The midweek matchup between baseball and Binghamton University began under intense humidity, which escalated into rain, thunder and lightning chaos. By the bottom of the fourth inning, the Red’s makeup game against Binghamton was cut short due to lightning strikes. The Red was originally scheduled to face the Bearcats on March 25, but that matchup was also canceled due to weather concerns.
Cornell (11-20, 6-12 Ivy) opened the game strong — while the first inning was scoreless between the two teams, freshman infielder Mason Barela’s homer to left field allowed sophomore infielder Kevin Hager to score. The Red went up 2-0, and this was just the beginning of a cascade of runs. First, senior outfielder Kyle Musser’s hit allowed sophomore infielder Owen Carlson to advance to third base and sophomore infielder Luke Johnson to find home plate.
Sophomore catcher Mark Quatrani went up to bat next and his single to left field gave Musser the chance to get all the way to third base and bring Carlson home. One play later, senior outfielder Ryan Porter singled up the middle and earned a run batted in as Musser scored.
The Red took a 5-0 lead. This season, eight of Cornell’s 11 wins have come when it scored first.
At the bottom of the second, the Bearcats’ Evin Sullivan answered with a home run and Logan Haskell earned an RBI.
Binghamton (21-19) continued on a hot streak in the next inning, with a home run from Sullivan sending two runners home and equalizing the score.
The Binghamton offense was able to generate three more unanswered runs, and since the game was cut short, the Red fell to Binghamton, 5-8. The same score ended Cornell’s first game against the Bearcats 15 days earlier.
The weekend before it took on Binghamton, Cornell faced a critical Ivy opponent, Dartmouth College (11-21, 8-10 Ivy). In the first game of the series, the first four innings were scoreless. At the top of the fifth, Johnson’s bat brought Hager home for the first run of the game. At the bottom of the fifth, the Big Green’s Jackson Hower hit a home run and recorded an RBI.
The Red were quick to rebut as Hager singled to shortstop and brought Quatrani home to tie the game. Cornell held Dartmouth to no runs and took a lead at the top of the seventh thanks to a home run by Johnson.
Unfortunately, Dartmouth would pull ahead as Camden Rush’s single up the middle earned him two RBIs, and later Rush recorded another point for Dartmouth on a wild pitch. In the end, the Red lost in a tight game, 5-3.
The second game, like the first of the series, was a defensive effort. Through the third inning, no teams generated a run. Again, the Red took the lead first as junior outfielder Caden Wildman homered to left field. In the fifth inning, a wild pitch allowed Dartmouth to record the equalizer. Scoring dried up until the Big Green took the lead in the seventh inning when Ethan Brown’s sacrifice fly bought Elliot Krewson enough time to make it home and snag Dartmouth a late lead.
At the top of the eighth, senior captain and outfielder Jakobi Davis hit a home run. Dartmouth answered back immediately, as Taer Rodriguez’s sacrifice fly allowed Hower to come home and seal the win for the Big Green.
In the final game of the series, Dartmouth’s offense took an impressive 6-0 lead in the second inning, which Cornell was unable to overcome. In the fourth inning, the Red tried to dig itself out of the deficit, starting with a single from Johnson that brought Davis home. Dartmouth added an insurance run in the seventh inning to make the score 1-7. In the eighth inning, Hager singled to left center field and earned an RBI when Quatrani made it home. The ninth inning saw Davis and Johnson hit homers that ultimately ended the game with the Red losing, 4-7.
Now, after wrapping up its eight-game straightaway series, Cornell will come back home to face Princeton University (10-29, 6-11 Ivy) in its final three-game series. The series is slated to start at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 3, until noon on Sunday, May 4 — which will also be Senior Day.
The first three spots in the Ivy League Tournament have already been clinched by Yale University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. If the Red want a chance at grabbing the fourth spot — currently held by Harvard University (11-23, 8-9 Ivy) — it would need to sweep its series against the Tigers first. Then, the Crimson, Dartmouth and Brown University must lose all three of the games left in their regular seasons for Cornell to move up to the fourth spot. As far-fetched as this situation may sound, all five of the teams fighting for the fourth seed have Ivy League winning percentages under .500, putting the Red within striking distance of tournament contention. Cornell was picked to finish third in the Ivy League preseason poll, and this weekend it still has the chance to finish in the top four.
All action will be streamed on ESPN+.
Zeinab Faraj is the assistant sports editor on the 143rd editorial board and a member of the class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. You can reach her at zfaraj@cornellsun.com.
