Pitching staff lacks support at Simpson

Cornell's pitching staff didn't get much support from its mates in the field or at the plate as the Rams dropped three Iowa Conference games over the weekend to league-leading Simpson at McBride Field.

Junior pitcher Charlie Muir was victim of a tough-luck 2-0 setback in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. The Rams (3-16 overall, 1-11 IIAC) committed five errors in an 11-1 loss in Game 2. Simpson completed the sweep with a 4-0 nine-inning shutout Sunday.

Muir (0-4) gave the Rams a chance with another quality start Saturday. He surrendered five hits with two strikeouts and no walks in his third complete game of the season.

Simpson (18-8, 11-3) broke a scoreless game in the bottom of the fifth, plating a two-out run on a wild pitch. The Storm added an RBI double in the sixth to provide the final margin. Cornell's lineup was held to three singles in the game.

Senior center fielder Matt Pfister went 2-for-3 in Saturday's second game. He scored Cornell's lone run in the top of the first inning on a first-and-third caught stealing play. Zach Rogers and Muir accounted for the team's other two hits, both singles.

The Rams gave up four unearned runs behind starter Adam Butler (1-6), three coming off a pair of errors in the first inning. Simpson built a 10-1 lead after five innings and totaled 13 hits.

Cornell junior right-hander Justin Brown pitched into the sixth inning of Sunday's contest. He allowed four runs - two earned - before being replaced by Nick Norris, who fired 2.1 scoreless innings of one-hit ball.

Simpson took a 1-0 lead into the fifth, when it tacked on two more runs and then added another in the sixth. Cornell tallied four hits, one each from Pfister, Robert Carlson, Ryan Clausen and Andrew Patzke.

Team leader - Pfister went 4-for-10 in the Simpson series, raising his team-high batting average to .302. He also leads the Rams with 13 runs and sports a .362 on-base percentage.

Coming up - Cornell travels to play NAIA's Clarke University at 6 p.m. Monday, April 18. The Rams then host Wartburg (13-14, 6-6 IIAC) in a nine-inning game at 6 p.m. Friday, April 22, followed by a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 23.