ITHACA, N.Y. — After 15 consecutive games away from home, the baseball team kicks off its Ivy League slate and its first home games of the season with doubleheaders against Harvard on Saturday and Dartmouth on Sunday. All four games will be broadcast by the Ivy League Digital Network.
 
WEEKEND INFORMATION
Harvard/Dartmouth at Cornell
FORMAT: First game seven innings; second game nine innings
SITE: Hoy Field — Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 6-9, Harvard 7-10, Dartmouth 5-14
SERIES RECORDS: Harvard leads Cornell, 104-48; Dartmouth leads Cornell, 91-71-1
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
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Probable starters
Game 1 vs. Harvard: Noon Saturday, April 2   •   Harvard (RHP Nick Gruener, 3-1, 2.48)   •   Cornell (RHP Paul Balestrieri, 0-3, 5.40)
Game 2 vs. Harvard: ~2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 2  •   Harvard (RHP Sean Poppen, 1-2, 2.63)   •   Cornell (RHP Tim Willittes, 2-2, 4.94)
Game 1 vs. Dartmouth: Noon Sunday, April 3   •   Dartmouth (RHP Michael Danielak, 1-2, 2.21)   •   Cornell (LHP Michael Byrne, 1-1, 4.50)
Game 2 vs. Dartmouth: ~2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 3  •   Dartmouth (RHP Beau Sulser, 1-0, 2.84)   •   Cornell (TBD)

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Harvard game notes
Dartmouth game notes (coming soon)
 
The Big Red, In Brief:
In its first season under head coach Dan Pepicelli, Cornell posted six wins in March. The Big Red enters the weekend on a five-game losing streak on its recent trip to UCF and Rollins. ... 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 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 .377 average, and sophomore Dale Wickham is in front with a .426 on-base percentage. Sophomore Ellis Bitar is now batting .294 and riding a seven-game hitting streak. Junior Cole Rutherford leads the squad with four home runs, two triples ,11 RBIs and .596 slugging percentage. He was the Ivy League Player of the Week after stroking three home runs in the series at Wofford.
 
What Happens In Florida, Stays In Florida:
Cornell went 0-for-5 on its second Sunshine State trip of the season, suffering a three-game sweep at the hands of UCF and a doubleheader sweep at Rollins. The opener was the closest game against UCF, with the Big Red scoring single runs in each of the final three innings before losing, 4-3. 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 won Sunday's finale, 16-0. Junior Tommy Wagner and sophomore Dale Wickham each posted a pair of three-hit games at Rollins, but the Big Red lost 6-5 and 13-5. Freshman Mark Fraser collected his first collegiate hit in Game 1, then his first collegiate home run — of the three-run variety — in the night cap.
 
Twin Terrors:
Junior Tommy Wagner and sophomore Dale Wickham enter league play ranked second and third, respectively, in batting average among Ivy hitters. Both Wagner and Wickham had two three-hit games Wednesday at Rollins. Wagner has now reached base safely in his last 14 games, and Wickham leads the team with three games in which he's had multiple RBIs.
 
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 Jordan Winawer (2014) and junior 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.

About Harvard:
The Crimson are coming off an 11-4 loss Wednesday at Holy Cross following doubleheader splits against Fairfield and Albany last weekend. Harvard leads Ivy schools with a .263 average, with sophomore Matt Rothenberg heading the charge by batting .375. Sophomore John Fallon sports a .323 average with an Ivy-best slugging percentage (.615) and RBIs (18) to go with four home runs. ... Junior Nick Greuner (RHP, 3-1, 2.48) has two complete games among his four starts. Senior Sean Poppen (RHP, 1-2, 2.63) is Harvard's other probable starter Saturday, having tossed six scoreless innings his last time out. Sophomore Dylan Combs (LHP, 0-0, 2.53, SV) and senior Sean O'Neill (LHP, 0-2, 7.36) are tied for the team lead with six relief appearances.
 
Series History vs. Harvard:
Harvard holds a 104-48 lead in the all-time series, but its been a lot more even of late with the teams splitting their annual two-game series in each of the last six seasons and seven of the last eight years. Cornell won the night cap of 2015's twin bill, 5-4, with Tommy Wagner scoring the eventual winning run and Paul Balestrieri earning the save with the potential tying run on third base. Cornell has not swept Harvard in a season since April 9, 1995, and it hasn't won a two-game home series against the Crimson since April 2, 1994.
 
About Dartmouth:
The Big Green dropped its home opener Wednesday against Quinnipiac, 5-4, for its fifth loss in the last six games. Dartmouth had been in Florida for the better part of the previous two weeks, losing two of three against South Florida last weekend and both tilts of a two-game mid-week set at North Florida. ... The Big Green is batting .225 as a team with senior Joe Purritano leading regulars with a .276 average. Junior Michael Ketchmark has a team-best three home runs and eight RBIs. Sophomore Kyle Holbrook has an eight-game hitting streak, but has not played in a couple weeks. ... Game 1 probable junior Michael Danielak (RHP, 1-2, 2.21) has nine strikeouts in each of his previous starts this year. Senior Beau Sulser (RHP, 1-0, 2.84) is slated to start Sunday's night cap, having worked 2.2 innings Wednesday against Quinnipiac. Junior Chris Burkholder (RHP, 0-0, 2.41) has a team-high eight relief appearances.
 
Series History vs. Dartmouth:
The Big Green has a 91-71-1 advantage in the programs' all-time meetings, though Cornell has won seven of the last 11 meetings. Of particular note in that stretch was the Big Red's win over the Big Green in the 2012 Ivy League Championship series, capped in the 11th inning of Game 3 on a walk-off home run by Chris Cruz '14. Earlier that season, Connor Kaufmann '14 tossed a no-hitter against Dartmouth.
 
Up Next:
Cornell is scheduled to return to non-league play Tuesday with a doubleheader at St. Bonaventure. The Big Red is then slated to make its last inter-divisional Ivy League trip next weekend with doubleheaders at Brown on Saturday and Yale on Sunday.