Baseball: Cornell, Yale expected to set pace in Ivy League

Heading into the first weekend of Ivy League competition, the baseball team finds itself with a 5-13 record after early season trips to North Carolina, Maryland and California.

Senior first baseman and outfielder Jon Broscious is tied for second in the league with five home runs, and sophomore catcher Sam Mulroy is tied for seventh in runs scored and tied for eighth in hits.

The Tigers will lead off their league play with a doubleheader against Harvard on Saturday and another twin bill against Dartmouth on Sunday.

Brown

The Bears currently sit at 2-11 on the season after four games in Louisiana, three against University of South Carolina, one each at University of Rhode Island and Holy Cross, and four at Troy.

Brown managed an 8-7 win in its first game against Pepperdine in Baton Rouge, La., but lost seven straight after that early success.

The squad earned its second victory with a 13-7 win over Holy Cross but had a rough matchup against Troy last weekend, losing all four games.

Columbia

The Lions have had a rollercoaster spring thus far and stand at 7-11 after their opening games.

The team seemed rusty at the start of the season, giving up double-digit runs to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in three early losses. It has picked up wins against UNLV, Richmond and Winthrop among scattered rough patches.

After losing to St. John’s 22-21, the Lions gained momentum going into Ivy League play with four consecutive victories against Bucknell last weekend.

Catcher Dean Forthun just took home the Ivy League Player of the Week honor and Dan Bracey was just crowned one of the league’s two Pitchers of the Week.

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Cornell

With three games canceled and two postponed already, the Big Red has had trouble finding a rhythm to its season thus far. Its first game against Villanova was canceled, and a match at St. Joseph’s was postponed for a day before being canceled as well.

In just 10 games, the team has accrued a 4-6 record.

The team dropped its first match against Binghamton but rebounded nicely with a win in the second game of the doubleheader and two one-run victories against Northwestern on a spring break trip to Florida.

Playing at West Point last weekend, the Big Red picked up a 10-4 victory against Army, but its bats fell flat, and the squad dropped the final three games of the series.

The team’s pitching has been its greatest strength, as Cornell pitchers lead the league with a 4.56 ERA.

Dartmouth

The defending Ivy League champions traveled to Florida for spring break as well, playing a variety of teams from the East Coast and the Midwest over the course of its 11-day trip. Including its opening games against Wright State and Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., the team’s record stands at 6-8 overall.

The Big Green started its trip on a high note, picking up victories against Bucknell, Long Island and Bradley in its first four games.

The squad dropped three of four in its stretch against midwestern teams, earning a 5-1 win against Northwestern between a close 7-6 loss to Ohio State and two losses to Illinois.

The trip ended on another upturn as the Big Green bats exploded for 14 runs in a victory against Bethune-Cookman.

Harvard

The crimson’s bats have struggled early in the season, and Harvard is currently last in the Ivy League in team batting average. The team’s early play has put its record at 6-11 on the year.

In its opening tournament, the club picked up victories in its first two games at the Bright House Invitational but managed just one victory in its next 12 contests.

The Crimson has since regained some momentum, with a 3-2 win over Sacred Heart and two close victories against Hartford last weekend.

Outfielder Sam Franklin and first baseman and pitcher Marcus Way head into the weekend at third and fourth in the league in steals, respectively.

Penn

The Quakers opened their season on a strong note, with a 13-4 victory over Georgetown, and won five games in a row in mid-March. Penn now stands at 7-8, the best in the Gehrig Division.

The Quakers’ pitching staff has been very solid this year. Paul Cusick threw a complete-game shutout against Mount St. Mary’s and ranks second in the league with 24 strikeouts, and right-handed reliever Reid Terry has yet to allow an earned run in 11.2 innings of work.

Yale

The Bulldogs are the only Ivy League team currently above .500, boasting an 11-6-1 record against a slate of primarily cold-weather foes. Yale opened its season with a three-game sweep of University of Maryland, Baltimore County, before traveling to the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.

The Bulldogs won three of their seven games in Florida, including victories over two of last year’s NCAA regional qualifiers, Army and Indiana, and earned a rare tie when their game against Bowling Green was washed out after five innings. Yale has outscored its opponents by 37 runs this season, primarily on the strength of its offense: The Bulldogs easily lead the conference with a .327 batting average and 25 home runs.

Second baseman Gant Elmore is hitting .400, the best in the league, and first baseman Trygg Larsson-Danforth paces the Ancient Eight with 27 RBI.