ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell baseball team starts the new Ivy League season just as it finished the last one — playing a three-game series against Columbia at Robertson Field in New York. The Ancient Eight's Empire State teams start with a doubleheader at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, followed by a single game at noon Sunday. As will be the case throughout the Ivy League season and all Cornell home games, this weekend's series will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 

SERIES INFORMATION

Cornell at Columbia
SITE: Robertson Field — New York, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 3-9, Columbia 3-10
SERIES RECORDS: Cornell leads, 131-111
VIDEO: ESPN+ | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
STATS: GoColumbiaLions.com
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Probable starters
Game 1 • 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23
   Cornell (Wyatt, RHP, 1-1, 1.11)   •   Columbia (Simpson, LHP, 1-1, 4.24)
Game 2 • ~2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23
   Cornell (Zacharias, RHP, 0-0, 2.38)   •   Columbia (To be determined)
Game 3 • Noon Sunday, March 24
   Cornell (Urbon, RHP, 0-3, 4.95)   •   Columbia (Wereski, LHP, 0-3, 5.27)

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Columbia game notes
 

Towson Trip Redux:

•   The Big Red swept a doubleheader last Saturday in Towson, Md., though it faced a different opponent in the two games at Schuerholz Park. The day started with a 1-0 victory over Fordham, featuring another stellar effort from junior starter Colby Wyatt. The reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Week at the time pitched 7.2 scoreless innings before handing it off to junior Andrew Ellison for a four-out save. Justin Taylor reached on an error to lead off the first, then came around to score the game's only run.
•   Later in the afternoon, Cornell rallied for four unanswered runs and a 4-2 victory in the opener against Towson. Freshman Austin Flematti was 2-for-3 with a double and a two-run single in the eighth inning that plated the tying and go-ahead runs for the Big Red. Junior John Natoli retired all 10 batters he faced to earn the win in relief.
•   Towson held on for a two-game split with the Big Red after a 3-2 win on Sunday. Senior Josh Arndt and junior Matt Collins had two hits apiece, and the Big Red had the potential tying run on first base when the last out was recorded. 
 

The Big Red, In Brief:

•   Dan Pepicelli returns for his fourth season as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball. He has a 52-72-1 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 12 games, the Big Red is batting just .164 as a team after four 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 .286 average, five doubles and .405 slugging percentage.
•   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.
•   Freshman Justin Taylor has batted leadoff in all 12 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 (1-1, 1.11) leads Ivy League starters in earned run average, having tossed 18.1 consecutive scoreless innings heading into Saturday's start. He was named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week on March 11 after six scoreless frames against Navy. 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.
•   Freshman Jonathan Zacharias (0-0, 2.38) is aligned for his second collegiate start after a solid outing last Saturday at Towson in which he yielded just an unearned run in four frames. He joined classmate Luke Yacinich (0-3, 16.20) in becoming the first freshmen to make weekend starts in Dan Pepicelli's four years at the helm.
•   Junior Seth Urbon (0-3, 4.95) is the lone incumbent in the weekend rotation, scheduled to anchor the series this weekend. The transfer from Georgia Tech is the younger brother of Kellen Urbon '15, who was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American in 2012.
•   In relief, Cornell brings in several freshman arms to complement some key incumbent bullpen pieces. Freshmen Kevin Cushing (0-0, 5.40) leads the team with five appearances, and Andrew Ellison (0-0, 3.38) has the team's lone save.
 

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 Columbia:

•   The Lions (3-10) return from a trip to Florida with its first three victories after splitting a four-game set at North Florida over the weekend before locking down a 4-2 win Wednesday night at Miami. Columbia started its season being swept in four-game series at Oklahoma and Cal Poly.
•   Liam McGill leads the team with a .339 average and a pair of home runs. His eight RBI are tied for the team lead with A.J. DiFillipo (.146), and his five doubles are second to just the six by Julian Bury (.246). Columbia is batting .224 as a team.
•   Southpaw starters Josh Simpson (1-1, 4.24) and Ben Wereski (0-2, 5.27) are slated to bookend the weekend, with the Lions' Game 2 yet to be finalized.
•   Ian Burns (0-1, 6.75) leads Columbia with five relief appearances, and other pitchers have appeared four times. Lucas Hall (0-0, 0.00, SV), last year's closer, is among that group with nine strikeouts in seven scoreless innings to date.
•   Brett Boretti, last year's Ivy League Coach of the Year, is in his 14th season at the helm of the Lions.
 

Series History vs. Columbia:

•   Columbia is the third-most common opponent to the Big Red in program history, with this weekend's three games running the series tally to 245 games. The first meeting between the teams was June 1, 1885, with Cornell securing a 10-4 victory en route to a perfect 12-0 mark for the year.
•   Cornell holds a 131-111 lead in the all-time series, winning one of the three games  against Columbia in the Big Red's final games of the year. The Big Red actually outscored the Lions in the series, 18-8, thanks to a 14-2 victory in the series opener. But Columbia won the final two games by identical scores of 3-2 en route to a share of the Ivy League title after defeating Yale in the Ivy League Championship Series.