DOVER, Del. — Coming off its best start in more than 100 years, the baseball team heads back on the road for a Spring Break trip of nine games over eight days. The Big Red kicks off the stretch with three weekend games at Delaware State, featuring a Saturday doubleheader before Sunday afternoon's series finale.
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Cornell at Delaware State
SITE: Dover, Del. — Soldier Field
2012 RECORDS: Cornell 7-1, Delaware State 10-6-1
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 3-0
LAST MEETING: Won, 4-1, on March 23, 2003 at Dover, Del.
GAMES 1-2: Noon and 4 p.m; Saturday, March 17, 2012
GAMES 3: 1 p.m.; Sunday, March 11, 2012
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is coming off its first 6-0 start since 1906, having swept a four-games series at Maryland-Eastern Shore before winning a March 10 doubleheader at George Washington. After splitting a doubleheader with the Colonials the following day, Cornell sits at 7-1 heading into its longest road trip of the season. The Big Red is one of just six teams remaining among the 291 Division I squads in the country with just one loss. Kentucky (16-0) and Texas-Pan American (8-0) are also still undefeated.

THE HEAD COACH
In his fourth season as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball at Cornell University, Bill Walkenbach guided the Big Red to a share of its first division title since 2005 in his first season. Named head coach on Aug. 14, 2008, Walkenbach is in his second stint as a coach for the Big Red, having previously served as an assistant coach under current associate head coach Tom Ford from 2003-05. He returned to Cornell after spending three seasons as the head coach at Franklin & Marshall, guiding the Diplomats to an NCAA tournament berth in 2006 and a 69-42 record. Now in his seventh season as a collegiate head coach, Walkenbach has a career record of 121-116 (.511).

ABOUT DELAWARE STATE
Delaware State (10-6-1) is coming off a rare tie when it was deadlocked 11-11 with visiting Lehigh on Wednesday after darkness settled in following the completion of the 11th inning. … The Hornets swept a three-game series with Norfolk State last weekend to open MEAC Conference play. … The meat of the lineup consists of sophomore Cameron Cecil (.346, five 2Bs, 14 RBI), junior Ryan Haas (.365, seven 2Bs, 17 RBI, .524 slugging pct.) and sophomore Eddie Sorondo (.389). … Sophomore RHP Matt McClain has a 1.80 ERA and two complete games in four starts, but he's 1-2 on account of more than half of the runs he's surrendered have been unearned. Senior Jordan Elliot (RHP, 2-1, 2.05), junior Elliott Gardner (RHP, 2-2, 7.20) and Haas (LHP, 1-0, 8.71) are the team's other primary starters.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Big Red and Hornets have met just once before, with Cornell notching a three-game sweep in a series played in March 21-23, 2003 at Delaware State's Soldier Field. Scores were 7-4, 10-5 and 4-1. The victories helped get the Big Red on track after a 1-7 start.
 
LEADER OF THE PACK
Cornell's offensive outburst in its first two weeks of action has landed it near the top of NCAA statistics in several categories. The Big Red is ranked second amoung the country's 291 Division I teams in batting average (.352), fifth in slugging percentage (.523) and 11th in runs scored per game (8.5). The Big Red has three players hitting .400 or better — seniors Brian Billigen (.472), Frank Hager (.429) and Brandon Lee (.417). Billigen ranks second in the nation in RBI per game (1.88) and 14th in slugging percentage (.861). Junior Brenton Peters is 11th in on-base percentage (.576) and runs per game (1.43), and freshman pitcher Brent Jones is tied for third in the country with two complete games to his credit already.

GO LONG
Sophomore Chris Cruz started his season off with a bang against Maryland-Eastern Shore, smashing two home runs in Saturday's first game en route to a 15-4 victory, then he added two more roundtrippers the following weekend at George Washington. His four home runs have already eclipsed his total from the 2011 season. He ranks fourth nationally in home runs per game (.5) and 19th in slugging percentage (.806).
 
THE HITS KEEP COMING
Senior Marshall Yanzick has at least one hit in all of the Big Red's eight games this season. Including the final games of the 2011 season, Yanzick has extended his hit streak to 13 games.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO ...
Senior Brian Billigen was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on March 6. Batting third in the lineup, Billigen was 8-for-18 (.444) in the four games against Maryland-Eastern Shore with a .833 slugging percentage. He finished the weekend with six runs, two doubles, one triple, one home run, one stolen base and 10 RBI. In the span of two innings in the season-opener, Billigen recorded a three-run triple and a two-run double. In the series finale, he finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 4-for-5 with two runs, four RBIs and a stolen base. It was the first time a Cornellian won the award since Nate David shared the honor on April 28, 2009.

SAVING THE DAY
Senior Jeeter Ishida earned a save in his first appearance on March 3, working four innings of relief in a 15-4 victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore in his first game action since 2009. The Hawaii native was named the Honolulu Star-Bulletin State Player of the Year in 2006 and 2007, helping the Punahou School capture five straight state titles. Ishida appeared seven times as a freshman at Arizona State, then didn't pitch his sophomore season before transferring to Cornell. He had to sit out his junior year as per NCAA transfer rules.

UP NEXT
The Big Red continues its Spring Break trip with a jaunt to Virginia for Tuesday and Wednesday games at Virginia Tech before squaring off against Longwood for four games in a three-day stretch.