ITHACA, N.Y. — The baseball team will play its first of three consecutive weekends in the Mid-Atlantic region when it looks for its first wins of the season in a three-game series against VCU in Richmond, Va. All three games will be broadcast by the host school through ESPN+. The first-year web-subscription service will also serve as the platform all and Cornell home games and all Ivy League baseball games later this spring.
 

SERIES INFORMATION

Cornell at VCU
SITE: The Diamond — Richmond, Va.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-3, VCU 5-3
SERIES RECORDS: VCU leads, 1-0
VIDEO: ESPN+ — Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
STATS: VCUathletics.com
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Probable starters
Game 1 • 3 p.m. Friday, March 1
   Cornell (Urbon, RHP, 0-1, 18.00)   •   VCU (Sorokowski, RHP, 1-0, 2.57)
Game 2 • 2 p.m. Saturday, March 2
   Cornell (Wyatt, RHP, 0-0, 3.18)   •   VCU (To be determined)
Game 3 • Noon Sunday, March 3
   Cornell (Yacinich, RHP, 0-0, 30.86)   •   VCU (Gillispie, RHP, 1-0, 2.45)

Cornell game notes (PDF)
VCU game notes
 

Baylor Series Redux:

•   The Big Red opened its season with three games last weekend at 16th-ranked Baylor, with the hosts sweeping the series.
•   No starter made it past the third inning for Cornell, which in turn could only scratch out seven runs over the weekend. After a 17-0 loss in Game 1, the Big Red's deficit in the second game was 10-3. Sophomore Ramon Garza was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, and junior Colby Wyatt was solid out of the bullpen while surrendering just three runs (two earned) over a career-high 5.2 innings.
•   Senior Will Simoneit's first home run of the season was of the two-run variety, staking Cornell to an early in Sunday's finale before Baylor secured a 12-4 victory.
 

The Big Red, In Brief:

•   Cornell was 14-24-1 overall last season with a 9-12 record in the Ivy League, which placed the Big Red sixth in the final Ancient Eight standings and four games out of the Ivy League Championship series. The Big Red won three of its last four Ivy League series of the season.
•   Dan Pepicelli returns for his fourth season as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball. He has a 49-66-1 record at the helm, including a 21-17 record in 2016 that marked the program's fourth winning season since 1991.
•   The Big Red roster is fairly young, featuring 12 freshmen against just four seniors. Cornell returns four starting bats, one pitcher from its weekend rotation, and four of its five best bullpen arms from last year.
•   Associate Head Coach Tom Ford returns for his 27th season with the Big Red, while Frank Hager '12 remains assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in his fourth season.
•   Cornell placed five on the All-Ivy League teams last season, but just senior Will Simoneit returns from that group. Simoneit was placed on the All-Ivy Second Team for a second straight year, with the unique distinction of garnering those honors from different positions — catcher in 2017; third base in 2018.
•   This season marks the 150th year of baseball at Cornell, as it continues to be the oldest varsity sport at the university.
 

On Offense:

•   Sophomore Ramon Garza got off to a strong start last weekend, going 5-for-11 (.455 average) with a pair of doubles and a stolen base. A native Texan, Garza enjoyed success in his only appearance in his home state last year, too — his first collegiate at-bat was a double at Texas A&M.
•   Senior Will Simoneit is batting .364 with the team's only home run so far. He was named to the Ivy League weekly honor roll for his efforts at Baylor. Simoneit eclipsed the .300 mark for a second straight year, ranking second on the team with a .308 average and seven stolen bases.
•   Freshman Justin Taylor batted leadoff in all three games last weekend, including an impressive four-walk game last Saturday. He is the Big Red's sixth different Opening Day shortstop over the last six years.
•   The Big Red ranked sixth in the Ivy League with a team batting average of .248 last year. Cornell led the circuit with 47 stolen bases, ranked second in fewest strikeouts (303), and was third in walks (169).
 

On The Mound:

•   Junior Seth Urbon (0-1, 18.00) returns to the weekend rotation after becoming a fixture there last year following two relief appearances to open the season. He wrapped up his debut season with the Big Red with a 2-2 record and 5.37 ERA. The transfer from Georgia Tech is the younger brother of Kellen Urbon '15, who was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American in 2012.
•   Junior Colby Wyatt (0-0, 3.18) is scheduled Saturday to make his first start since 2017. He led the Big Red in relief appearances last season and had 28 strikeouts in 24.2 innings, then started strong with 5.2 innings of effective long relief last Saturday.
•   Freshman Luke Yacinich (0-0, 30.86) is aligned for his first collegiate start Sunday. It would mark the first time in Dan Pepicelli's four years at the helm of the Big Red that a freshman will start a weekend game.
•   In relief, Cornell brings in several freshman arms to complement some key incumbent bullpen pieces — led by juniors Andrew Ellison (2-5, 2.03, 2 SV in 2018) and Jeb Bemiss (2-2, 6.16, SV in 2018), and senior Adam Saks (1-0, 4.80 in 2018).
 

About VCU:

•   The Rams (5-3) are coming off an 11-8 upset of sixth-ranked North Carolina on Wednesday. VCU scored five runs in the sixth inning to take the lead for good and ended the Tarheels' 26-game home winning streak. 
•   The game was VCU's fourth in a span of just four days, coming on the heels of a 4-3 loss at home to Maryland on Tuesday and a doubleheader sweep Sunday at S.C. Upstate (7-4 and 14-2). 
•   Bats are hot early for VCU, which is batting .318 as a team so far. Liam Hibbits leads the way with an average of .409, and Hogan Brown upped his average to .368 after a four-hit effort against North Carolina.
•   Zac Ching is batting .342 with two home runs and 13 RBI in just eight games.
•   Justin Sorokowski (1-0, 2.57) and Connoe Gillispie (1-0, 2.45) are slated to start this weekend, with the middle game's starter yet to be determined.
•   The Rams were 34-23 last year and advanced as far as the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.
 

Series History vs. VCU:

•   The Big Red and the Rams have met just once before, with VCU securing a 7-2 victory on March 24, 1994.
 

Up Next:

•   Cornell will continue its season-opening travels with a three-game series March 9-10 at Navy, then a March 16-17 trip to Towson, Md. for two games against the hosts after a neutral-site contest against Fordham.