Everything is in the baseball team's favor this weekend as it tries to clinch the Ivy League's Lou Gehrig Division title. All Princeton has to do to be crowned champion is win one of four games against Cornell in a pair of doubleheaders. The first half of the home-and-home series is on Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y., after which both teams will travel to Princeton to finish up the series and the Ivy League season at Clarke Field. The Tigers (21-17 overall, 9-7 Ivy League) currently sit on top of their division, one of two in the Ivy League. The Big Red (11-26, 5-10) and Columbia are tied for second place and still have a prayer, while Penn closes out the division in fourth place and is mathematically eliminated from contention. The winner of the Lou Gehrig Division goes on to face the winner of the Red Rolfe Division in the Ivy League Championship series. Princeton is all but assured in its quest for the series, but once the Tigers get there, they will have their work cut out for them. "The other division is much stronger," junior pitcher Ross Ohlendorf said, "but if we play like we're capable of, we should be okay." Currently, Dartmouth is at the top of the Red Rolfe division with Harvard nipping at its heels only two games back. Fittingly, the two teams will face each other this weekend in a four-game series that will decide who will reach the ILCS. Either way, the winner of the Red Rolfe Division will play host to the series. Princeton can look forward to this weekend's Cornell series with confidence. Although it has lost three in a row — including two against Penn last Sunday and one against St. John's this Tuesday — the Tigers have not lost four straight since the first few weeks of the conference season almost a month ago. Those losses came against three different opponents, including very good Harvard and Dartmouth teams. The Tigers can count on Cornell coming with everything it's got as the Big Red has its back against the wall, making it a very dangerous team to face. To add to this, Cornell may be looking for some revenge as the two teams played each other last year for the right to go to the ILCS, with Princeton emerging victorious. That set up a showdown between the Tigers and the Crimson from which Princeton came out with the title. There may be only so much the Big Red can do, however, as it will be facing four games against a Tiger offense that can put up some big numbers. It demonstrated this last weekend, as it posted 22 runs in the first game against Penn on Saturday, then followed that up with a 14-run performance in the next game. Top Tigers The Tigers will look to junior centerfielder B.J. Szymanski and senior catcher Tim Lahey for leadership in their last leg of the regular season. Both Szymanski and Lahey are comfortable in the role of team leader, as they have had strong seasons so far. Szymanski, a potential first-round Major League Baseball draft pick, is leading the team in batting average, as he has all season, currently hitting at a .375 clip. The rest of his stats are equally impressive. The junior leads the Tigers in nine other offensive categories, including hits, runs batted-in, runs scored, and triples. He is also tied for the lead in home runs with six. Meanwhile, Lahey leads the infield from behind the plate as catcher and is hitting .265 with six home runs, tied with Szymanski in that category. If the past is any indicator, Cornell might be in trouble. Its pitching staff contains only one starter with an earned-run average of below 5.10. The Tigers' staff has been solid all year. Ohlendorf leads a rotation that has been consistent from top to bottom. While Ohlendorf has an ERA of 4.02, freshman Gavin Fabian and sophomore Erik Stiller both better that with 3.40 and 3.51 marks, respectively. These three, plus sophomore Eric Walz, make up the starting rotation and will all get the nod in one of this weekend's four games. Not-so-Big Red The Big Red offense presents little threat to Princeton's pitching staff. It has only three players hitting above .295 and only 12 home runs on the year, compared to the Tigers' 30. As a team, Cornell has been outscored by its opponents, 247-150. Outfielder John Finch is the leader of the Big Red offense. The senior is leading the team in batting average, .333, and RBIs, 17. He is also tied for the team lead in homers with two. If the Tigers are crowned division champs this weekend, they will be on their way to a shot at another Ivy League Championship. The ILCS will be held May 8-9.
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