BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — The baseball team is scheduled for its earliest start to a season in program history, when it takes on Gardner-Webb in a three-game series this weekend. Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., while Sunday's finale is slated to begin at 1 p.m. at John Henry Moss Stadium.
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Cornell at Gardner-Webb
GAMES 1-2: Saturday, Feb. 21 (First game at 1 p.m.; second game approximately 30 minutes after completion of first game)
GAME 3: Sunday, Feb. 22 (1 p.m.)
SITE: Bill Masters Field at John Henry Moss Stadium — Boiling Springs, N.C.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-0, Gardner-Webb 3-1
SERIES RECORD: First meeting
LIVE VIDEO (Game 3): Big South Network
LIVE STATS (Game 1): www.GWUsports.com
LIVE STATS (Game 2): www.GWUsports.com
LIVE STATS (Game 3): www.GWUsports.com
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell was 18-21 overall and 9-11 in Ivy League play for the 2014 season. Senior OF Ryan Karl returns after being named an All-Ivy League First Team selection last year, which was his first with the Big Red since he transferred from Louisville (via Catawba Valley Community College). He led the team with a .280 average, nine home runs, 32 RBIs and a .552 slugging percentage. … Despite losing Brent Jones to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fourth round of the MLB Draft last summer, the Big Red returns an extremely strong pitching staff, which has posted a sub-4.00 earned-run average in each of the last three seasons. Junior LHP Michael Byrne is a two-time All-Ivy Second Team pick, with a 3-4 record, 1.86 ERA and team-high 49 strikeouts last season. Seniors RHP Kellen Urbon (2012 First Team), RHP Brian McAfee (2012 Second Team) and LHP Zach McCulley (2013 Honorable Mention) are other former All-Ivy picks that return this season.
 
THE HEAD COACH
In his seventh season as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball at Cornell University, Bill Walkenbach has 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 eighth season as a collegiate head coach, Walkenbach has a career record of 186-170-1 (.522).
 
ABOUT GARDNER-WEBB
The Runnin' Bulldogs are off to a 3-1 start, earning a two-game sweep of Buffalo and a split with James Madison in Feb. 13-15 home games. Gardner-Webb scored at least six runs in each of the four games. … The Runnin' Bulldogs were 24-31 last season with an 11-15 record in Big South Conference play. … Six-foot-five RHP Matt Fraudin has led the Big South in strikeouts in each of the last two seasons. He was 4-7 with a 2.41 earned-run average and 108 strikeouts in 15 starts last season. In his first start this season, he tossed seven scoreless innings while surrendering three hits and fanning nine to earn a win against James Madison. Fraudin is expected to start Saturday's first game. … Senior LHP Erik Heiligenstadt is Gardner-Webb's other returning weekend starter. He was 5-6 with a 4.32 ERA last season. He had 53 strikeouts in 81.1 innings, but also only walked 17 in his 13 starts. Heiligenstadt is expected to start Saturday's second game. … Sophomore RHP Jeremy Walker is slated to start Sunday's games. His first start was a five-inning no-decision in which he yielded six hits and three unearned runs with six strikeouts against Buffalo. … Sophomore INF Matt Simmons hit .308 last season, and senior 1B/DH Sam Fulginiti was 7-for-16 with two home runs and eight RBIs in last weekend's four games. Senior middle infielders Ryan Hodge and Scott Johnson had five hits apiece.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs. GARDNER-WEBB
This weekend will be the first games between Cornell and Gardner-Webb.
 
OPPORTUNISTIC WINAWER
Junior Jordan Winawer started the final 15 games at a corner outfield position for the Big Red – his first collegiate starts following an injury-washed 2013 season. To say Winawer made the most of his opportunity would be putting it lightly. He was the Big Red's best hitter over that stretch, leading the squad with a .436 batting average. For his efforts, he was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on March 15, 2014. He also had an eight-game hitting streak in April and later earned All-Ivy League Honorable Mention.
 
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 junior, the left-handed pitcher earned All-Ivy League Second Team honors in each of the last two seasons. He made 11 appearances as a sophomore, including three late-season starts, posting a 3-2 record with a 1.09 ERA, two saves, and an impressive .160 opponents' batting average. Byrne didn't surrender an earned run through his first three starts last season and eventually led the team with a 1.86 ERA and 49 strikeouts.
 
HORTON OR HOUDINI?
Junior Matt Horton has proven to be quite the escape artist in his two years coming out of the Big Red bullpen. Horton stranded all 10 runners he inherited during his freshman season, then just three of 12 inherited runners scored against him last season. That gives him a success rate of 86 percent for stranding inherited runners over his collegiate career.
 
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. Three are still on the team — Kellen Urbon (unanimous First Team selection; Ivy Rookie of the Year), Brian McAfee (Second Team) and Kevin Tatum (Honorable Mention).
 
URBON LEGEND
Senior 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, then made seven appearances last season.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red will continue its stretch of 14 consecutive games away from home to start the season with a three-game series at George Mason from Feb. 27 to March 1. After a week off, Cornell then heads to the RussMatt Invitational in Central Florida from March 13-15 for games against LIU-Brooklyn, Bowling Green, Maine and Huntington.