WINTER PARK, Fla. — The baseball team's arduous 15-game March tour away from home concludes this week with a two-game midweek series at Rollins. Cornell's second trip to Florida this season wraps up with games against the Tars at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Cornell at Rollins
FORMAT: Both games nine innings
SITE: Alfond Stadium — Winter Park, Fla.
GAME 1: 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 29
GAME 2: 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 30
RECORDS: Cornell 6-7, Rollins 15-13
SERIES RECORD: Rollins leads, 6-2
VIDEO: www.RollinsSports.tv
AUDIO: www.RollinsSports.tv
STATS (Game 1): www.RollinsSports.com
STATS (Game 2): www.RollinsSports.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Rollins game notes (coming soon)

About the Big Red:
In its first season under head coach Dan Pepicelli, Cornell already has six wins in its pocket through March. While a three-game weekend sweep at the hands of UCF have dipped the Big Red one game below .500, Cornell still sports the best winning percentage of any Ivy League team to date. ... After missing the 2015 season with an injury and enduring a rough start to begin the season, junior RHP Tim Willittes (2-2, 4.94) delivered a pair of stellar starts to earn consecutive Ivy League Pitcher of the Week honors on March 15 and March 22. Sophomore LHP Justin Lewis (2-0, 5.65, 2 SV) leads the team with seven relief appearances. ... Junior Tommy Wagner leads the team with a .327 average, and sophomore Dale Wickham leads the way with a .377 on-base percentage. Sophomore Ellis Bitar is now hitting .302 and riding a five-game hitting streak. Junior Cole Rutherford leads the squad with four home runs, two triples ,11 RBIs and .622 slugging percentage in his first 13 games since transferring to Cornell. He was the Ivy League Player of the Week after stroking three home runs in the series at Wofford.
 
It's In The Past:
Cornell was 13-27 overall and 9-11 in the Ivy League last season. Underlying the overall record was a 5-14 record in one-run games. … In 2012, the Big Red won the program's first league title since 1977 and its first Ivy league title since the circuit began sponsoring baseball 20 years prior.
 
Breaking Down The Central Florida Series:
Cornell was swept for the first time this season, producing just six runs over three games at Jay Bergman Field. The opener was the closest game, with the Big Red scoring single runs in each of the final three innings before losing, 4-3. Junior starting RHP Paul Balestrieri yielded just two earned runs in six innings of work. Cornell then pounced on UCF for three runs in the first inning of Saturday's second game against a starter with a sub-1.00 ERA, but the Knights surged ahead on a fifth-inning grand slam and won 8-3. UCF then chased the Big Red's starter in the first inning of the series finale and plated seven more runs in the seventh en route to a 16-0 rout on Sunday. Sophomore Ellis Bitar had five hits in the series, and junior Tommy Wagner had four. Senior LHP Michael Byrne had a pair of scoreless one-inning relief outings.
 
About Rollins:
The lone Division II team on the Big Red's schedule this year enters this week's series on a six-game losing streak, losing to Georgia College & State University on Thursday and Friday before their series finale was rained out Saturday. Cornell is the lone Division I team on Rollins' schedule this season. ... The Tars have an incredible .346 team average, with sophomore Grant Ashline leading the way with a .449 average. Junior Christopher Corbett has four triples, five home runs and 34 RBIs in 28 games. Rollins has 26 triples as a team and average better than one stolen base per game. ... The Tars' pitching staff carries a team ERA of 4.83. Nine different pitchers have started games, with just sophomore Brian Auerbach (5-2, 3.99) the only one to work exclusively as a starter. Senior Matt Hendricks (0-1, 3.48) leads the team with 12 relief appearances, one more than junior Brooks Norton (1-1, 3.86).
 
Series History vs. Rollins:
All eight of the previous meetings between these two programs have come on Rollins' home grounds in Winter Park, Fla., with the hosts winning six of those eight clashes. This week's games will be the first since March 23, 2000, and Cornell's two victories in the series came on April 4, 1970 and March 16, 1992.
 
Power Surge:
It took the Big Red all 40 games of the 2015 season to hit six home runs, but it took just the day of March 12 to produce seven homers this season. Six of those blasts came in the second game of a doubleheader at Wofford, which set a single-game program record. Junior Cole Rutherford had two home runs in that game, plus one in the twin bill's opener. Cornell's 10 home runs are the most among Ivy League schools.
 
Byrne Notice:
Senior LHP Michael Byrne surrendered just one earned run in his first two starts this season, looking to regain his form from the 2013 and 2014 seasons. He has twice earned All-Ivy League accolades, garnering second-team honors in both his freshman and sophomore seasons. Though he struggled to an inflated ERA last season, he still led the team with 45 strikeouts. Cornell has two other returning All-Ivy winners — both senior OF Jordan Winawer (2014) and junior 3B Tommy Wagner (2015) have garnered honorable mention.
 
For Starters ...:
Of Cornell's 40 games last season, just 11 were started by pitchers who return to the team this season. Senior LHP Michael Byrne has eight of those, while the other three were late-season outings by junior RHP Paul Balestrieri. The New Jersey product has made the full-time transition to the rotation after primarily serving as one of the team's best late-inning options over his first two years on East Hill. Junior RHP Tim Willittes is also in the starting ranks after missing the entirety of the 2015 season with an injury.
 
By The Numbers:
• Cornell's pitchers ranks 30th in the country in strikeouts per game (8.9).
• Junior Cole Rutherford ranks 31st in the country and first in the Ivy League in home runs per game (0.31) and second in the Ivy League in slugging percentage (.622).
• Junior Tim Willittes ranks 40th nationally and first in the Ivy League in strikeouts per nine innings (11.41).
• The Big Red added junior RHP Austin Wahl to the roster before its current trip to Florida. He is wearing No. 11.
 
Up Next:
Cornell is scheduled to begin Ivy League play with its first home games of the season, starting with a noon Saturday doubleheader against Harvard and a noon Sunday doubleheader against Dartmouth at Hoy Field in Ithaca, N.Y. The Big Red then treks west for a non-league doubleheader on Tuesday at St. Bonaventure.