Cornell’s baseball team came up short in Saturday’s rubber game of the Midwest Conference series with Lawrence, falling 8-4 at Whiting Field.
Cornell couldn’t overcome an early 5-0 deficit on Saturday. The Rams scratched for two runs in the sixth and plated two more in the seventh, cutting the margin to 5-4 on an RBI single from Darren Mancke.
The Vikings answered with a three-run eighth inning to spoil Cornell’s comeback bid.
The Rams received two hits apiece from Mancke, Seth Beals and Colin Gierula. Gierula scored two runs, while Mancke and Beals each had an RBI.
Kale Rose and Drew Logel each tallied a double for the Rams, who stranded eight runners.
The Vikings totaled 12 hits against four Cornell pitchers.
Earlier in the series, the Rams had a 6-2 win in game 2 and a 9-8 loss to Lawrence in game 1.
Lawrence outlasted the Rams in a four-plus hour opening game, 9-8 in 12 innings.
Schope and Patrick Montagna combined on a four-hitter in the second game. Schope (4-1) yielded just three hits and one run over six innings for his team-high fourth victory of the season. Montagna fired three efficient innings of one-hit ball to record his third save.
Darren Mancke went 3-for-5 to lead Cornell’s 11-hit attack. Kale Rose singled, doubled and scored twice. Drew Logel, who went 2-for-4, provided an RBI single in Cornell’s three-run second inning that was enough to carry the Rams the rest of the way.
Cornell catcher Colin Konicek threw out two base runners in Game 2, and caught three Vikings stealing for the day.
The lengthy first game saw the Rams rally for four runs in the top of the ninth inning – triggered by a bases-loaded triple from Rose – to take an 8-6 lead. The Vikings tied it at 8-8 on a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth.
Lawrence won it in the bottom of the 12th, scoring an unearned run on a throwing error with two outs and the bases loaded.
Rose went 2-for-5 with a run and four RBIs. James Kent homered, singled and drove in a run. Konicek added two RBIs.
Starting pitcher Kole Hinrichsen (3-1) passed Casey Korn (2006-09) for third place on Cornell’s career strikeouts list with 178. The senior fanned nine Vikings and allowed three runs through six innings. Hinrichsen has an MWC-best 53 strikeouts this season.
Cornell baseball loses two against Lawrence
April 13, 2023