ROCK HILL, S.C. — Six unanswered runs in the first three innings allowed Winthrop (9-7) to take an early lead on its way to a 10-4 victory over the Cornell baseball team (3-5) at Founders Field on Sunday afternoon during the final game of the 2025 First Pitch Invitational.
Gabe Natividad (4-for-5, RBI triple) and Ethan Wilson (3-for-3, three doubles, RBI) paced Winthrop's offense, combining for seven of the Eagles' 11 hits on the day.
Brayden Gilley excelled in his second start of the season, bringing his record to 2-1 after allowing only one run and one hit over his five innings. Gilley issued two walks and struck out one Big Red batter.
Offensively for Cornell, senior infielder
Max Jensen went 3-for-5 with an RBI, while sophomore shortstop
Kevin Hager also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4. Senior center fielder
Jakobi Davis accounted for half of Cornell's runs with a two-run home run in the eighth inning.
Senior right-handed pitcher
Chris Ellison gave up six runs (five earned) on six hits during his three-inning start. Sophomore left-hander
Nathaniel Jennewein and freshman right-hander
John Hegarty performed well out of the Big Red bullpen, allowing one run on three hits over four innings. Hegarty struck out two Winthrop batters in as many innings.
Winthrop's streak of unanswered runs started in the first inning with an RBI single from Alan Benhardt and an RBI groundout by Josh Skowronski. Following a throwing error by Ellison, which allowed Winthrop to score its third run of the game in the second inning, a pair of RBI doubles by Wilson and Colin Crowley set up another RBI groundout by Chet Bowling, extending the Eagles' lead to 6-0.
Cornell scored its first run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by sophomore second baseman
Owen Carlson. In the bottom half of the inning, Winthrop restored its six-run lead, 7-1, due to a wild pitch thrown by Jennewein.
Jensen maintained his impressive performance at the plate in the seventh inning, recording his third hit and bringing home senior left fielder
John Quinlan, who got on base with a one-out bunt single and advanced to second due to a Winthrop throwing error.
After Hager opened the eighth inning with a bloop single to the opposite field, Davis followed with a two-run home run to right field, bringing Cornell's deficit to 7-4.
The Eagles' six-run lead was quickly restored in the bottom of the eighth when a throwing error by Cornell allowed two runs to score and Natividad recorded his fourth hit of the day with an RBI triple.
GAME NOTES
• Sunday marked the inaugural meeting between Cornell and Winthrop. It was the Big Red's ninth game against a team from the Big South Conference, with the Big Red now holding a 1-8 all-time record against Big South opponents.
• Davis' eighth-inning home run was his first round-tripper since April 20, 2024, ending his 64-at-bat homerless streak.
• Jensen extended his on-base streak to 26 games with a two-out single in the first inning.
UP NEXT
Cornell will return to the Old Line State next weekend for a three-game series against Towson (4-10) at John B. Schuerholz Park in Towson, Md.
The series will open on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. Only the Sunday contest (1 p.m. first pitch) will be streamed on FloBaseball.tv.
Next weekend will mark the first meeting between Cornell and Towson since 2019, when the Big Red played two games against the Tigers. The series is currently tied at 2-2. Cornell's victories include a 27-14 win on April 5, 2017, and a 4-2 win on March 16, 2019. Towson registered its victories over Cornell on April 1, 2015, with an 11-5 score, and on March 17, 2019, with a close 3-2 finish.
