PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore dropped two games in a row for the first time in over three weeks on Tuesday (April 5) when they fell to the Cornell University Big Red in both games of the two team's doubleheader. The score of game one was 6-1 and game two went to extra innings and CU prevailed 10-6.
The first game of the day began 55 minutes after the scheduled game time due to rain. Cornell came out of the delay and scored a run in the opening inning. They would add three more runs in the third inning to lead 4-0. Eastern Shore would get their lone run in the fourth inning.
Sophomore Julia Garcia began the bottom of the fourth with a single. Her classmate Kelsie Ekstrom drew a walk after that and freshman Mckenzie Abiley was walked two batters later to load the bases.
Freshman Rebecca Miller would hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Garcia after that. The Big Red scored two more runs in the fifth to conclude the scoring for game one.
Garcia and sophomore Tatum Kresley each had two hits in game one. Inside the circle, freshman Kylee Lehman pitched five innings out of the bullpen.
In game two, both teams were struggling to get hits during the first half of the game. The contest was scoreless and the two squads had a combined four hits as the bottom of the fourth began. Garcia changed that with one swing of the bat as she hit her fourth home run of the season to left field to put the Hawks up 1-0.
Ekstrom doubled after that to get a rally going for the Hawks. Miller got a single to place runner on the corners as Abiley stepped into the batter's box. She hit a soft ground ball and Cornell decided to try to stop Ekstrom from scoring, but Ekstrom survived a pickle on the third base line to score and make the score 2-0.
Sophomore Ah-Nayia Oglesby would hit a single to left field after that to bring Ekstrom and Miller across home plate. Oglesby would advance to second on the play and eventually scored after she stole third and it was followed by an error on CU. The Shore led 5-0 after four innings.
Cornell scored three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to get within one. The Hawks got a run back in the bottom of the sixth. Sophomore Ryan Merriwether singled to start the frame and advanced to third via a sacrifice bunt by Miller. Merriwether would score via a wild pitch to put the squad up 6-4 entering the seventh.
The Big Red quickly had runners on first and second after a hit by pitch and an error. They then got an RBI single and sacrifice fly to tie the game at six. The Hawks did not score in the bottom of the frame and the game went to extra innings.
With both teams having a runner placed on second to begin the inning, runs can become plentiful in extra innings. That proved true for Cornell as they grabbed four runs in the top of the eighth. Eastern Shore would then have a strikeout, a single by Merriwether and then a game-ending double play as CU completed their comeback.
Merriwether went 3-4 with a run scored in game two for the Hawks. Kresley had another two hits in game two. Graduate student Nasya Goodman and Cornell's Mia Burd each threw complete games inside the circle for the respective teams.
Maryland Eastern Shore faces off with Coppin State for a weekend series April 9-10. The two teams will play three games against each other at Hawk Field with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. being the first matchups.
