HANOVER, N.H. – Starting pitchers Brian McAfee and Zach McCulley starred for the baseball team Sunday in a doubleheader split with reigning Ivy League Red Rolfe Division champion Dartmouth. The Big Red dropped the opener, 1-0, before rebounding for a 3-0 victory in Game 2.
Both starters tossed seven scoreless innings. McAfee scattered six hits while working a no-decision in Game 1, allowing just one runner past second base. McCulley, making his first career Ivy League start, pitched a four-hit shutout in the nightcap. He worked around four hits – all singles – while striking out five and issuing no walks.
Game 1 – Dartmouth 1, Cornell 0 – Box Score
A pitcher's duel turned sour for the baseball team Sunday when Dartmouth drew a walk with bases loaded in the ninth inning to secure a 1-0 victory in the opener of an Ivy League doubleheader.
McAfee starred for the Big Red, pitching seven scoreless innings in his sixth start of the season. He worked through a couple of uneventful innings before Matt MacDowell drove the first pitch in the bottom of the third to the gap in left-center for a double. But McAfee didn't allow the runner to advance any further, also stranding runners at first and second in the fourth inning.
Tom D'Alessandro got the Big Red's first hit off Dartmouth starter Michael Johnson with one out in the fifth inning, snaking a grounder through the middle of the infield. He advanced to second on a groundout, but was stranded there after a flyout retired the side.
Freshman Michael Byrne emerged from the bullpen to work the final two innings for Cornell (16-10). With two outs and Bo Patterson on second base in the eighth inning, a chopper to short was fielded by D'Alessandro. His throw to first was a split second too late to retire Ennis Coble, but first baseman Ryan Plantier alertly fired a throw home to gun down Patterson trying to score.
Dartmouth closer Thomas Olson came on to work the ninth inning, getting the first two outs to set the stage for a dramatic rematch with Cruz. The last time the two squared off, Cruz mashed a walk-off two-run home run in the 11th inning of the 2012 Ivy League Championship Series. On Sunday, Cruz made solid contact again by ripping a ball down the first baseline – but Dartmouth first baseman Dustin Selzer was positioned perfectly to avoid surrendering an extra-base hit and make the unassisted putout.
The Big Green then won the game with two outs in the bottom of ninth when a seeing-eye chopper found no-man's land in the Big Red infield to put two runners on. A pair of walks followed, plating the winning run.
Game 2 – Cornell 3, Dartmouth 0 – Box Score
McCulley was brilliant in his first collegiate complete game, retiring the final 10 batters he faced after picking off Matt Lombardi in the fourth inning. The only thing resembling a Dartmouth threat came in the second inning, when back-to-back one-out hits in the second put runners on first and second. McCulley responded by striking out the next batters to end the inning.
The Big Red offense gave McCulley the lead from the onset, thanks to a pair of first-inning runs. Sophomore JD Whetsel hit an infield single with one out, then came around to score on classmate Matt Hall's double to right-center. Ryan Plantier then drove in Hall with a two-out single up the middle.
Cornell chased Dartmouth starter Mitch Horacek after five innings, then wasted no time adding an insurance run on reliever Michael Danielak. Plantier led off the sixth with a double to center, then scored on sophomore Kevin Tatum's single to center. Plantier was 2-for-2 with a walk, a run and an RBI in the game. Whetsel and Hall also had two hits apiece.
Cornell returns home for its next game, welcoming Binghamton to Hoy Field at 4 p.m. Wednesday for a nonleague game. The Big Red then opens Lou Gehrig Division play next weekend with a pair of doubleheaders at Columbia.
