ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell baseball team heads to Virginia this weekend for a neutral-site series against Niagara at Shepherd Stadium in Colonial Heights. The three-game set starts with a doubleheader starting at noon Saturday, followed up by a single game at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Series Information:

Cornell vs. Niagara
SITE: Shepherd Stadium — Colonial Heights, Va.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-3, 0-0 Ivy League;
                    Niagara 3-3, 0-0 MAAC
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 20-2
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Probable starters
Game 1 • Noon Saturday, February 29
   Cornell (Wyatt, RHP, 0-1, 1.93)   •   Niagara (Bednarski, RHP, 0-1, 3.68)
Game 2 • ~3 p.m. Saturday, February 29
   Cornell (Edwards, LHP, 0-1, 1.80)   •   Niagara (Bruning, LHP, 0-0, 1.23)
Game 3 • 11 a.m. Sunday, March 1
   Cornell (Natoli, RHP, 0-0, 0.00)   •   Niagara (TBA)
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Cornell game notes (PDF)

Duke Series Redux:

•   Cornell is 0-3 after being swept by 16th-ranked Duke last weekend in Durham, North Carolina. Offense was at a premium in the series, with just a total of seven earned runs over the 27 innings. 
•   Duke took advantage of a couple Cornell errors in the middle innings of Friday's opener to plate seven unearned runs, and Bryce Jarvis fanned 15 to throw a perfect game in an 8-0 victory for the Blue Devils.
•   Freshman Spencer Edwards made a terrific collegiate debut on Saturday, yielding just one run in five innings while striking out seven. The effort earned him Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors, but he came up on the short side of a 3-0 loss.
•   Cornell led off Sunday's finale with three straight hits, but could only push one run across. Senior John Natoli departed with the lead after pitching five scoreless innings, but the Blue Devils would eventually pull ahead for a 3-1 win and a weekend sweep.

The Big Red, In Brief:

•   Cornell was 14-24 overall last season with a 8-13 record in the Ivy League, which placed the Big Red in a tie for seventh place. The Big Red won its last two Ivy League series of the season.
•   The Big Red returns the bulk of its primary contributors from last season while adding a a freshman class of 10 that is expected to make an immediate impact. Cornell's roster has 10 seniors, five juniors, 10 sophomores and 10 freshmen. 
•   Cornell placed two on the All-Ivy League teams last season, including current senior John Natoli. Though starting this year in the rotation, Natoli was a unanimous pick for the lone relief pitcher's spot on the All-Ivy League first team last year.
•   The Big Red returns 98% if its innings pitched from last season. Cornell had a team ERA of 4.52 last year with 249 strikeouts against 117 walks.
•   Dan Pepicelli is in his fifth season as the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball. He has a 63-87-1 record at the helm on East Hill.

On Offense:

•   Freshman Wils Guy leads the team with a .300 average after the opening series, having scored the team's lone run so far. Freshman Shane Russell is the only other player with multiple hits, and junior Ramon Garza has the lone extra-base hit from last weekend — a ringing double in Sunday's finale that bounced high off the 32-foot wall in left field at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
•   In a lot of ways, it was open tryouts for starting offensive spots when the Big Red reconvened to prepare for 2020. The three bats that had the strongest hold on starting roles last year all graduated – Josh Arndt '19, Adam Saks '19 and Will Simoneit '19. While that opens the door for newcomers to make an impact immediately, it also gives a fresh chance for the incumbents to elevate their role.
•   While Cornell batted .224 for the season, there was an upward trend as the season progressed. After April 1, the Big Red averaged 8.38 hits per game after averaging just 5.82 in games prior to that date. Over the last 10 games of season, the Big Red had four hitters batting .286 or better — including junior Jason Apostle and sophomore Austin Flematti. Senior Matt Collins led the team with 10 stolen bases last season.

On The Mound:

•   The Big Red returns 98% of its innings pitched last year. Cornell's team earned run average was 4.52 for the season and ranked second in the Ivy League with a 4.25 mark in 21 conference games.
•   Cornell's pitching was terrific last weekend, boasting a 2.25 ERA in three games and a .230 batting average against a nationally ranked team. 
•   Senior Colby Wyatt (0-1, 1.93) leads the rotation after doing so in each of the Big Red's eight weekends to close out 2019, making a total of 10 starts for a 3-6 record, 3.68 ERA over a team-high 63.2 innings.
•   A unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection last year, senior John Natoli (0-0, 0.00) is off to the races this year as a starter. He led the team in victories with a 5-2 record despite only making one start among his 19 appearances last year. He sported a 1.73 ERA with seven saves, and he led the team with 46 strikeouts in just 36.1 innings.
•   The Big Red has myriad options out of the bullpen, both in long and short relief. Among those with the most innings last year are senior Andrew Ellison (0-0, 0.00), senior Seth Urbon (0-1, 18.00), sophomore Jonathan Zacharias (0-0, 0.00) and sophomore Luke Yacinich (0-0, 6.75). 

About Niagara:

•   The Purple Eagles enter the weekend 3-3 after starting their season with a bang, rallying for three runs in the ninth inning to upset #14 Florida State, 3-1, in the season opener on Feb. 14. The Seminoles responded with 35 runs over the next two games to win the series, then Niagara won two of three last weekend at North Carolina Central.
•   Niagara is batting .174 through six games, with Benny Serrano leading the way on a .286 average. He has two of the team's six home runs to date, and is tied for the team lead with two doubles and three RBIs.
•   Michael Gabriele is off to slow start, but led the team with a .318 average last year.
•   Tommy Bednarski (0-1, 3.68) and Chaz DeLuca (0-1, 15.00) each started in both series. Jacob Bruning (0-0, 1.23) and Steven Hospital (0-1, 47.25) have made the other starts. Bednarski and Bruning are scheduled to start the Saturday games against Cornell, while the Purple Eagles' Sunday started is to be determined.
•   Zach Cameron (0-0, 0.00) is the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Week after two scoreless outings against N.C. Central last weekend. Over his four innings of work, he fanned eight without surrendering a hit.
•   Alex McKinnon (2-0, 4.91) has recorded 11 outs so far; 10 by strikeout.
•   The Purple Eagles were 15-33 last year and were selected to finish 10th among 11 schools in the MAAC preseason coaches' poll.

The Series With Niagara:

•   The Big Red owns a dominating 20-2 advantage in an all-time series dating back to 1900.
•   In the teams' only meeting since 1979, Cornell and Niagara split a doubleheader on March 25, 2018 at Hoy Field in Ithaca. The Big Red blitzed the Purple Eagles for 11 runs in the first four innings of a 17-5 rout in the opener. 
•   Niagara rebounded with a 7-4 victory in the night cap, scoring three runs in the eighth inning to pull ahead for good. All four Cornell pitchers from that game are seniors on this year's team — Seth Urbon, Andrew Ellison, Colby Wyatt and Jeb Bemiss.

Up Next:

•   The Big Red's travels continue next weekend with a three-game series at South Carolina, then the following weekend with three more games at Virginia Military Institute.