April 6, 2008
Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score | Photo Gallery
NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Until this weekend, the Yale baseball team hadn't had the benefit of "last licks" all season. The Bulldogs were lucky they had that luxury on Sunday. Ryan Lavarnway hit a walk-off homer to give Yale (12-16-1, 5-2-1 Ivy) a 2-1 win in the first game and Stefan Schropp's two-out, walk-off single secured a come-from-behind 6-5 victory in the nightcap of an Ivy League doubleheader with Cornell (6-15, 0-6 Ivy) at Yale Field.
For a while, it looked like no one would score in game one, as pitchers Chris Finneran and Corey Pappel matched zeroes through three innings. The Bulldogs had the better scoring chances, stranding two runners in the first and leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the third. Yale finally broke through with the game's first run in the bottom of the fourth. Jake Doyle singled off the mound leading off the inning and moved to second when Andy Megee walked. After Dan Soltman hit into a fielder's choice and Josh Cox walked to load the bases, Doyle scored on a wild pitch.
The run seemed to be all Finneran--who'd been perfect through four--would need. However, Finneran lost his perfect game when he walked Mickey Brodsky leading off the fifth. After Jadd Schmeltzer struck out, Kyle Groth broke up the no-hitter with a clean single to left center. Jimmy Heinz followed with a single up the middle that tied the game. Finneran got out of the inning by striking out Ry Kagan and Adam Jacobs.
Yale had a chance to pull back in front when Lavarnway walked and Schropp singled to start the bottom of the fifth. Gant Elmore dropped down a successful pinch-hit sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third with one out, but Pappel struck out Doyle and got pinch hitter Chris Sweeney to ground out to end the inning.
After Finneran cruised through the sixth and seventh, Lavarnway was due up first in the bottom of the seventh. On the first hittable pitch he saw all afternoon (he'd walked twice, once intentionally, and been hit by a pitch in three previous plate appearances), Lavarnway crushed a fastball over the right field fence to give Yale a 2-1 victory. The long ball, his 13th of the season, was his 33rd career home run, breaking the Ivy League record previously held by former Brown players Paul Christian and John King.
The only two hits Finneran (2-2) allowed were in the fifth inning, when Cornell scored its only run. He struck out eight and walked only one in a complete game effort. The Bulldogs had six hits, with Cox going 2-for-3 at the plate.
Pappel lasted five innings for the Big Red. He surrendered one run and four hits while striking out six and walking five. Mike Carroll (0-2) took the loss after yielding one run and two hits with one strikeout in one inning.
Game two Yale starter Alex Christ struggled in the top of the first, giving up three runs on two walks, two wild pitches and just two hits. Christ got out of further trouble when Groth grounded into a fielder's choice and Heinz grounded out to end the inning.
Yale got one run back in the bottom of the second on Andrew Kolmar's fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to left. The Bulldogs added an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth when Doyle scored on an error, but Cornell made it 4-2 in the top of the fifth. Domenic Di Ricco tripled to center and scored on Scott Hardinger's sacrifice fly. The Big Red added another run on an RBI single by Heinz in the top of the sixth. Megee belted a two-run homer to right in the bottom of the sixth to cut Yale's deficit to 5-4.
With the Bulldogs trailing by a run, Megee struck out to open the bottom of the ninth. Sweeney followed with a pinch-hit single to right, then was replaced by pinch runner Stephen Miehls. After Cox struck out, Gorynski lifted a single to the gap in left center that tied the game. Lavarnway followed with a single to left that put the winning run on second with two out for Schropp, who delivered a single to left center. Gorynski came around with the winning run before Cornell could even make the throw home.
Lavarnway, Schropp and Kolmar all had two hits, as the Bulldogs belted 11 hits as a team. Cox went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. Christ lasted 5.1 innings, giving up five runs and six hits while striking out two and walking three. John Henry Davis retired the only batter he faced before giving way to Vinny Lally. Lally was excellent in 2.1 innings, giving up just one hit and facing the minimum seven batters. Lally struck out three. Steve Gilman (2-0) earned the victory for Yale after giving up one hit and striking out one in the ninth.
Ford and Heinz each had two of Cornell's eight hits. Tony Bertucci started for the Big Red and pitched seven innings. He surrendered four runs (three earned) and six hits while walking one. Stephen Osterer (0-1) took the loss after giving up two runs and five hits and striking out three in 1.2 innings.
With the sweep, the Bulldogs remain in second place behind Dartmouth (12-8, 6-0 Ivy) in the Rolfe Division. All 12 of Yale's remaining conference games are against Rolfe Division rivals, starting with a four-game set against Harvard (1-19, 0-4 Ivy) at Yale Field next weekend. However, the Bulldogs first host Sacred Heart (2-21) in a non-conference doubleheader starting at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity