ITHACA, N.Y. — Coming off its first Ivy League series victory and its first three-game winning streak, the Cornell baseball team will look to wrap up its conference season on a high note with a three-game series at Dartmouth. The teams will start off with a doubleheader at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, then the team's four seniors will be honored in an on-field presentation before the noon Sunday finale. 
 

SERIES INFORMATION

Cornell at Dartmouth
SITE: Red Rolfe Field — Hanover, N.H.
RECORDS: Cornell 12-22, 6-12 Ivy League;
                    Dartmouth 14-24, 7-11 Ivy League
SERIES RECORD: Dartmouth leads, 96-81-1
VIDEO: ESPN+ | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
STATS: DartmouthSports.com
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Probable starters
Game 1 • 11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 4
   Cornell (Wyatt, RHP, 2-6, 3.65)   •   Dartmouth (O'Connor, RHP, 4-3, 6.18)
Game 2 • ~2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4
   Cornell (Zacharias, RHP, 0-3, 3.27)   •   Dartmouth (Murray, RHP, 2-4, 6.46)
Game 3 • Noon Sunday, May 5
   Cornell (Bemiss, RHP, 2-2, 5.38)   •   Dartmouth (Skinner, RHP, 2-6, 6.05)

Cornell game notes (PDF)
 

Looking Back:

•   Cornell defeated Binghamton on Wednesday, 5-2, spurred by a strong effort from nine pitchers. Adam Saks had three hits, including an RBI single with the bases loaded in the fifth inning. An error on the play allowed two more runs to score and give Cornell a lead it would not relinquish.
•   The Big Red had an entertaining weekend prior, recording consecutive walk-off victories against Penn on Saturday and Sunday at Hoy Field to play spoiler.
•   Senior Will Simoneit played the hero on Senior Day, hitting a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to cap an 8-7 win in Sunday's series rubber game. It came on the heels of his two-run homer in the seventh inning, giving him the team's first five-RBI performance of the season.
•   A different senior delivered the big blow the day prior, with Saks plating two runs with his first collegiate triple to end a 4-3 victory for Cornell. The deep drive into the gap in left-center came with two outs in the ninth. Freshman Austin Flematti hit his first collegiate home run in the second inning of the doubleheader's night cap.
•   Penn won the opener, 6-2, thanks to six unanswered runs. Simoneit homered in that game, too, finishing the series 5-for-13 with a double, three home runs and six RBIs. 
 

The Big Red, In Brief:

•   Dan Pepicelli is in his fourth season as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball. He has a 61-85-1 record at the helm.
•   Pitching continues to be the Big Red's strength this season. Cornell ranks second in the Ivy League with a 4.52 earned run average, and it leads the league in team shutouts (three), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.05), WHIP (1.44) and walks allowed per nine innings (3.40).
•   This season marks the 150th year of baseball at Cornell, as it continues to be the oldest varsity sport at the university. A celebration commemorating the program's sesquicentennial was held last Saturday at Hoy Field.
 

On Offense:

•   Cornell's bats are continuing their upward trend, having now averaged 8.11 hits per game over the last 18 contests after averaging just 4.85 over its first 13 games.
•   Senior Adam Saks leads the team with a .337 average, having taken over the everyday role in center field while primarily batting leadoff. After spending his first three years on East Hill exclusively deployed as a pitcher, Saks has reached base safely in all 22 of his starts — including nine hits over the last four games.
•   Senior Will Simoneit ranks second on the team with a .294 average with a team-high nine doubles and five home runs. His 15 RBIs are also tied for the team lead with junior Alex Carnegie. Simoneit enters the weekend on a seven-game hitting streak.
•   Sophomore Ramon Garza (.230) has eight doubles and is 7-for-8 on stolen-base attempts. That ranks second on the team behind just junior Matt Collins (10-for-11).
 

On The Mound:

•   Junior Colby Wyatt (2-6, 3.65) and freshman Jonathan Zacharias (0-3, 3.27) are scheduled to start the Saturday doubleheader. Zacharias and Luke Yacinich (2-4, 7.71) are the first freshmen to make weekend starts in Dan Pepicelli's four years at the helm.
•   Junior Jeb Bemiss (2-2, 5.31) is scheduled to anchor the series after rejoing the rotation three weeks ago. In the month of April, he had a 2.45 ERA with 31 strikeouts over a team-high 33 innings.
•   The Big Red boasts two of the best relievers in the league. Junior John Natoli (5-1, 1.72, 5 SV) has been a force with 37 strikeouts and just three extra-base hits (all doubles) surrendered in 31.1 innings. Like Natoil (.184), the opposition is also batting below .200 against junior Andrew Ellison (0-0, 2.62, SV; .188).
•   Beyond Natoli, sophomore Trevor Daniel Davis (1-0, 3.60) has the next-most relief appearances with 12. Freshman Niko Lillios (0-0, 3.27) has pitched nine times, though he has recently been used on the other side of the ball as a second baseman.
 

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 Dartmouth:

•   The Big Green enters the weekend 14-24 overall after a 8-7 loss to visiting Maine on Wednesday. Dartmouth scored the last five runs of the game — three on a triple by Trevor Johnson in the eight inning — but the hosts' rally came up short.
•   In Ivy League play, Dartmouth is one game ahead of Cornell in the standings at 7-11. The Big Green won once in three games against Yale last weekend.
•   As a team, Dartmouth is batting .260, has a 7.34 earned run average that ranks last in the Ivy League and a .975 fielding percentage. Bob Whalen is in his 30th season as the head coach, entering the weekend one shy of 600 wins in his career.
•   Steffen Torgersen leads the team with a .345 average and .445 on base percentage. He had a 12-game hitting streak snapped Wednesday.
•   Matt Feinstein ranks second with a .316 average, and his six home runs are tied for the team lead with Ubaldo Lopez (.261). Nate Ostmo (.299) has a team-high 30 RBIs.
•   Cole O'Connor (4-3, 6.18) is slated to start Saturday's opener, leading the team with four victories and 59.2 innings pitched. Fellow righties Justin Murray (2-4, 6.46) and Nathan Skinner (2-6, 6.65) round out the rotation, with opponents batting better than .300 against all three.
•   Max Hunter (1-0, 4.55, 4 SV) is the team's leading relievers with 18 appearances. Southpaw Michael Parson (1-0, 7.40) has pitched in 16 games, followed by 15 from Jonah Jenkins (2-2, 6.91, SV).
 

Series History vs. Dartmouth:

•   The Big Green has a 96-81-1 advantage in the programs' all-time meetings after taking two of three games in last season's series in Ithaca.
•   Dartmouth victories of 4-2 and 5-3 bookended Cornell's 8-3 in the second game of a doubleheader last year. Will Simoneit was 5-for-12 (.417) with a pair of doubles and three RBIs in the series. Seth Urbon earned the victory for the Big Red, coming just one out shy of a nine-inning complete game.
•   Cornell's last trip to Hanover ended with a doubleheader split of shutouts on April 9, 2017. Will Simoneit hit a home run and Josh Arndt doubled in the Big Red's 2-0 victory to start the day before Dartmouth rebounded with a 5-0 win in the night cap.
 

Up Next:

•   The Big Red will wrap up its regular season in non-league play, traveling to St. Bonaventure for a game at 3 p.m. Tuesday.