MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Inclement weather in the Mid-Atlantic Region has changed the baseball team's plans this weekend. A series at George Mason has been cancelled, and the Big Red will now travel to The Palmetto State for a three-game round-robin tournament against top-ranked Virginia, Hartford and Seton Hall at The Ripken Experience.
 
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.
 
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
At The Ripken Experience; Myrtle Beach, S.C.
* 1 p.m. Friday — Hartford vs. #1 Virginia (Ebbets Field)
* 4 p.m. Friday — Cornell vs. Seton Hall (Ebbets Field)
* 11 a.m. Saturday — Hartford vs. Cornell (Griffith Field)
* 3 p.m. Saturday — Seton Hall vs. #1 Virginia (Griffith Field)
* 7 p.m. Saturday — Seton Hall vs. Hartford (Griffith Field)
* 11 a.m. Sunday — Cornell vs. #1 Virginia (Griffith Field)
SITE: The Ripken Experience — Myrtle Beach, S.C.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-3, Virginia 7-0, Seton Hall 0-3, Hartford 2-1
LIVE STATS (vs. Seton Hall): www.VirginiaSports.com
LIVE STATS (vs. Hartford): www.VirginiaSports.com
LIVE STATS (vs. Virginia): www.VirginiaSports.com
LIVE AUDIO (Virginia games only): www.VirginiaSports.com
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell opened its season with three one-run losses last weekend at Gardner-Webb. The Big Red got solid five-inning starts from junior LHP Michael Byrne (0-1, 1.80), senior RHP Brian McAfee (0-1, 3.60) and senior RHP Kellen Urbon (0-0, 0.00), but the offense could only muster four runs over the series. Senior 1B/DH Spencer Scorza led the way with four hits, while senior OF Dan Morris, senior INF Kevin Tatum, sophomore INF Frankie Padulo and senior 1B/DH Ryan Karl had three hits apiece. … Cornell was 18-21 overall and 9-11 in Ivy League play for the 2014 season. Karl was 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. 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. Urbon (2012 First Team), McAfee (2012 Second Team) and LHP Zach McCulley (2013 Honorable Mention) are other former All-Ivy picks.
 
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 186-173-1 (.518).
 
ABOUT SETON HALL
The Pirates started the season with three losses two weeks ago at North Carolina, all by four or more runs. A three-game series against Old Dominion was then cancelled last weekend. … Senior INF Kyle Grimm and junior INF Chris Chiaradio have both collected four hits over the three games, and senior UTL Tyler Boyd and senior 1B Sal Annunziata have both driven in three runs. … Sophomore RHP Zach Prendergast is the Pirates' probable starting pitcher against the Big Red. He has appeared once in relief this season, surrendering an earned run on three hits and a walk in 1.2 innings.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs. SETON HALL
The Pirates have won nine of the teams' 12 all-time meetings, which started in 1927. The last games played between the programs was a doubleheader on March 24, 1973 in Biscayne Park, Fla. Cornell won the opener, 3-1, before suffering a 4-0 loss in the nightcap.
 
ABOUT HARTFORD
The Hawks started their season last weekend at the Duke Tournament in Durham, N.C. Victories over Iona and Delaware State bookended a 5-1 loss to the host Blue Devils. … Senior SS Trey Stover leads the team with a .400 batting average, though freshman OF Nick Campana and senior OF Ryan Lukach have also collected four hits apiece. Lukach has a single, double, triple, home run and six RBIs to his credit, and junior OF Chris DelDebbio also smacked a home run last weekend. … Six-foot-six junior RHP Brian Murphy (0-1, 4.50) is the Hawks' probable starter against the Big Red. He started against Duke last weekend, yielding two earned runs on five hits over four innings. He didn't issue any walks and fanned six.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs. HARTFORD
Cornell and Hartford have crossed paths just once before, with the Big Red earning a a 6-2 victory on March 23, 2001 at Homestead, Fla.
 
ABOUT VIRGINIA
The nation's top-ranked team has rolled to a 7-0 start, including three-game sweeps of East Carolina and Marist, plus another victory over La Salle. The Cavaliers advanced to the College World Series Finals last season, falling in a third game to Vanderbilt. … Freshman 1B/OF Pavin Smith leads the squad with a .414 average, with five doubles and two home runs in just 29 at-bats. Freshman INF Ernie Clement is batting .400 with a team-high 14 hits. Sophomore C Matt Thaiss and sophomore INF Daniel Pinero also have two home runs apiece, and Thaiss and senior INF Kenny Towns are tied for the team lead with six RBIs. … Junior LHP Brandon Waddell (0-0, 1.80) is the Cavaliers' probable starting pitcher against the Big Red. He has two no-decisions to date, having surrendered 14 hits through 10 innings. Half of the four runs scored against him have been unearned, and he has 11 strikeouts next to four walks.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs. VIRGINIA
The Cavaliers lead the all-time series against the Big Red, 26-12-1. The last games played between the teams were March 4-5, 2011, when the Big Red was swept by scores of 12-1 and 14-2. Only three games played since Cornell's last win in the series, which was 10-8 on June 10, 1941 in Ithaca.
 
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. After his first appearance last weekend, he now has a success rate of 83 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 have a week off before heading to the RussMatt Invitational in Central Florida from March 13-15 for games against LIU-Brooklyn, Bowling Green, Maine and Huntington. After a four-game series the following weekend at Bucknell, Cornell opens to home portion of its season with a Tuesday, March 24 doubleheader against Albany at Hoy Field in Ithaca, N.Y.