be broadcast on ESPN+.
