Blog Single

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard University baseball returns to Ivy League play with a three-game series at Cornell University with a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 6 starting at 11:30 a.m. (ESPN+) and a single game on Sunday, Apr. 7 at noon (ESPN+) at Booth Field in Ithaca, New York.

What to Know

• The Crimson (4-17, 2-4 Ivy) meets the Big Red (6-11, 4-2 Ivy) in the third weekend of conference play. Harvard sits in a tie for sixth in the league standings – just one game back of third place – while Cornell stands in second place.
• Harvard leads Cornell in the all-time series, 113-57. The two teams first met in 1887.
• Senior designated hitter Ben Rounds has posted a .416 average, .516 OBP, four home runs, 15 RBIs, 32 hits, and 24 runs on the season. Rounds has reached base safely in all 21 of the Crimson’s games to start the year. In Ivy only play, he has hit .455 with 10 hits, six RBIs, and a .538 OBP. He ranks first in the Ivy League average (.416), OBP (.516), and OPS (1.204), second in slugging (.688), runs (24), and walks (16), fourth in hits (32), and fifth in doubles (seven). In the NCAA, he stands 33^rd in average (.416) and 57^th in OBP (.516). For the season, he has posted nine multi-hit games. He hit .556 (5-for-9) in the team’s opening weekend at Troy (Feb. 23-25).
• Junior outfielder Matt Giberti has notched a .281 average on the year with a .349 OBP and an 11-for-11 mark on stolen base attempts. He leads the Ivy League in stolen bases (11) and ranks 24^th in the NCAA in stolen bases per game (0.61). Giberti earned Ivy League Player of the Week after hitting .556 (5-for-9) with four runs, three doubles, and a .636 OBP in the Penn State series (Mar. 8-10).
• Senior infielder Chris Snopek leads the team in home runs (five) and RBIs (23) on the year with a .284 average, 23 hits, and 13 runs. Snopek ranks fifth in the Ivy League in homers (five) and RBIs (23). For the season, he has posted four multi-RBI games and seven multi-hit games. He went 5-for-13 with three runs and a home run in The Citadel (Mar. 2-3) series. Snopek finished 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs in game two at Western Carolina (Mar. 16) and tallied a season-high five RBIs in back-to-back games vs. Brown (Mar. 31) and Boston College (Apr. 2).
• Junior catcher William Lybrook has posted a .385 average with 15 hits, 10 RBIs, 10 runs, and a .419 OBP. In Ivy only play, he has notched a .429 average with a 500 OBP. He went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, three runs, and a home run in game two vs. Western Carolina (Mar. 16).
• Junior right-hander Sean Matson has posted a 3.13 ERA with 35 strikeouts over 21.2 innings on the year. He leads the Ivy League in opponent batting average (.181), while ranking second in ERA (3.13) and fourth in strikeouts (35). In the NCAA rankings, he stands 44^th in hits allowed per nine innings (5.97). In Ivy only play, he has notched a 2.70 ERA with 13 strikeouts over 10.0 innings. He earned Ivy League Pitcher of the Week on Mar. 4 after throwing 6.1 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts at The Citadel (Mar. 2).
• Sophomore right-hander Callan Fang leads the Ivy League in strikeouts (42), while ranking second in strikeouts looking (11) and fourth in innings pitched (33.1). During Ivy only play, he has registered a 2.08 ERA with 18 strikeouts over 13.0 innings. Fang earned Ivy League Pitcher of the Week on Apr. 1 after compiling a career-high 12 strikeouts over 7.0 innings in the win over Brown (Mar. 30). He tallied seven strikeouts in back-to-back starts – at The Citadel (Mar. 3) and vs. Penn State (Mar. 10). Fang has also contributed at the plate, hitting .375 (6-for-16) with four RBIs and a home run.
• Junior right-hander Cole Cleary has posted a 0.00 ERA with four strikeouts over 6.0 innings in Ivy League play. Overall, he has notched a 6.17 ERA with eight strikeouts over 11.2 innings.
• First-year right-hander Andrew Abler has tallied a 5.54 ERA with 12 strikeouts over 13.0 innings. Abler threw 4.0 innings of relief against Troy (Feb. 23), permitting one run on one hit with four strikeouts. He tossed 2.0 innings of scoreless relief at Western Carolina (Mar. 16).
• As a team, Harvard ranks second in the Ivy League in opposing batting average (.272), third in triples (five) and total bases (287), and fourth in RBIs (105), hits (191), slugging (.394), and stolen bases (21-for-24).
• Harvard played its first 17 games of the season on the road. The Crimson made four trips to the South, facing Troy (Feb. 23-25), The Citadel (Mar. 1-3), Penn State in Cary, North Carolina (Mar. 8-10), ETSU (Mar. 13), and Western Carolina (Mar. 15-17) before returning to the Northeast for road contests at Columbia (Mar. 23-24) and Holy Cross (Mar. 26). The Crimson then played its first home games vs. Brown (Mar. 30-31). 

Up Next

Harvard plays Massachusetts in the third-place game of The Baseball Beanpot on Apr. 9 (time TBD) before competing in a three-game Ivy League series at Princeton with a doubleheader on Apr. 13 starting at 11:30 a.m. (ESPN+) and a single game on Apr. 14 at noon.