ARLINGTON, Va. — The baseball team heads back to the mid-Atlantic region this weekend for four games at George Washington. The series will feature a pair of noon doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday at Barcroft Park Field #6.
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Cornell at George Washington
GAMES 1-2: Saturday, March 8, 2014
GAMES 3-4: Sunday, March 9, 2014
TIME: First game at noon; second game approximately 30 minutes after completion of first game
SITE: Barcroft Park Field #6 — Arlington, Va.
RECORDS: Cornell 2-1, George Washington 2-6
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 5-4
LAST MEETINGS: Cornell lost three of four in a March 9-10, 2013 series at Barcroft Park (4-3L, 5-3L, 1-0L in 8 inn., 7-5W)
LIVE STATS (Game 1): www.GWsports.com
LIVE STATS (Game 2): www.GWsports.com
LIVE STATS (Game 3): www.GWsports.com
LIVE STATS (Game 4): www.GWsports.com

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell opened its season by taking two of three last weekend in a very competitive series at Navy. After dropping its Saturday opener, the Big Red rebounded with a 3-2 victory later in the day and outlasted the Midshipmen, 4-2, in 11 innings on Sunday. … Junior C Matt Hall and junior OF JD Whetsel were both 5-for-12 with two RBIs apiece to lead the team offensively. Whetsel also drew a pair of walks and stole two bases. … Senior co-captain Ben Swinford was 3-for-3 in the series finale. … The pitching staff surrendered just three earned runs over the weekend. Junior RHP Brent Jones fanned eight in six innings of work to get the victory in Game 2, then sophomore LHP Michael Byrne was outstanding in six innings of relief to get the win in the final game. … The 2013 season was filled with significant injuries to some of the squad's best players, but the team's depth led it to a 23-17 record. Despite missing two 2012 All-Ivy League First Team selections (Connor Kaufmann and Kellen Urbon), the pitching staff posted a stellar 3.13 earned run average – which is actually a half-run better than the staff's numbers in the 2012 Ivy League Championship season. But the Big Red's offense struggled to a batting average of .240. Just three everyday starters were available for all 40 games. … The 2014 season starts with 16 consecutive road games before the team's home opener against Dartmouth on March 29.
 
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 170-150-1 (.531).
 
ABOUT GEORGE WASHINGTON
The Colonials won one of three last weekend against Lafayette before their mid-week game at Virginia was postponed due to inclement weather. GW opened the year by defeating Maryland-Eastern Shore, then was swept in three games the following weekend at Southeastern Louisiana. … Freshman 3B Bobby Campbell leads the team with a .370 average and five RBIs, and senior OF Owen Beightol (.355) had the team's only home run to go with a double and three RBIs. Junior OF Ryan Xepoleas (.323) also has a pair of doubles and four RBIs. … The Colonials have 15 stolen bases in eight games. … Sophomore RHP Bobby LeWarne (0-1, 2.25, 9 K in 8 IP) has made three appearances with one start, while two-game starters include sophomore RHP Jacob Williams (1-1, 2.51, SHO), senior 6-foot-7 RHP Aaron Weisberg (0-1, 3.14, .204 opp/avg) and senior RHP Luke Staub (0-1, 5.14). … Freshman RHP Eddie Muhl (1-0, 13.50) has made a team-high four appearances out of the bullpen.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs. GEORGE WASHINGTON
Cornell is 5-4 all-time against George Washington, with all but one of those games coming in the last two seasons. The Colonials shrugged off an 0-9 start to season by winning the first three games of last season's series, including an eight-inning 1-0 affair in the third game. The Big Red responded with a six-run outburst in the first inning of the final game, with JD Whetsel, Kevin Tatum, Ben Swinford and Ryan Plantier all enjoying multiple-hit performances. RHP Brent Jones earned the victory with four innings of work. … Cornell won three of four in a 2012 series. The only other time the teams have met came all the way back in 1907, when Cornell made its season debut with a 13-4 victory against the Colonials in Washington.
 
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. Junior OF JD Whetsel led the team with 19 stolen bases (sixth-highest for a single season in program history) on 25 attempts, and senior SS Tom D'Alessandro swiped 11 bags on just 13 attempts. Whetsel was undoubtedly the Big Red's offensive leader last season in his first campaign with a starting role. He also led the team in average (.300), runs (27), doubles (11), total bases (56) and on base percentage (.402) en route to All-Ivy League Second Team honors.
 
BYRNE NOTICE
The Ivy League Rookie of the Year came from Cornell in 2012, 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. He was named the College Sports Madness Ivy League Pitcher of the Week on Monday after his six-inning relief appearance for a win last weekend at Navy.
 
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 95th-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.
 
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 returns to the Old Dominion State next weekend for a three-game nonleague series at James Madison. The series will feature a noon doubleheader Saturday, March 15, followed by a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 16. Cornell will then prepare for a four-game series the following weekend at Sacred Heart.