[abell1198]

Cornell was on the road against Lafayette for Game 2 of their playoff series. James wasn't sure what was going on with Cornell, who had played so well for so long and now seemed to be spiraling out of control. The Big Red had suffered nine straight losses. Prior to this losing streak, they were 39-13. Now they found themselves on the verge of elimination.

For Game 2, Cornell manager Mitchell Workman was sticking with his secondary pitcher, Jon Mostil. No one from the university was saying what was going on behind the scenes, but Jo Key was most definitely in Workman's doghouse. Pitching for Lafayette was their ace, Tom Drummond.

Cornell came out swinging and by the middle of the 1st inning, had built a 4-0 lead. Lafayette responded with two runs in the bottom of the 1st, then plated three more in the 2nd inning to take the lead, 5-4. From there, the hitters settled down and the pitchers settled in, keeping the score the same. As the teams entered the 9th inning, Lafayette manager Tim Garcia made a few defensive substitutions to hold his lead. Cornell senior center fielder Bobby Bartlein (.314, 1 HR, 46 RBI) came to the plate to start the inning. Bartlein stroked the first pitch from Drummond and hit the ball of the center fielder's head for a triple!! Third baseman Cody Choma came up next, but hit a lazy fly ball to right center, keeping Bartlein at third. Senior catcher Trent Henning (.317, 0 HR, 39 RBI) came up to the plate. On the first pitch, Bartlein takes off for home plate. Henning lays down a bunt!! The squeeze is on and the play is at the plate....

Bartlein is SAFE!!! And Henning is on first, as the Big Red score and tie the game 5-5!!! Speedy sophomore center fielder Jonathan Arroyo is put on first as a pinch runner. Senior right fielder Cesar Rodriguez (.350, 1 HR, 30 RBI) lines a 1-2 pitch between short and third to put two men on. Workman pulls his sophomore shortstop, Joe Gerhardt, from the lineup in favor of pinch hitter Adam Mann. Mann, who played in only 37 games this season, is hitting .256 on the year. Mann just stands at the plate as the first pitch goes by for a called strike. But Workman went into his bag of tricks and ordered the double steal. Lafayette catcher John Clapp throws Rodriguez out at second for the second out, but that allows Arroyo to advance to third.

The second pitch to Mann is a ball and the third pitch is another called strike. Feeling confident against Mann, Drummond throws his fastball. Mann swings and grounds the ball to the gap between short and third. He legs out an infield hit and Arroyo scores to give the Big Red a 6-5 lead!!! After another Cornell hit, the third out is made, bringing Lafayette up to the plate. The Leopards record two outs, then manage two infield singles. But their rally falls short on shallow fly for the third and final out. The Cornell University Big Red have snapped their losing streak and head back to Ithaca, New York with the series tied 1-1.

In the second game of the day, Harvard has traveled to Providence, Rhode Island to face Brown University at Bears Ballpark. Shaun Louis is again on the mound for Harvard and Blake DeMarco is the starter once again for the Brown Bears. The Crimson manufacture a run in the 1st inning to take an early 1-0 lead. They tried to score more, but Brown managed to throw out two runners at the plate in the inning!! Harvard gets another run in the 4th inning to make it 2-0. Brown senior first baseman Nick Swan crosses the plate on a passed ball in the 6th inning to get the Bears on the board, cutting the lead to 2-1. Harvard scores again in the 8th to make it 3-1, but Brown plates two in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game, 3-3.

In the top of the 9th, with one out, Game 1 hero Jesse Vest comes up to the plate for Harvard. Vest hits a 2-2 single to left and advances to second on a fielder error. With Louis at the plate, Vest steals third on a 2-1 pitch that's called a ball. With the count 3-1, Louis strokes a base hit, scoring Vest and giving the Crimson the lead, 4-3. Brown is able to get two outs and moves to the bottom half of the inning. The Bears manage to get a baserunner to third as Swan comes up to bat with two outs. Swan takes the first pitch for a ball, but swings at the second pitch, sending it into the right field gap. But right fielder Jim Britt, who was brought in as a defensive replacement in the 8th inning, gets to the ball for the third and final out. Harvard wins the game and takes the series, 2-0!!