Dartmouth Drops Two to Cornell, 8-6 and 2-1

Saturday, May 4

Hanover, N.H.

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

Cornell

Freshman Justin Murray tossed 7.1 innings of two-run ball.

Photo by: Brian Foley

5/4/2019 4:59:00 PM | Baseball

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Cole O'Connor and Justin Murray each had career-long starts

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth suffered two losses on Saturday in its final weekend of the season as visiting Cornell (14-22, 8-12 Ivy) defeated the Big Green (14-26, 7-13 Ivy) by scores of 8-6 and 2-1. The Big Red have won five straight while Dartmouth has dropped five in a row.

Both Big Green starters threw the most innings of the career as senior Cole O'Connor went the distance in the opener, throwing 113 pitches, while freshman Justin Murray tossed 7.1 frames of two-run ball in the nightcap. But both suffered losses as the Cornell staff did just enough to keep Dartmouth in check.

The Big Red jumped out to a 5-0 lead against O'Connor after three and a half innings, with the first tally coming home in the second on back-to-back two-out doubles by Nicholas Binnie and Alex Carnegie. Will Simoneit doubled home another run in the third, then stole third and scampered home when the throw trickled into left field. A Matt Collins solo shot and an Adam Saks sacrifice fly in the fourth gave Cornell its sizable advantage.

But in the bottom half of the fourth, Dartmouth got two back on a two-out single with the bases loaded off the bat of junior Trevor Johnson.

Both Carnegie and Saks delivered RBI singles in the sixth, and Nick Lillios lofted a sacrifice fly to give the Big Red a six-run lead, 8-2, before the Big Green scored one in the bottom half on a Ben Rice single that scored sophomore Ubaldo Lopez, who had doubled.

Cornell starter Colby Wyatt (3-6) was lifted after six innings and 100 pitches having surrendered three runs on 10 hits and a walk while punching out a pair. But reliever Luke Yacinich was tagged for a two-run homer by senior Nate Ostmo, his sixth of the year, and was replaced with two out and two on by John Natoli.

An error allowed another run to score, but Natoli escaped further damage by getting the third out on a fly to left. Natoli then retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth for the save.

O'Connor (4-4) threw 133 pitches in allowing the eight runs, seven earned, on 14 hits and one walk to go with two strikeouts in his third career complete game but first that went the full nine innings. All nine hitters in the Big Green lineup had at least one hit with senior Steffen Torgersen going 3-for-4 while Lopez scored three times.

In the nightcap, both Murray and Big Red starter Jonathan Zacharias efficiently navigated the opposing lineup. Zacharias faced just one batter over the minimum in the first six innings, giving up just a pair of singles, one of which was retired on a double-play grounder.

Murray, meanwhile, set down the first eight batters he faced before Jason Apostle singled on a soft liner that second baseman Blake Crossing could not quite corral in shallow right. Saks followed with an RBI triple that glanced off right fielder Matt Feinstein's glove in a diving attempt. Josh Arndt followed by dropping a ball into shallow right for a base hit, plating Saks for a 2-0 Big Red lead.

Feinstein led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to deep right-center, but Zacharias got the first out on a fly to center, yet was lifted after just 60 pitches. Andrew Ellison took over on the mound, only to have Torgersen deliver a two-out, RBI single through the left side to make it a 2-1 game.

The Big Green put the tying and winning runs on base in the ninth with two gone, but Natoli was summoned from the bullpen and got the final out on strikes for his second save of the day and seventh of the season.

Zacharias (1-3) earned his first victory, allowing the one run on three hits with one strikeout, while Murray (2-5) was stuck with the tough-luck loss having yielded the two runs on eight hits while fanning five. Neither team issued a walk in the game.

Dartmouth will try to salvage a victory in the series finale and last game of the season when the two teams play again at noon on Sunday. The game will be televised live on NESNplus and streamed online through ESPN+ with Wayne Young '72 and Bob Lipman calling the action.

Notes: Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen is stuck on 599 career victories … the Big Green will need to defeat Cornell in order to escape the cellar and tie the Big Red for seventh, finishing outside the top half of the league in a dozen years … O'Connor finishes his career with 38 starts on the mound, tying a Dartmouth record, and 225.1 innings, ninth all-time in the Big Green annals.