ITHACA, N.Y. — The baseball team's final non-league weekend of the season takes it to Maryland for three games. After opening against Fordham in a neutral-site game Saturday morning at Towson, the Big Red takes on the host school Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
GAME INFORMATION
Cornell vs. Fordham
SITE: Schuerholz Park — Towson, Md.
RECORDS: Cornell 1-8, Fordham 10-7
SERIES RECORDS: Cornell leads, 12-7
AUDIO:
TowsonTigers.com
STATS:
TowsonTigers.com
Probable Starters • 11 a.m. Saturday, March 16
Cornell (Zacharias, RHP, 0-0, 3.68) • Fordham (Stankiewicz, RHP, 3-0, 1.33)
Cornell at Towson
SITE: Schuerholz Park — Towson, Md.
RECORDS: Cornell 1-8, Towson 1-11
SERIES RECORDS: Cornell leads, 2-0
VIDEO: TowsonTigers.com |
Game 1 |
Game 2
STATS: TowsonTigers.com |
Game 1 |
Game 2
- - - - - - - - -
Probable starters
Game 1 • 3 p.m. Saturday, March 16
Cornell (Wyatt, RHP, 0-1, 1.62) • Towson (Weyman, RHP, 0-3,5.14)
Game 2 • 11 a.m. Saturday, March 16
Cornell (Urbon, RHP, 0-3, 6.60) • Towson (Reeser, RHP, 0-3, 14.81)
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Fordham game notes
Towson game notes (PDF)
Navy Series Redux:
• On the whole, Cornell pitching took a step forward over the three-game series with the Rams — who were just coming off a victory over sixth-ranked North Carolina. Juniors
Seth Urbon and
Colby Wyatt both surrendered just one run in five innings
during their starts, though Urbon was ultimately tagged with two more after his departure in the sixth inning of Friday's 6-1 loss.
• Saturday's doubleheader featured just a total of three hits for the Big Red, which lost the games 2-0 and 9-3. Sophomore
Kalani Matton had two of those hits, and classmate
Nicholas Binnie drove in all three of Cornell's runs with a bases-clearing double in the second inning of the nightcap.
The Big Red, In Brief:
•
Dan Pepicelli returns for his fourth season as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball. He has a 50-71-1 record at the helm, including a 21-17 record in 2016 that marked the program's fourth winning season since 1991.
• 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. The Big Red won three of its last four Ivy League series of the season.
• This season marks the 150th year of baseball at Cornell, as it continues to be the oldest varsity sport at the university.
On Offense:
• Having faced a lot of top-tier pitching over its first nine games, the Big Red is batting just .140 as a team after three weeks.
• Sophomore
Ramon Garza got off to a strong start at Baylor, going 5-for-11 with a pair of doubles and a stolen base. He currently leads the team with a .250 average, going 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base in the second game at Navy.
• Senior
Will Simoneit is also at the heart of the order. He's joined senior
Josh Arndt in hitting the team's lone home runs to date. Simoneit eclipsed the .300 mark for a second straight year in 2018, ranking second on the team with a .308 average and seven stolen bases.
• Freshman
Justin Taylor has batted leadoff in all nine games, including an impressive four-walk game in the second game at Baylor. 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
Colby Wyatt (0-1, 1.62) is the reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Week after tossing six scoreless innings last Saturday against Navy. He was in line for the victory before the Mids tied the game in the eighth. Wyatt has transitioned to the rotation after leading the Big Red in relief appearances last season. He had 28 strikeouts in 24.2 innings last year, then made his first start since 2017 last Saturday at VCU.
• Junior
Seth Urbon (0-3, 6.60) is the lone incumbent in the weekend rotation, yielding just two runs in seven strong innings Sunday at Navy. The transfer from Georgia Tech is the younger brother of
Kellen Urbon '15, who was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American in 2012.
• Freshman
Jonathan Zacharias (0-0, 3.68) is in line to make his first collegiate start Saturday against Fordham. He will join classmate
Luke Yacinich (0-2, 16.39) in becoming the first freshmen to make weekend starts in
Dan Pepicelli's four years at the helm.
• In relief, Cornell brings in several freshman arms to complement some key incumbent bullpen pieces. Junior
John Natoli (1-1, 5.62), and freshmen
Kevin Cushing (0-0, 6.75) and Nikolas Lillios (0-0, 10.12) all have a team-high four appearances so far.
Honor Roll:
• 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.
About Fordham:
• The Rams (10-7) saw a seven-game winning streak come to a close on Wednesday with a 3-2 loss to visiting Wagner. A pair of unearned runs in the sixth inning for the Seahawks proved to be the difference.
• Pitching is pacing Fordham early on, with the team boasting a 3.69 earned run average and 145 strikouts through 144 innings. Sophomore RHP John Stankiewicz (3-0, 1.33) is in line to start against the Big Red, leading the team in victories and 25 strikeouts. He tossed four innings of one-hit relief against Cornell last year.
• Kyle Martin (1-1, 2.61) leads the team with eight relief appearances, including four of the team's six saves.
• The Rams' offense is batting .248 and has calling cards of aggressiveness — more than twice as many strikeouts (97) than walks (46), and a gaudy 52 stolen bases in just 17 games.
• Jake MacKenzie leads the team with a .353 average, 15 runs, three triples and 15 stolen bases in 17 attempts. His 13 RBI are secon on the team to the 16 from Justin Bardwell (.286).
Series History vs. Fordham:
• The Big Red owns an 12-7 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to 1891.
• Cornell traveled to New York for three games in mid-March last season, winning once in the set. The first two games were decided in extra innings, with the Big Red taking the second, 4-3, in the 10th.
• The last meeting between the teams was April 14, 1972, with Cornell winning, 6-1.
About Towson:
• The Tigers are 1-11 and on an eight-game losing streak after a 13-8 setback to George Washington on Tuesday. The team's lone victory so far was a 5-2 win on Feb. 23 to open a three-game set at Kennesaw State.
• Tom Flacco leads the team with a .400 average, though he's only appeared in seven of the team's 12 games. Javon Fields leads the team's regulars with a .275 average. Zach Piazza bats .261 with a team-high nine RBI, and he joins Brad Powers (.205) as the only members of the team with two home runs.
• Towson has attempted just seven steals in 12 games, getting caught three times.
• Senior RHP Gavin Weyman (0-3, 5.14) and redshirt sophomore RHP Kody Reeser (0-3, 14.81) are the probable starters against Cornell.
• Matt Watters (0-0, 0.90) leads the team with six relief appearances, fanning 16 in 10 innings.
Series History vs. Towson:
• While Cornell and Towson have tangled just twice before, the last meeting was certainly a memorable one. The Big Red prevailed, 27-14, on April 5, 2017 at Schuerholz Park.
Trey Baur '17 had the program's first-ever six-hit game. He was one of three Cornellians with five RBI (senior
Will Simoneit was one of the others, with a grand slam), and the Big Red plated 27 runs for the first time since 1903.
• Cornell also won the first meeting between the program, 11-5, on April 1, 2015 at Schuerholz Park.
Up Next:
• Cornell faces a challenging start to the Ivy League schedule, heading on the road to take on the top two teams from the 2018 season. The Big Red opens with three games March 23-24 at defending champion Columbia, then plays three more March 30-31 at 2018 regular-season champion Yale
