ITHACA, N.Y. — The baseball team will wrap up the Ivy League portion of its schedule this weekend with its annual four-game split series against Princeton. The first doubleheader will be staged Friday at Clarke Field in Princeton, N.J. before the teams converge at noon Sunday at Cornell's Hoy Field for the final two games. All four games will be broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network.
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Cornell vs. Princeton
FORMAT: Seven-inning first game; nine-inning second game (both days)
GAMES 1 & 2: Friday, April 24, 2015 at Clarke Field — Princeton, N.J.
GAMES 3 & 4: Sunday, April 26, 2015 at Hoy Field — Ithaca, N.Y.
TIME: First game at noon; second game approximately 30 minutes after the completion of the first game
RECORDS: Cornell 9-25 (6-10 Ivy League); Princeton 6-29 (3-13 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads, 142-91-2
LAST MEETING: Cornell won three of four, April 25-27, 2014 (6-4C, 4-2C, 4-2C, 5-4P)
WEBCAST (all four games): Ivy League Digital Network
AUDIO (at Cornell): Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS (at Princeton): GoPrincetonTigers.com
LIVE STATS (at Cornell): CornellBigRed.com
 
IN THE REARVIEW
Cornell was swept by defending Ivy League champion Columbia last weekend in a four-game series in New York. The Big Red held the lead in both of Saturday's games before suffering a pair of one-run losses, then the Lions scored 30 runs over the two games Sunday to record the first four-game home sweep of Cornell since the Ivy League went to its current scheduling format 23 years ago. Senior Ryan Karl hit his first two home runs of the season, and he joined sophomore Tommy Wagner as the only two Big Red batters to have at least one hit in each of the four games. The Big Red originally had a non-league game scheduled Wednesday at Binghamton, but it was washed out by rain causing poor field conditions at Bearcats Sports Complex.
 
THE OFFENSE
Cornell is batting .278 in Ivy League play and .248 overall this season. The offense is generally trending upward — the Big Red had just 47 runs its first 14 games (3.36/game), then scored 31 in its first four Ivy games (7.75/game). Senior 1B Ryan Karl had six hits in the four-game series at Columbia, including his first two home runs of the season. Senior 2B/3B Kevin Tatum leads the team with a .331 average and 24 RBIs. He had an eight-game hitting streak halted last Tuesday at Siena, but he has hits in 20 of his last 24 games. He also has one of the team's six home runs this season, with Karl, senior 1B/DH Spencer Scorza (.270, 20 RBIs), sophomore UTL Jamie Smith and freshman OF Pierre Le Dorze (.389 in 11 games) providing the others. … Senior 2B/OF Dan Morris has a team-high 10 doubles to go with his .312 average. His 18 RBIs rank third on the team, and he went 4-for-5 in Saturday's second game at Columbia. … Senior CF JD Whetsel has a team-high nine stolen bases in just 20 games since missing the first month of the season due to injury. … Sophomore 2B/3B Tommy Wagner is the Big Red's leader with a .346 average in Ivy League play.
 
THE PITCHING
Cornell has two of the Ivy League's top five pitchers, by measure of earned-run average. Senior RHP Brian McAfee (4-2, 2.02) has just five walks in his eight starts, which has helped him rank 20th in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings (0.92) and 23rd in WHIP (0.90). Last Sunday's game against Columbia was the first time in eight starts that senior RHP Kellen Urbon (2-2, 2.50) has surrendered more than two earned runs. … Sophomore RHP Paul Balestrieri (0-0, 4.25) has four saves and a team-high 13 appearances. He made his first start of the season last Saturday at Columbia, working into the fifth inning and exiting with the lead. … Sophomore RHP Peter Lannoo (0-0, 2.61) has been a pleasant surprise, having just joined the program as a walk-on this season. He has 10 strikeouts and one walk over 10.1 innings in six relief appearances. … As a staff, Cornell had a 2.98 ERA as of March 30, but a stretch of six games in four days forced the Big Red to use a piecemeal pitching staff in losses of 23-7 to Richmond and 11-5 to Towson last week. The Big Red's ERA has since ballooned to a misleading 6.04.
 
MAC IS BACK
Senior RHP Brian McAfee (4-2, 2.02) has made a huge impact in his return after missing nearly all of last season with an injury. McAfee was named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week on April 7 after tossing a two-hit shutout the previous Saturday at Dartmouth, spurring the Big Red to a 1-0 victory. It was the second time this season he won the award. The first was early in the season when he worked seven scoreless innings without issuing any walks against then-No. 1 Virginia. No Virginia runners advanced past second base as McAfee established himself as one of the Ivy League's top professional prospects in front of several scouts that day. He has issued no walks in five of his eight starts this year.
 
URBON LEGEND
Senior RHP Kellen Urbon (2-3, 2.50) 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. He has been a solid starter this season, having won the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week Award on April 14 after his three-hit shutout of Penn two days earlier.
 
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 195-195-1 (.500).
 
ABOUT PRINCETON
The Tigers have lost eight in a row and will need to sweep this weekend's four games to avoid finishing the season in the Gehrig Division cellar for a second straight season. Princeton's Ivy victories are against Brown (8-2 on March 29), Dartmouth (4-0 on April 5) and Columbia (4-3 on April 11). The Lions took the final three games of that series, then Penn swept a four-game set last weekend. Princeton had a non-league game Wednesday against Rider canceled due to rain and lightning. … Junior 2B Danny Hoy leads the team with a .325 average, 12 doubles, five home runs, 25 RBIs and .583 slugging percentage. Junior 3B Billy Arendt is batting .308, primarily from the leadoff spot, and is leading the squad with 22 runs and a .370 on-base percentage. Hoy and Arendt both have two triples, while sophomore CF Danny Baer has three among his 16 hits this season. Senior RF Peter Owens is batting .287 and is part of a trio that leads the team with three stolen bases apiece. Princeton is batting .247 as a team. … The Tigers' youthful weekend starting corps is comprised of sophomore RHP Chad Powers (0-6, 7.78), freshman RHP Nick Brady (1-5, 6.86), sophomore LHP Keelan Smithers (1-7, 4.95) and junior RHP Luke Streiber (1-4, 4.21). Streiber tossed a complete game in the series finale against Penn, but took a hard-luck loss. Powers also has a history of appearing as a designated hitter. … Senior RHP Nick Donatiello (2-1, 3.18) is the top bullpen arm, leading the team with both 13 appearances and two saves. Sophomore RHP Chris Giglio (0-1, 6.75), junior LHP Chris Bodurian (1-1, 6.85) and senior LHP Tyler Foote (0-2, 8.64) are the other primary relief options. The Tigers have a team ERA of 6.52.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs. PRINCETON
The Tigers are the second-most frequent opponent for the Big Red in program history, with this weekend's four games pushing the total number of meetings between the squads to 239. The first clash came on May 19, 1888, with Princeton emerging with a 4-0 victory. The Big Red would have to wait until 1896 for its first victory over the Tigers, coming out on top of 12-10 score on a May 2 meeting in Ithaca. More recently, Cornell took the first three games of a four-game series last year. After sweeping the doubleheader in Ithaca, the Big Red outlasted the Tigers in a 14-inning affair to kick off the second twin bill.
 
ON THE CUSP
Underlying Cornell's 9-25 overall record is a 3-12 record in games decided by one run. By March 30, Cornell had an ERA of nearly a full run lower than its opposition, despite sitting six games under .500. The Big Red yielded 30 unearned runs in its first 18 games.
 
SPEED KILLS
Senior OF JD Whetsel missed the first half of this year due to injury, but he's already racked up nine stolen bases to move into a tie for second place on the program's all-time list with 49. He recently passed his head coach, Bill Walkenbach '98, who ranks fourth with 47 stolen bases. Whetsel is tied for second with Michael Macrie '99, but has a long way to go to catch the program record of 80, set by John Kresho '91.
 
LOOKING BACK
Cornell was 18-21 overall and 9-11 in Ivy League play for the 2014 season. Senior 1B/DH Ryan 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. Junior LHP Michael Byrne (0-2, 2.89) is a two-time All-Ivy Second Team pick, with a 3-4 record, 1.86 ERA and team-high 49 strikeouts last season. Senior RHP Kellen Urbon (2012 First Team), senior RHP Brian McAfee (2012 Second Team) and senior LHP Zach McCulley (2013 Honorable Mention) are other former All-Ivy picks.
 
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).
 
UP NEXT
The 2015 campaign is scheduled to conclude with a non-league doubleheader at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 29 against Canisius at Hoy Field.