02/28/2009
Baseball Drops Twin Bill to Cornell College

WINTER HAVEN, FLA. 2/28/09 - The Clark University baseball team is still looking for its first spring week victory after dropping a twin bill to Cornell College (Iowa) on Saturday afternoon. The Cougars (0-4) came up short in the opener, 2-1, and lost the nightcap, 9-2.

Clark plated a run in the first inning of game one. Steve DeMartino (East Haven, Conn.) led off with a triple to right field, and came home on Kevin Kopec's (Katonah, N.Y.) RBI double for a 1-0 lead.

The Cougars kept their opponents off the board until the bottom of the sixth. With two down and no one on, a pair of Cornell batters stroked singles to put runners on the corners. Then pinch-hitter J.T. Pells (Northridge, Calif.) delivered a two-run single and the eventual game-winning hit to give the Rams the 2-1 victory.

DeMartino, Kopec and Mitch DeLorenzo (Berlin, Conn.) each tallied single hits in the game.

Senior Dave Gagnon (Harwich, Mass.) (0-1) picked up the loss in relief.

Trailing 3-0, the Cougars got on the board with a two-run third inning in the second game. Clark got a run when Cornell pitcher Nick Weinmiester (Jainesville, Ia.) hit Matt Tillo (Osterville, Mass.) with the bases loaded and DeMartino, who reached on a hit to center, came home on an error to cut the deficit to 3-2.

However, the Rams, who finished with 13 hits, scored six unanswered runs to secure the 9-2 victory.

Weinmiester went the distance to pick up the win for Cornell. He gave up four hits, walked three and fanned five batters.

Making his first collegiate start, Jeff Van Steenberg (Portland, Conn.) took the loss for the Cougars. He allowed three runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings of work with four walks.

Clark will face Muhlenberg College of Pennsylvania in a doubleheader on Sunday (Noon).