ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell baseball team opens a six-game homestand this weekend when it hosts Princeton in the first three games at Booth Field, the Big Red's brand-new off-campus facility.

This weekend's contests at Booth Field will anoint Cornell's new off-campus baseball facility as the successor of legendary Hoy Field, which served as the program's home since 1922.

Booth Field is named after Rich Booth '82 for his "extraordinary leadership and generosity — much of its anonymous — over the last four decades," according to an Cornell Chronicle article from Oct. 13, 2022, announcing the field's new name.

Booth appeared in 20 games over a three-year span with the Big Red from 1979-81. Over his 20 games, Booth amassed a 1-2 record with a 4.82 ERA in 37.1 innings of action.

Series Information

FRIDAY, APRIL 21 - 3:30 P.M.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP: LHP Spencer Edwards (1-2, 5.40 ERA) vs. RHP Jackson Emus (0-3, 9.72 ERA)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - GAME ONE - 11:30 A.M.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Ethan Hamill (1-5, 7.68 ERA) vs. RHP Andrew D'Alessio (0-4, 5.56 ERA)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

SATURDAY, APRIL 22 - GAME TWO - APPROX: 2:30 P.M.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP: LHP Noah Keller (2-4, 5.26 ERA) vs. LHP Tom Chmielewski (4-4, 3.97 ERA)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Scouting Princeton

Princeton enters this weekend with a 15-17 overall record and a 7-5 mark in Ivy League play.

The Tigers are coming off a 9-6 win at Rider on Wednesday in a non-conference contest. Matt Scannell was the winning pitcher and also hit a home run in the victory. Eric Marasheski and Kyle Vinci also went yard for the Tigers. Jacob Faulkner earned his fifth save of the season, throwing a scoreless ninth inning.

Last weekend, the Tigers took two of three contests from Columbia at Clarke Field. Princeton also has marquee victories over Georgia (Feb. 26) and Duke (March 3) earlier this year in non-conference play.

Scott Bandura leads Princeton with his .402 batting average on the year. Kyle Vinci has a team-leading 14 home runs and 36 RBI on the year. Bandura is right behind Vinci with 33 RBI.

Freshman Justin Kim has shined out of the bullpen for Princeton, posting a 5-1 record with a 2.86 ERA over 10 relief outings. Tom Chmielewski (4-4, 3.97 ERA) has been the Tigers' top pitcher in their usual rotation this season, striking out 44 and issuing just 14 walks.

Last Weekend Rewind

Cornell had a successful trip to Harvard last weekend as the Big Red took two of three games from its Ivy League rival.

The Big Red swept last Saturday's doubleheader, marking the third time in program history Cornell swept a twin bill from the Crimson on its home turf (May 27, 1933 and April 9, 1995).

Junior catcher Nathan Waugh (.455), sophomore infielder Max Jensen (.400), and sophomore outfielder Jakobi Davis (.400) all hit at least .400 against the Crimson. Senior outfielder Sam Kaplan also hit an impressive .357 on the weekend. Waugh and Jensen both drove in a team-leading four runs on the weekend.

Freshmen pitchers Ethan Hamill and Noah Keller posted victories in the doubleheader, marking the first time a pair of first-year players recorded victories in consecutive games since Brian McAfee on April 14, 2012 and Nick Busto on April 15, 2012, with both contests coming against Columbia.

Hamill and Keller are the first freshmen tandem to win both games of a doubleheader since April 7, 2012, when Kellen Urbon and Brian McAfee combined to post wins over Brown at Murray Stadium.

When It Runs, It Pours

Cornell has displayed a knack of scoring runs in bundles so far this season. Of the Big Red's 127 runs scored this season, 96 have come in multi-run innings (75.6 percent of its run production).

Last weekend, Cornell recorded 18 of its 20 runs on the weekend in innings that featured at least two runs scored.

In its 26 games this season, Cornell has at least one multi-run inning in 20 games.

Tough to Face

Senior left-handed pitcher Spencer Edwards has been one of the more difficult Ivy League pitchers to face this season with opponents hitting just .182 off the senior southpaw (18 hits in 99 at-bats).

His 18 hits allowed are the fewest by any Ancient Eight pitcher and .182 batting average against is the second-lowest among eligible Ivy League pitchers, trailing Penn's Ryan Dromboski — .177. Through the completion of Wednesday's contests, Edwards has a 5.72 hits-per-9-inning ratio, ranking 25th nationally and is second in the Ivy League, trailing Dromboski (5.68).

Although not eligible to be ranked in the official Ivy League statistics since he has not pitched at least one inning per team game, Edwards' .154 batting average against in conference contests would be the best of any Ivy League pitcher. Brown's Jack Seppings currently paces the conference with a .143 average against (7-of-43).

Edwards' 18 hits allowed so far this season rank as the second-fewest by a eligible pitcher with at least one inning pitched per team game. Valparaiso's Bobby Nowak (17 hits over 30 IP) has the lone hit total lower than  Edwards. Of the 18 hits allowed by Edwards this season only three have been extra-base hits (two doubles, one home run).

The Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., native enters this weekend's series with a .210 BABIP (batting average on balls in play) figure, according to D1Baseball.com, ranking 12th nationally.

Thank U, Next

In Noah Keller's last four outings — all of which have been Ivy League contests — the freshman left-handed pitcher has struck out at least five batters, registering a 9.75 strikeout-per-9-inning ratio (26 SO over 24 IP).

So far in his first collegiate season, Keller has at least five-plus strikeouts in six of his eight starts.

Troubling the Ancient Eight

Along with his stellar strikeout totals, Keller has excelled in his quartet of Ivy League starts, recording three quality starts (6+ IP with 3 ER or less). The southpaw hurler has a 2.25 ERA (6 ER in 24 IP) with 26 SO (9.75 SO/9) and 7 BB (3.71 SO/BB), while his 2.25 ERA (3rd), 19 strikeouts (7th), .222 batting average against (10th) in Ivy League games all rank in the top 10 among eligible pitchers with at least one inning pitched per team game played.

Fresh(men) Arms

Both right-handed pitcher Ethan Hamill and left-handed pitcher Noah Keller slated to start this weekend. Should they both make starts this weekend, they will both record their ninth starts of the season, which is the most by a first-year Cornell pitcher since Brian McAfee started in all 11 of his outings in 2012.

Wils' Our Guy

Senior outfielder Wils Guy enters this weekend riding a career-high eight-game hit streak and has reached base safely in each of his last nine games. During the stretch, Guy has a .379/.455/.552 slash line while registering five doubles and driving in three runs in addition to scoring seven times and stealing three bases — two of which came on April 9 at Binghamton.

Guy has reached base safely in 16 of his last 17 contests, posting a .300/.373/.433 slash line during the time frame. He has a hit in 13 of the 16 games in which he has recorded an at-bat, as the lone game without at-bat featured him drawing a pinch-hit walk against Brown on April 9.

Mister Reliable

Fellow senior outfielder Sam Kaplan has displayed his ability for reaching base safely this season as the Las Vegas native has reached safely in 23 of his 26 appearances.

Kaplan is riding a six-game hit streak — his third hit streak of at least five games this season — and a 12-game on-base streak heading into this weekend's series. Over his last 12 contests, the 6-foot-1 right fielder is slashing .367/.415/.633 with five doubles, one triple, two home runs and 12 RBI.

Should he reach base in all three games this weekend, Kaplan will register Cornell's first 15-game on-base streak since Adam Saks had a 26-game streak in 2019.

136 Years | 213 Miles | 256 Meetings

Entering this weekend's three-game set, Cornell and Princeton have played each other 256 times. The Tigers have a 154-100-2 advantage in the all-time series.

Cornell has defeated Princeton at least once in each of the last 14 seasons, and in 26 of the last 27 campaigns.

The last time the Big Red was swept by the Tigers was when Princeton won all four games of its series in 2006. Cornell has not been swept by Princeton at home since the Tigers swept a May 1 doubleheader in 1991 at Hoy Field.

Senior outfielder Sam Kaplan had a weekend to remember last year against Princeton, going 5-for-9 (.556) with a double and three RBI. Senior Wils Guy hit a home run and drove in a team-leading four RBI on the weekend. Sophomore infielder Max Jensen and senior infielder Ryan Ross also hit round-trippers for the Big Red.

Fellow senior left-handed pitcher Spencer Edwards shined for Cornell allowing one run on four hits over eight innings of work in the Big Red's 7-1 victory in the nightcap of an April 9 doubleheader. Sophomore right-hander Chris Ellison pitched 3.1 shutout innings of relief in the series.

Waugh(tch) It Fly!

Despite having his career-long six-game hit streak snapped against Brown on April 9, junior catcher Nathan Waugh has been one of Cornell's hottest hitters as of late. Over his last 11 games, Waugh is hitting .390 (16-of-41) with seven of his hits going for extra bases (three doubles, four home runs).

Waugh's 17 RBI currently ranks second on the team, trailing sophomore infielder Max Jensen (18). Of the 17 runs driven in by Waugh this season, 15 have come in his last 11 appearances.

Clicking at the Right Time

Since Ivy League play began in late March, Cornell's hitting has clicked on a whole different level.

Over its first 12 contests, Cornell was hitting at a .201 clip while posting a .617 OPS (.309 on-base plus .308 slugging percentage). Since its Ivy League opener on March 24 at Yale, the Big Red is hitting .276 with a .782 OPS (.359 on-base plus .423 slugging).

In its 12 Ivy League games so far, Cornell is slashing .277/356/.433 with 41 of the team's 117 hits going for extra bases (27 doubles, three triples, 11 home runs).

Pitching has also seen an increase in various statistical categories since opening Ancient Eight play, including a 3.38 point improvement in ERA, the team's WHIP has dropped by 34 points, and batting average against has decreased by 54 points.

A Good Dozen Games

Cornell is off to its best 12-game start in Ivy League play since 2017, when it had a 6-6 record over its first 12 Ancient Eight contests.

With a win in the opening game of the series on Friday, Cornell will have its best 13-game start to Ivy League play since also having a 6-7 record in 2017.

A sweep of Princeton would ensure the Big Red of having at least a .500 record after its first 15 Ivy League games for the first time since 2013 (also went 8-7), and the fifth time since the disbandment of the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League after the 1992 season (1998, 2005, 2012, 2013).