ITHACA, N.Y. — The baseball team kicks off the Lou Gehrig Division portion of its Ivy League schedule this weekend with a huge four-game series against Penn at Hoy Field. The Big Red will host the division-leading Quakers in two doubleheaders, which are both scheduled to start at noon on Saturday and Sunday. The games will be broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network. Cornell begins the weekend two games behind Penn and defending champion Columbia in the division standings.
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Penn at Cornell
SITE: Hoy Field – Ithaca, N.Y.
GAMES 1 & 2: Saturday, April 11, 2015
GAMES 3 & 4: Sunday, April 12, 2015
TIME: First game at noon; second game approximately 30 minutes after the completion of the first game
RECORDS: Cornell 8-17 (5-3 Ivy League); Penn 12-10 (7-1 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 148-118-2
LAST MEETING: Penn won three of four April 12-13, 2014 in Philadelphia (Cornell 9-0, Penn 11-2, Penn 4-2, Penn 9-2)
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
AUDIO (free): Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
IN THE REARVIEW
Cornell split a pair of Ivy League doubleheaders at Dartmouth and Harvard over the weekend, leaving it with 5-3 mark in league play. Senior RHP Brian McAfee (4-1, 0.95) tossed a two-hit shutout against Dartmouth in Saturday's opener, with sophomore Tommy Wagner driving in senior Ryan Karl for the game's only run. The Big Green won the second game, 8-5, then Harvard opened Sunday's doubleheader with a 14-2 victory. Senior 2B/3B Kevin Tatum drove in both Big Red runs in that game with his first home run of the season, then he went 2-for-3 with two RBIs in the second game, a 5-4 victory for the Big Red. Senior RHP Kellen Urbon (1-2, 1.48) earned his first victory of the season by working six innings, surrendering just an unearned run. … The Big Red lost a non-league game to Binghamton, 7-3, on Tuesday in its most recent game action. Tatum was 2-for-4 with a RBI double. He has hits in 19 of his last 21 games.
 
THE OFFENSE
Cornell's team batting average has shot up 20 points to .240 in the last couple of weeks. The Big Red had just 47 runs its first 14 games (3.36/game), but then scored 31 in its first four Ivy games (7.75/game). Tatum had a nine-game hitting streak halted last Saturday, but he leads the team with a .341 batting average and 22 RBIs. His home run against Harvard is the Big Red's third this season, with senior 1B/DH Spencer Scorza and sophomore UTL Jamie Smith providing the others. Senior 2B/OF Dan Morris has a team-high 10 doubles to go with his .320 average. … Sophomore 2B/3B Tommy Wagner still hasn't enough at-bats to officially qualify as a regular player, but his .372 average in 13 games would lead the team if he did.
 
THE PITCHING
Cornell's pitching continues to be a strength, especially with its top-tier starters. The team 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 4.91. Sophomore RHP Paul Balestrieri (0-0, 3.48) recently notched his fourth save of the season, which is tied for the Ivy League lead, in his team-high 11th appearance out of the bullpen. Sophomore RHP Peter Lannoo (0-0, 2.08) has been a pleasant surprise, having just joined the program as a walk-on this season. He has 10 strikeouts and one walk over 8.2 innings in five relief appearances.
 
MAC IS BACK
Senior RHP Brian McAfee (4-1, 0.95) 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 Tuesday after tossing a two-hit shutout last 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 six starts this year. As of Thursday, he ranked third in the country in walks allowed per nine innings (0.47), fourth in WHIP (0.68), fifth in ERA (0.95) and 17th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (14.00).
 
URBON LEGEND
Senior RHP Kellen Urbon (1-2, 1.48) 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 solid as a starter this season, having surrendered just five earned runs in six starts.
 
BYRNE NOTICE
Junior LHP Michael Byrne (0-5, 7.11) had a career-high 11 strikeouts in a March 22 game at Bucknell. He set down the Bison 1-2-3 in five of his six innings and became the first Big Red pitcher to record 11 strikeouts since Corey Pappel on April 29, 2009 in a divisional playoff game against Princeton. He was also the first Big Red pitcher to reach double-digits in strikeouts since senior Brian McAfee's career-high 10 Ks on March 11, 2012 at George Washington. Byrne, a two-time All-Ivy League Second Team honoree, led the team with a 1.86 ERA and 49 strikeouts last 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 194-187-1 (.509).
 
ABOUT PENN
The Quakers had a seven-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday, when it dropped a 9-3 decision at Villanova in a Liberty Bell Classic semifinal. The loss left the team 12-10 overall, but Penn is still tied with Columbia atop the Gehrig Division standings with a 7-1 record in Ivy play. The Quakers' first league weekend featured four one-run games — a split duobleheader with Dartmouth, then a two-game sweep of Harvard. Last weekend was a completely different story, as Penn swept Yale and Brown by an average margin of victory of 10.5 runs. … Penn's team earned-run average of 3.52 is the best in the Ivy League, but its 2.21 ERA among its four starters is more impressive. Senior RHP Connor Cuff (3-1, 1.78), sophomore LHP Mike Reitcheck (3-1, 2.20), senior LHP Ronnie Glenn (2-2, 2.35) and sophomore RHP Jake Cousins (2-1, 2.54) are the Quakers' probable starters. Glenn has a team-high 30 strikeouts in 30.2 innings. Junior RHP Mitch Holtz (0-0, 6.14) and senior LHP Stephen Silvestri (0-0, 12.79) have each made a team-high eight appearances out of the bullpen. … The Quakers are batting .281 as a team with 24 home runs. Senior C Austin Bossart is batting .359 with a team-high 11 walks to go with six stolen bases. Senior 1B Matt McKinnon was 4-for-4 on Tuesday to boost his average to .339, and he has two of the Quakers' four triples on the year. Senior SS Mitch Montaldo has team-high six home runs, and junior RF Matt Greskoff has a team-high 20 RBIs to go with four home runs. Junior CF Gary Tesch (.312, 8-for-8 SB) and senior LF Connor Betbeze (.340, 5 SB) are the top options to bat leadoff.
 
SERIES HISTORY vs. PENN
Penn is the most common opponent to the Big Red in program history, with this weekend's four games running the series tally to 272 games. The home-standing Quakers won three of the four games in last year's series, with the Big Red's 9-0 win in the opener resulting in Penn's first Ivy loss of the season. Junior LHP Michael Byrne worked six shutout innings to earn the victory, and senior Matt Hall was 3-for-4 with a double. … The last time the teams met in Ithaca, Cornell won three of four games April 20-21, 2013. … The first meeting between the teams was May 21, 1888, with the Quakers securing a 20-5 victory. The Big Red answered back the following day, winning 10-8. While Penn has the series advantage, 148-118-2, Cornell has enjoyed success in the most recent meetings between the squads. In the last 46 meetings, the Big Red is 31-15 against the Quakers with just two series losses in the last 12 years. Cornell's only four-game sweep of a Lou Gehrig Division series since the Ivy League added baseball play 19 years ago came against Penn in 2005.
 
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.
 
ON THE CUSP
Underlying Cornell's 8-17 overall record is a 3-9 record in games decided by one run — and two of those victories came against Dartmouth and Harvard last weekend. Before the midweek games at Richmond and Towson, 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.
 
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 Big Red will travel to hallowed baseball grounds at 2 p.m. Tuesday when it takes on Siena in a doubleheader at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, home to Baseball Hall of Fame. Cornell then returns to Ivy League play next weekend with a pair of noon doubleheaders at defending champion Columbia on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19.