After a 4-10 start to Midwest Conference play, Cornell’s baseball team defied the odds and qualified for the MWC Tournament on the final day of the regular season.
Coach Robbie Dombrowski’s Rams completed their late-season surge with Sunday’s 4-1 victory over second-place Chicago at Kyle Anderson Field.
The win, coupled with Knox’s walk-off victory over Ripon, propelled Cornell into the postseason for the first time since 2019.
Winners of 10 of their final 11 games, the Rams (23-16 overall) secured fourth place in the MWC at 13-11. They’ll face No. 1 seed Lawrence (30-9 overall, 20-3 MWC) in Friday’s first round of the four-team MWC Tournament, held in Appleton, Wis.
Cornell took the final two games of the series against the Maroons (17-22 overall, 16-8 MWC). The Rams gave up only three runs – all of them unearned – in the two wins.
Fifth-year Jake Schope (3-3) stepped up in a big way with the pitching win, firing three-hit ball over 5.2 scoreless innings. The right-hander struck out eight.
Grant Morris came on to record the final out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth. Agustin Velazquez worked the final three innings to post his first save of the season.
Catcher Esteban Perez went 3-for-4 to lead Cornell’s 11-hit attack. He scored Cornell’s initial run in the top of the second. The Rams received a sacrifice fly from Ryan Weaver in the fourth and an RBI single from Sean Alvarez in the sixth to make it 3-0.
Weaver scored Cornell’s final run in the eighth on a wild pitch.
Darren Mancke went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles from the No. 9 spot in the lineup. Vince Zipperer also had two hits.