MOUNT VERNON – Drawing his first pitching start of the season, senior
Cai Brevig tossed five strong innings of two-hit ball and Cornell hung on late to claim a 7-6 Game 2 baseball win over Midwest Conference rival Grinnell Tuesday night at Ash Park Field.
The Rams regrouped from a tough 10-9 Game 1 loss, in which Grinnell rallied for five runs in the top of the ninth to complete a big comeback.
Cornell (11-21 overall, 3-11 MWC) clubbed 29 hits in the doubleheader – highlighted by a six-hit night from leadoff man
Sean Alvarez – and received exceptional play from senior catcher
Esteban Perez who threw out five Grinnell baserunners.
Brevig (2-0) gave the Rams a boost in the nightcap, facing only two batters over the minimum through five innings while striking out five. He left with a 6-0 lead, two runners on and nobody out in the sixth.
Junior reliever
Garrett Roehl worked the final two innings to earn his first collegiate save. Grinnell scored once in the ninth to make it 7-6 and had the tying run on second base when Roehl induced a lazy fly ball to right for the final out.
Lincoln Greasley smashed a three-run homer in the first and
Cade Parks tripled home a run in the third in helping the Rams build an early 6-0 cushion. Parks finished 4-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs. Alvarez,
Kale Rose and
Vince Zipperer added two hits apiece.
Cornell had many opportunities slip away in a wild opening game, which saw the Rams collect 17 hits but also strand 14 runners and commit seven errors in the field.
Mason Sellers' RBI double put the Rams ahead 9-4 in the bottom of the seventh. The Pioneers (18-15 overall, 6-8 MWC) charged back with six unearned runs in their final two at-bats, capped by a two-out, three-run go-ahead double in the top of the ninth.
Alvarez went 4-for-6 with a pair of runs. Perez had three hits and three RBIs, while gunning down four Pioneers on the base paths. Rose tallied three hits and two RBIs. Sellers delivered two doubles.
Lucas Brutsche did not allow an earned run over 4.2 strong innings of middle relief. He left the game with a 9-7 lead, two runners on and two outs in the top of the ninth.
Coming up – The Rams head to Galesburg, Ill., Saturday for a noon doubleheader against Knox (14-16 overall, 6-8 MWC).
