ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell baseball team returns to Ivy League play this weekend when it travels to Yale and Brown for a pair of conference doubleheaders. Cornell and Yale will square off on Saturday beginning at noon in New Haven, Conn., while the Big Red and the Bears will meet on Sunday, also beginning at noon in Providence, R.I.

Cornell is coming off a 10-9 loss to Binghamton in 12 innings on Tuesday at Hoy Field, closing out a five-game home stand for the Big Red that saw Cornell finish 2-3. On Tuesday, Frank Hager went 3-for-7 with a run and three RBI, while Jerry Vitiello was 3-for-6 with three runs scored. Cornell trailed, 9-2, after six innings, but rallied to tie the game on Hager's solo home run in the ninth to send the game to extra innings. Rick Marks took the loss after giving up an unearned run in the top of the 12th. Cornell loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half of the inning, but could not push the tying run across the plate.

Last weekend, Cornell opened the 2010 Ivy League slate against Dartmouth and Harvard, picking up a split of doubleheaders against both Rolfe Division foes. Against Dartmouth, Cornell won the opener behind a three-hitter from Corey Pappel, but fell to the Big Green in game two, 16-1. Sunday was a reversal of roles, as the Big Red lost the opener, 12-6, but rebounded in game two for an 11-2 win.

The Big Red stands in a tie for third place in the Ivy League Gehrig Division, one game behind both Penn and Columbia. Cornell is 2-2 in league play and 6-10 overall on the season.

Offensively on the season, Cornell is paced by Mickey Brodsky's .377 average, one of four players hitting better than .300 on the year. Brian Billigen (.352), Brandon Lee (.333) and Frank Hager (.310) are also above .300 for the season. Brodsky and Hager share the team lead with 12 RBI apiece, with Billigen driving in 10. Billigen, Hager, Nate David and Marshall Yanzick are all tied for the team lead with nine runs scored, while both Hager and David have a pair of home runs to lead the squad. David is also a perfect five-for-five in stolen base attempts this season.

On the mound, Corey Pappel leads the regular starters with a 2.35 earned-run average in a team-high 23 innings of work. Pappel also has 27 strikeouts, more than double the next-highest total of 12, belonging to Tony Bertucci. Both Pappel and Bertucci have a pair of victories on the year, with Matt Hill and Taylor Wood collecting the other two wins. David Rochefort leads the team in appearances, coming out of the bullpen eight times, and has a 0.87 earned-run average in 10.1 innings with two saves.

Yale enters the weekend as the only winless team in Ivy League play so far this season, being swept last weekend at both Columbia and Penn. Yale is 12-11-1 on the year, and is coming off a split of a doubleheader against Sacred Heart on Wednesday. Gant Elmore leads the Bulldog offense, batting .400 on the season, with five regulars hitting better than .300 on the year. Yale as a team is batting .313 on the year. The Bulldogs have hit 28 home runs as a team, led by six apiece from Andy Megee and Trygg Larsson-Danforth. Megee leads the team with 24 runs scored, with Larsson-Danforth tallying a team-best 28 RBI. On the mound for the Bulldogs, Brook Hart leads the regulars with a 3.45 earned-run average in a team-best 31.1 innings of work. Vinny Lally is 4-1 on the year, while Pat Ludwig has a team-high 30 strikeouts in 31 innings.

Brown comes into the weekend's action with a 2-2 league mark and a 5-17 overall record, having played a grueling non-conference schedule to open the season. The Bears have faced perennial powers Pepperdine, Louisiana State and South Carolina already this season, and scored a season-opening win over the Waves. Brown was swept in both ends of a doubleheader on Wednesday by Siena in Providence, R.I., and will face Princeton on Saturday before Cornell visits on Sunday. The Bears have just three regulars hitting above .300 on the year, led by Matt Colantonio's .377 average. Pete Greskoff has a team-high seven home runs and has scored a team-best 18 runs on the year. Brown runners are not a stolen base threat, having only swiped six bases in 14 attempts this season. Kevin Carlow anchors the pitching staff, posting a 4.81 earned-run average in 24.1 innings of work, also recording a team-best 20 strikeouts. As a team, Brown pitchers have combined for a 9.88 earned-run average.

With the four games this weekend, the Big Red will close out cross-divisional play. Last season, Cornell went just 2-6 against the Rolfe Division opponents, splitting doubleheaders against Brown and Yale and being swept by Harvard and Dartmouth.

The Big Red returns home for a doubleheader against Le Moyne on Wednesday before returning to the road for the Gehrig Division opener at Penn on April 17-18 in Philadelphia.