DURHAM, N.C. —  The baseball team continues its challenging start to the 2018 season with a three-game series this weekend at Duke. It marks the first time the programs have met since 1969. The games will broadcast on ACC Network Extra on WatchESPN.

SERIES INFORMATION
Cornell at Duke
SITE: Durham Bulls Athletic Park — Durham, N.C.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-3, Duke 6-2
SERIES RECORDS: Duke leads, 6-1
VIDEO: ACC Network Extra (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
AUDIO: GoDuke.com
STATS: GoDuke.com (Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3)
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Probable starters
Game 1: 4 p.m. Friday, March 2   •   Cornell (RHP Tim Willittes, 0-1, 12.00)   •   Duke (LHP Adam Laskey, 1-1, 2.45)
Game 2: 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 3   •   Cornell (LHP Tyler Fernandez, 0-1, 67.50)   •   Duke (RHP Ryan Day, 0-0, 3.75)
Game 3: 1 p.m. Sunday, March 4   •   Cornell (RHP Tommy Morris, 0-1, 6.23)   •   Texas A&M (LHP Mitch Stallings, 0-1, 6.48)

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Duke game notes (PDF)

How To Watch:
•   All of this weekend's games will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, which is part of the ESPN family of networks. Outside of specific package subscribers, the streams of these games are available on ESPN3.com through log-ins from participating TV providers (i.e., Spectrum, DirecTV, Dish, Sling, etc.)

Big Red Rewind:
•   Cornell was swept by Texas A&M, ranked in the national top 10, in a three-game series last weekend in the Lone Star State. It marked the Big Red's first trip to an SEC school since 1991, and it was the first visit to College Station in 44 years.
•   The Big Red went toe-to-toe with the Aggies in the opener, pushing the tying run into scoring position in the ninth inning before ultimately suffering a 3-2 loss. Texas A&M followed that up with a 22-0 rout in the night cap of the Friday doubleheader, then won the finale, 8-2, on Saturday.

The Year That Was:
•   Cornell was 21-17 overall last season with a 9-11 record in the Ivy League, good for a third-place finish in the final year of the Ivy League's Lou Gehrig Division. It represented a seven-win improvement for the squad in its second year under the guidance of Dan Pepicelli, the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball.
•   In its second season while Pepicelli at the helm, Cornell recorded its first winning season since 2013 and just its fourth winning season since 1991. The Big Red also 
improved its Ivy League record by two victories over the year prior.
•   Associate Head Coach Tom Ford returns for his 26th season with the Big Red, while Frank Hager '12 remains assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in his third season on staff. David Anderson joins the Big Red as a volunteer assistant coach.

On Offense:
•   Texas A&M held Cornell to just three hits in each of the final two games in last weekend's series. Senior Kyle Gallagher still managed to bat .300 with a hit in each game, which marks the first three-game hitting streak of his collegiate career.
•   The Big Red led the Ivy League last year with a .295 average — its best since 2009 and 42th-best in the country. Six of the returning batters hit .284 or better last year.
•   Senior Dale Wickham batted a gaudy .406 with 12 doubles in just 25 games, but he missed 13 games due to injury during the heart of the Ivy League schedule. Had he kept pace and had enough at-bats to qualify, he would have finished fourth in the nation in batting average.
•   Senior Ryan Krainz batted .369 with a team-high 28 walks against just 16 strikeouts as the team's primary lead-off hitter. The junior college transfer had a .478 on base percentage that ranked 16th in the country, and he also led the team with seven steals. He was just the program's second All-Ivy League first team selection in the last six years.
•   After sitting out his freshman year while rehabilitating an injury, junior Will Simoneit made quite a splash in his collegiate debut last year. He was named to the All-Ivy League second team after batting .317 with five home runs, 28 RBI and a team-best .610 slugging percentage in just 82 at-bats.

On The Mound:
•   The Big Red brings three seniors to its starting rotation, though none have thrown a pitch at Cornell in each of the last three seasons.
•   Fifth-year senior Tim Willittes (4-3, 6.12, 2 CG) returns after being granted a medical redshirt by the Ivy League after he missed the 2015 season. He has been a work horse ever since, making 19 starts over the last two-plus seasons.
•   Though a senior, Tyler Fernandez made his collegiate debut last weekend. He missed the last three years rehabilitating injuries.
•   Senior Tommy Morris (2-2, 4.60) started all six of his appearances last season after joining the team via transfer from Division-III Kenyon. He was the Big Red's most effective starter last weekend, working into the fifth inning of the first game at Texas A&M.
•   In relief, sophomore Seth Urbon tossed four scoreless innings across two appearances last weekend in his Big Red debut. The younger brother of former Cornell standout 
Kellon Urbon '15 — who went on to play the 2016 season as a post-grad at Duke — joins the Big Red this year via transfer from Georgia Tech. 

Making History:
•   Varsity baseball at Cornell started in 1869, so program firsts are few and far between two centuries later — but seniors Dale Wickham and Trey Baur have provided a couple over the last two years. 
•   On May 1, 2016, Wickham became the first Big Red player to hit three home runs in a game. To make the feat even more impressive, he did it in his only three at-bats of a seven-inning game to open a doubleheader at Princeton.
•   On April 5, 2017, Baur was at the forefront of Cornell's 27-14 lambasting of Towson. He was 6-for-7 with two doubles and a home run, becoming the first player in program history with six hits in a single game.

Proceed With Caution:
•   Senior Ellis Bitar is the only Ivy League catcher to have been named to the Johnny Bench Award watch list in each of the last two seasons. The award is given annually to the best catcher in Division I, and Bitar proved his wares last year by 
batting .286 and throwing out 23 prospective base-stealers against 32 stolen bases over the last two seasons. Interestingly enough, Johnny Bench once played at Cornell's Hoy Field as a member of the International League's Buffalo Bisons in an exhibition against the Big Red on May 25, 1967.

Gridiron Gang:
•   Cornell has two players on its roster who have also played for the football team in senior outfielder Kyle Gallagher and senior pitcher Austin Wahl. 
•   Gallagher became an everyday outfielder for the Big Red last season after playing five games at quarterback with the football team as a freshman. Wahl was a safety on the scout team in 2013, then walked on to the baseball team and made eight appearances in 2016. 

About Duke:
•   The Blue Devils (6-2) have won five straight since dropping two of three against nationally-ranked Vanderbilt to start the season. Weekday victories over North 
Carolina Central bookended a three-game sweep of Bucknell last weekend.
•   Michael Rothenberg is batting .400 and has two home runs, tied for the team lead with Zack Kome and Griffin Conine. Joey Loperfido has 9 RBI in eight games. Friday starter Adam Laskey has a 2.45 ERA with just one extra-base hit conceded in 11 innings.

Series History vs. Duke: 
•   The Blue Devils own a 6-1 lead in the all-time series, but the teams haven't faced each other since a 7-4 Duke victory on March 31, 1969.

Up Next: 
•   Cornell will remain idle next weekend before three games March 17-18 at Fordham to wrap up nine straight on the road to start the season. The Big Red then opens up the home portion of its schedule March 24-25 with a four-game series against Niagara at Hoy Field.