Baseball Readies to Host Brown for Easter Weekend Series
ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell baseball team hosts Brown in its first home Ivy League series of the 2023 season this weekend at Hoy Field.
Series Information
SATURDAY, APRIL 8 – GAME ONE – 11:30 A.M.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Ethan Hamill (0-4, 8.65 ERA) vs. RHP Paxton Meyers (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
SATURDAY, APRIL 8 – GAME TWO – APPROX. 2:30 P.M.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP: LHP Noah Keller (1-3, 7.23 ERA) vs. RHP Santhosh Gottam (0-3, 8.80 ERA)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
SUNDAY, APRIL 9 – 12:00 P.M.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Von Baker (0-3, 10.62 ERA) vs. TBA
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
Last Weekend Rewind
Senior right fielder Sam Kaplan drove in a career-high five runs as the Cornell baseball team defeated its crosstown rival Ithaca, 13-3, at Hoy Field on Tuesday. Kaplan went 2-for-4 on the day with a double and home run while posting his five RBI.
Sophomore left fielder Kyle Musser had a team-high three hits on the day, going 3-for-4 with a double and a RBI. Fellow sophomores John Quinlan and Jakobi Davis, and junior first baseman Ryan Ross also registered multi-hit days for Cornell.
Senior August Biben earned his first collegiate victory, pitching one inning of relief of junior right-hander Von Baker, who allowed just one baserunner over his two-inning start.
Off to a Good Start
Cornell is off to its best six-game start in Ivy League play since 2015, when it posted a 4-2 record over its first six Ancient Eight contests.
With a win in the opening game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Cornell will have its best seven-game start to Ivy League play since going 4-3 in 2015.
Two victories this weekend would ensure the Big Red of having at least a .500 record after its first nine Ivy League games for the ninth time since the disbandment of the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League following the 1992 season.
A sweep of Brown would give Cornell a 6-3 record, marking the Big Red’s best nine-game start to Ancient Eight play since 2014 when it also had a 6-3 mark.
Honey Bunches of Runs
Cornell has shown a knack of scoring runs in bundles so far this season. Of the Big Red’s 93 runs scored this season, 71 have come in multi-run innings.
The Big Red has scored two runs in an inning on 14 occasions this season. They have had four instances of plating three or four runs in a frame. Cornell has also had a trio of five-run frames.
In Cornell’s 19 contests played so far this season, Cornell has registered at least one multi-run inning in 16 games (84.2 percent of games).
Joining the Hit Parade
In last weekend’s series with Columbia, the Big Red recorded 10-plus hits in all three games. The Big Red totaled 38 hits in the series, while posting a team batting average of .336.
Cornell logged a season-high 18 hits in the victory over Columbia last Sunday, marking the most hits in a single game since also having 18 hits against Princeton on April 30, 2017. The output is tied for the third-most by the Big Red under Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball Dan Pepicelli.
Of the 38 hits recorded by Cornell last weekend, 18 went for extra bases (11 doubles, one triple, six home runs). Cornell’s six home runs in the series were the most in a single weekend since also hitting six against Dartmouth last year at Hoy Field on April 23 and 24.
After having 12 hits in the victory on March 26 at Yale, Cornell has five consecutive games with at least 10 hits. It is the first time the Big Red has had five consecutive 10-hit games since stringing together another five-game streak from April 21-28, 2018.
During the stretch, the Big Red has hit at a .348 clip (63-of-181) with 27 extra-base hits (17 doubles, two triples, eight home runs), leading to a .597 slugging percentage and a 1.010 OPS.
No. 300 for Pep
Dan Pepicelli, the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Cornell Baseball, earned his 300th career head coaching victory in Cornell’s 13-3 victory over crosstown rival Ithaca this past Tuesday.
Tough to Touch
Over 11 relief outings this season, senior left-handed pitcher Spencer Edwards has been tough to hit off of this season.
Edwards enters this weekend’s series against Brown with opponents hitting at a .205 clip off him (15 hits in 73 at-bats), which ranks as the fourth-best average in the Ivy League, after games completed on Wednesday.
His 15 hits allowed are the fewest by any eligible Ivy League pitcher. Princeton’s Justin Kim has allowed the second-fewest number (16).
After allowing five hits in his first appearance of the season on Feb. 25 at James Madison, Edwards has given up 10 hits over 17.1 innings pitched.
132 Years | 324 Miles | 132 Meetings
Cornell and Brown have played 132 contests heading into this weekend’s three-game series. Brown currently holds onto a 68-62-2 advantage over its Ancient Eight foe.
The Bears have had its success over the Big Red recently, winning five of the last six meetings.
This weekend will be the first time Brown will be traveling to Ithaca since a three-game series on April 6-7, 2019.
Brown has won the last six meetings in Ithaca, as Cornell is seeking for its first win on home field since posting a 10-6 victory in the opening game of a doubleheader on March 30, 2015, which was the final game of Cornell’s seven-game win streak over the Bears.
Mayfield Shining Early
Freshman right-handed pitcher Carson Mayfield been a bright spot for the Cornell bullpen so far this season through his seven relief outings.
Owning a 5.25 ERA that leads all Cornell pitchers, Mayfield has 20 strikeouts compared to just five walks.
His 4.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio is tied for seventh among freshman pitchers, and is second in the Ivy League, trailing Dartmouth’s Jake Metzger (9.67).
Mayfield’s five walks allowed in 24 innings pitched leads to a 1.88 walks-per-9-inning ratio, which is the ninth-best figure by a first-year pitcher this season. He also trails Metzger (3 BB in 31.2 IP — 0.85) for the Ivy League lead.
