Ithaca, NY (WBNG Binghamton) Starting pitchers Connor Kaufmann and Brian McAfee were lights-out, and late offense early and early offense later propelled the baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Columbia on Saturday, 2-1 in extra innings and 3-0.
Kaufmann pitched a complete-game eight innings in the opener, surrendering just one unearned run in the third inning and five hits. Cornell (23-7-1, 9-1 Ivy League) then scored the tying run in the seventh to force and extra frame, where Ryan Plantier hit a sacrfice fly to right with the bases loaded to score Brian Billigen with the winning run.
The Big Red then jumped on Columbia (13-18, 5-5) early in the second game, scoring three runs in the first inning. That proved to be all the offense in the lightning-fast pitcher's duel, which was over in just 1 hour, 45 minutes. McAfee surrendered just three hits in eighht shutout innings, then Kellen Urbon worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his sixth save of the season. Frank Hager was 2-for-3 in the game with an RBI double in the first.
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