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Cornell Closes Out Road Trip With 16-5 Loss at Army

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army jumped out to a 7-0 first-inning lead, a margin that would prove too much to overcome, as the Cornell baseball team dropped a 16-5 contest to the Black Knights on Sunday in West Point, N.Y. Sunday's contest ended a string of 16 straight games away from home to open the season for the Big Red, which falls to 6-10 on the year with the defeat.

Army (8-9) jumped all over Cornell starter Bryce Klinesteker, who faced six batters in the first inning without recording an out. Matt Hill came on to end the inning and worked 5.2 innings, allowing two runs, one of them earned, on four hits, walking one and striking out three, but hitting four batters.             

The Big Red got two runs back in the fourth inning as the offense began to pick up. Nathan Ford and Justin Milo drew back-to-back one-out walks, then scored when Kyle Groth doubled to left-center.              

Army made the lead 8-2 with a single run in the sixth, then tacked on another three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Cornell got three runs back in the eighth inning, finally chasing Army starter Cole White from the game. Domenic Di Ricco, Jimmy Heinz, Brian Kaufman and Nathan Ford led off the inning with singles, with Di Ricco scoring on Kaufman's liner into right and Heinz scoring on Ford's single to center. Kaufman would then score on a sacrifice fly by Kaleb Hutchinson, putting the Big Red down, 11-5.             

Army closed out the scoring by scoring five runs in the eighth inning, sending 10 men to the plate against Big Red pitching.
Di Ricco and Ford both had a pair of hits to lead the Cornell offense, while Groth's two RBI paced the Big Red.               

Cornell opens Ivy League play on Saturday, playing the first game in the newly renovated Hoy Field with a doubleheader against Yale. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. in Ithaca.