HARRISONBURG, Va. — After starting its season with a pair of series victories, the baseball team figures to receive a stern test this weekend in a three-game set Saturday and Sunday at James Madison.
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Cornell at James Madison
GAMES 1-2: Saturday, March 15, 2014
TIME: First game at noon; second game approximately 30 minutes after completion of first game
GAME 3: Sunday, March 16, 2014
TIME: 1 p.m.
SITE: Veterans Memorial Park — Harrisonburg, Va.
RECORDS: Cornell 5-2, James Madison 7-9
SERIES RECORD: James Madison leads, 2-0
LAST MEETING: James Madison swept a two-game series, 6-4 and 13-12, March 22-23, 2011 at Harrisonburg, Va.
LIVE STATS: www.jmusports.com
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell rebounded from a series-opening loss to George Washington last weekend by winning the final three games of the set in Arlington, Va. Senior shortstop Tom D'Alessandro was named the Ivy League Player of the Week after setting a program record with six stolen bases in the final game of the series. He was also 4-for-4 with four RBIs in the Big Red's 8-1 rout. Cornell opened the season by winning two of three at Navy. … The pitching staff has been dynamite for the Big Red in the early going, posting an early 1.73 earned-run average through seven games (which ranks eighth in the nation, as of Monday) with just 14 walks in 57-plus innings and a miniscule opponents' batting average of .201. … Senior first baseman Ryan Plantier leads the squad with a .333 average. His four RBIs are tied with junior Spencer Scorza for third on the team the five posted by D'Alessandro and junior outfielder Ryan Karl. … Karl has the team's lone home run so far and also leads the team in doubles (four) and slugging percentage (.519).
 
THE HEAD COACH
In his sixth season as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball at Cornell University, Bill Walkenbach brought the Big Red into the spotlight in 2012 with the program's first league title since 1977 and its first Ivy League title since the circuit added baseball 20 years prior. 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 ninth season as a collegiate head coach, Walkenbach has a career record of 173-151-1 (.534).
 
ABOUT JAMES MADISON
The Dukes may not stand out on paper with a below-.500 record, but they have already played seven games against ranked teams – including victories Feb. 15 at then-No. 34 East Carolina and last Sunday at home against then-No. 22 Seton Hall. The Dukes won one of three against the Pirates in the three-game series ending Monday, then dropped a 13-2 decision Tuesday at No. 3 Virginia. … JMU has surrendered 50 runs in its last four games (all against ranked teams), ballooning its team ERA to 5.93. Mark Gunst (RHP, 1-2, 5.40), Michael Howerton (RHP, 1-1, 12.54) and Chris Huffman (RHP, 3-1, 3.54) are the Dukes' probable starters this weekend. … Senior first baseman Matt Tenaglia leads the team with a .439 batting average, seven doubles, 20 RBIs and 12 walks. Junior Kevin Husum is batting .414 with three doubles and two triples. He leads off and plays center field, but also is used as a relief pitcher. … Senior third baseman Ty McFarland (son of head coach Spanky McFarland) has six of the team's 11 home runs. Senior second baseman Conner Brown has two home runs, and junior left fielder Chad Carroll has a team-high five stolen bases.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs. JAMES MADISON
Cornell is 0-2 all-time against James Madison, with both of those games coming in 2011. Then a freshman, Ryan Plantier had a pinch hit and later scored a run in the Big Red's 6-4 loss on March 22, 2011. The teams then followed up with a wild 13-12 games the following afternoon, with the Dukes staving off the Big Red's late-inning rally. Now seniors, Ben Swinford had two doubles and an RBI and Tom D'Alessandro was 1-for-2 with two RBIs in the game.
 
NOT FAR REMOVED FROM A LITTLE HISTORY
Cornell still has plenty of pieces in place from a special 2012 season. The Big Red went 31-17-1 to set a program record for victories, win the Ivy League title and advance to the NCAA Regionals. It was an extraordinary turnaround in just a year's time after the Big Red posted a 10-30 record in 2011. The team's 14-6 record in Ivy League play was also a program high in either the Ivy League or Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League. Not surprisingly, Cornell mopped up with 11 All-Ivy selections, including a pair of first-team pitchers in RHPs Connor Kaufmann and Kellen Urbon, who are both still with the team.
 
SPEED KILLS
Cornell was consistently in the Top 50 in the nation last season in stolen bases, finishing up at 1.55 steals per game. The Big Red is off to a similar start this season, ranking fourth in the nation with 2.43 steals per game as of Monday. Senior shortstop Tom D'Alessandro leads the team with seven stolen bases through seven games, including a program-record six in last Sunday's win at George Washington. His average of a steal per game currently needs the nation among qualifying players. The Big Red had nine steals in that final game against GW, which was just one shy of a program record 10 set in 1952 against a team from nearby Sampson Air Force Base. Junior outfielder JD Whetsel has six stolen bases so far after leading the team with 19 last season en route to All-Ivy Second Team honors.
 
BYRNE NOTICE
The Ivy League Rookie of the Year came from Cornell in 2012 (Kellen Urbon), and the Big Red had another good candidate in 2013 with Michael Byrne. Now a sophomore, the left-handed pitcher earned All-Ivy League Second Team honors after seeing a variety of roles last season. With 11 appearances, including three late-season starts, Byrne was 3-2 with a 1.09 ERA, two saves, and an impressive .160 opponents' batting average. Byrne has yet to surrender an earned run through two appearances this season, earning victories in both games while spanning 12 innings.
 
JONESIN' FOR A BREAKTHROUGH
Junior RHP Brent Jones generated quite a buzz during the offseason, throwing 96 mph during the team's Scout Day during the fall. Jones was later tabbed at the 95^th-best junior in college baseball, according to Perfect Game USA. He made nine appearances (seven starts) last season for the Big Red, posting a 4-1 record and 3.47 ERA. He's off to a strong start with a 1-0 record, 0.75 ERA and 12 strikeouts and 12 innings through two starts.
 
WELCOME ABOARD
Junior transfer Zach McCulley made himself right at home on the Big Red pitching staff last season after stops at William & Mary and three junior colleges. The 6-foot-5 lefty locked down a spot in the starting rotation for the Ivy League season and finished the season with a sparkling 1.70 ERA to go with a 4-2 record and just four extra-base hits surrendered in 42.1 innings of work.
 
REMEMBER ME?
Despite missing half the season with an injury, OF Chris Cruz led the Big Red in home runs last season with four. But that number is hardly an indication of what the slugger is capable of. Cruz set a single-season program record for home runs in 2012, bashing 12 — the last one coming in walk-off fashion in decisive Game 3 of the Ivy League Championship Series. Cruz returns this year for his senior season.
 
URBON LEGEND
Junior RHP Kellen Urbon made quite a statement in his 21 appearances as a freshman. He set a program record with nine saves, and his miniscule 0.47 earned-run average was the lowest ever recorded by a Cornell pitcher who had seen more than 30 innings of action. Not surprisingly, he has reeled in countless awards and honors as a result. Urbon was a unanimous selection as a first-team relief pitcher and was also named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year — the first time a Cornellian has taken the award since head coach Bill Walkenbach did it himself in 1995. He was also a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's Preseason All-America Third Team selection in December. Urbon missed the bulk of the 2013 season due to injury.
 
UNHITTABLE
Senior RHP Connor Kaufmann tossed the program's first no-hitter in nearly 32 years on April 1, 2012 against Dartmouth. He needed just 80 pitches to mow down the Big Green for seven innings on a day in which the mound was under constant repair due to a steady rain. Kaufmann faced the minimum 21 batters, retiring the final 16 consecutively after walks in the first and second innings. No runner advance past first base. The last solo no-hitter for Cornell was April 8, 1979, when Greg Myers worked five innings in a 1-0 victory over Canisius. Kaufmann went on to be selected as an All-Ivy League First Team selection. He missed the bulk of the 2013 season due to injury.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red plays its first games of the season in the Northeast next weekend, when it plays a four-game series at Sacred Heart. Cornell then wraps up its season-opening stretch of 16 straight games on the road with a March 25 doubleheader at Albany.