ITHACA, N.Y. — The long wait for the Cornell baseball team's first home game of the season finally comes to an end when the Big Red hosts St. Bonaventure on Tuesday afternoon at Hoy Field. Cornell then continues its Spring Break week of games Wednesday at Army West Point.
 

GAME INFORMATION

St. Bonaventure at Cornell
3 p.m. Tuesday, April 2
SITE: Hoy Field — Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 5-13, 2-4 Ivy League;
                    St. Bonaventure 5-12; 3-3 Atlantic 10
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 7-0-1
VIDEO: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
PROBABLE STARTERS: Cornell (Yacinich, RHP, 1-3, 15.88)
                                         St. Bonaventure (Vincent, RHP, 0-1, 3.95)
- - - - - - - - -
Cornell at Army West Point
3 p.m. Wednesday, April 3
SITE: Doubleday Field — West Point, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 5-13, 2-4 Ivy League;
                    Army West Point 15-12; 4-3 Patriot League
SERIES RECORD: Tied, 37-37
VIDEO: Patriot League Network
STATS: GoArmyWestPoint.com
PROBABLE STARTERS: Cornell (Bemiss, RHP, 0-1, 17.61)
                                         Army West Point (Gagliardi, RHP, 0-1, 12.79)

Cornell game notes (PDF)
St. Bonaventure game notes
Army West Point game notes (coming soon)
 

Yale Series Redux:

•   Opening Ivy League play with two straight weeks on the road against the top teams in the circuit last year, Cornell took one of three games at Yale. The teams split a pair of pitchers' duels Saturday before the Bulldogs won Monday's rubber game.
•   Colby Wyatt pitched 7.1 scoreless innings in the series opener before John Natoli came on for the final five outs and his second save. Senior Josh Arndt hit a pair of doubles and scored two runs in the 3-0 victory for Cornell.
•   The Big Red stranded a runner in scoring position in each of the first four innings of Saturday's night cap, then Alex Stiegler went on to throw a five-hit shutout for Yale in a 2-0 win. Jonathan Zacharias was tagged with the loss despite yielding just one run in four innings of work.
•   After rain forced the series finale to be moved to Monday, Cornell jumped out to an early lead when senior Adam Saks extended his hitting streak to six games with a leadoff double before scoring. Yale then plated five in the fifth inning en route to a 7-2 win.
 

The Big Red, In Brief:

•   Dan Pepicelli returns for his fourth season as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball. He has a 54-76-1 record at the helm, including a 21-17 record in 2016 that marked the program's fourth winning season since 1991.
•   This season marks the 150th year of baseball at Cornell, as it continues to be the oldest varsity sport at the university.
 

On Offense:

•   Cornell is batting .232 in six Ivy League games, seeing the offense awaken after a rough start exacerbated by facing top-tier pitching from teams like Baylor and VCU in the opening weeks of the campaign.
•   Sophomore Nicholas Binnie has taken over the team lead with a .282 batting average, going 6-for-13 with a stolen base over his last five games. He's been converted to an outfielder after spending last year as a relief pitcher — the same as senior Adam Saks (.238), who has a six-game hitting streak.
•   Senior Josh Arndt leads the team with eight RBI, and all four of his doubles have come in the last four games.
•   Senior Will Simoneit is also at the heart of the order. He joins Arndt in providing the Big Red's only home runs to date after eclipsing the .300 mark for a second straight year in 2018, ranking second on the team with a .308 average.
•   Freshman Justin Taylor leads the team with 11 walks, 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.
 

On The Mound:

•   The Big Red boasts the Ivy League's top two pitchers in terms of earned run average, but junior Colby Wyatt (2-2, 1.23) and freshman Jonathan Zacharias (0-1, 2.33) are earmarked for weekend starts.
•   Freshman Luke Yacinich (1-3, 15.88) is slated to start against St. Bonaventure. He's joined Zacharias in becoming the first freshmen to make weekend starts in Dan Pepicelli's four years at the helm.
•   Junior Jeb Bemiss (0-1, 17.61) is scheduled to start against Army West Point. It would be his first start since a February outing after he made two starts in 2018.
•   In relief, junior John Natoli (2-1, 2.70, 2 SV) has been a force with 21 strikeouts in 16.2 innings. Just one of the last 27 batters to face him have reached base.
•   Junior Andrew Ellison (0-0, 1.93, SV) is continuing to round into form with four appearances since a delayed start to his season. 
•   Freshman Kevin Cushing (0-0, 5.14) leads the team with seven relief appearances to date. Natoli and freshman Niko Lillios (0-0, 4.76) have six apiece.
 

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 St. Bonaventure:

•   The Bonnies took two of three games last weekend against La Salle in an Atlantic-10 series in Olean, improving to 5-12 overall and 3-3 in conference. As a team, St. Bonaventure has a .255 batting average, 6.38 earned run average and .956 fielding percentage.
•   Sam Fuller moved into the team lead with a .349 batting average thanks to an 8-for-9 performance in Friday's doubleheader against the Explorers. Two of his team-high five triples came in the night cap, and he has five of the team's 11 stolen bases.
•   Tyler Kelder leads the Bonnies in doubles (nine), home runs (four) and, by a wide margin, RBI (18) to go with a .342 average.
•   Righthander Casey Vincent (0-1, 3.95) is scheduled to start against make his second start of the year on Tuesday against the Big Red. He has 10 strikeouts among seven walks over 13.2 innings with four wild pitches.
•   Donovan Moffat (2-2, 1.40, SV) leads the pitching staff with 10 appearances, and he joins Matthias Williams (0-0, 20.25) as the only southpaw options deployed to date.
•   Larry Sudbrook is in his 34th season as the head coach at St. Bonaventure.
 

Series History vs. St. Bonaventure:

•   Cornell has never lost to St. Bonaventure — though the teams have only met eight times (7-0-1), and the most recent meeting was in 1931. The Big Red and the Bonnies first clashed in 1893.
 

About Army West Point:

•   The Black Knights moved to 15-12 last weekend after taking two of three on the road against Bucknell in a Patriot League series. Army West Point was in position to sweep until the Bison rallied for four runs in the ninth inning of the finale for a 7-6 win.
•   As a team, Army West Point has a .268 batting average, 3.79 earned run average and .964 fielding percentage. The Black Knights rank eighth in the nation in walks (167) and 14th in stolen bases (57).
•   Trey Martin leads the team with a .342 average, and his three home runs are tied for the team lead with Andre Walden (.267).
•   Jacob Hurtubise (.304) leads the team with 31 runs, four triples and he has just 11 strikeouts against 29 walks. His 21 stolen bases are ninth-most in the nation.
•   Senior Mike Gagliardi (0-1, 12.79) is scheduled to make his third start of the season, having been tagged for 11 hits in 6.1 innings in his first two against Fairleigh Dickinson and Stephen F. Austin.
•   Cam Opp (2-1, 4.19, 2 SV) leads the team with 10 relief appearances and has two of the team's three saves. Anthony LoRicco (0-1, 3.46) has pitched in 10 games, including nine out of the bullpen.
 

Series History vs. Army West Point:

•   The teams have played 74 games in the series to an even split with a 37 wins and 37 losses apiece. 
•   At one point league rivals in the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League, the squads have clashed just seven times since the Ivy League began sponsoring baseball in 1993. 
•   The last meeting was in 2010, when Army West Point won two of three games in a home series. The teams' first meeting was on May 27, 1899 — a 9-0 win for Cornell.