Baseball: Pair of doubleheaders to finish baseball season

Like Princeton, Cornell (14-19, 6-10) has struggled this year and is only one game ahead of Princeton in the league standings. It, also, is out of the playoff hunt, so both teams will be playing for pride. Last year, Cornell trounced Princeton in a Gehrig Division playoff, 9-0, so the Tigers will also look to avenge that loss.

Junior righthander Dan Barnes (1-3, 5.71 ERA) will take the mound for Princeton in Friday’s first game, opposite Cornell’s Corey Pappel (2-2, 3.40 ERA). The Big Red righthander was the starter in last year’s Gehrig Division playoff, striking out 11 of the 18 Tigers he faced. This season, Pappel leads Cornell pitchers in strikeouts, with 40 in just 39 2/3 innings pitched.

Junior lefthander David Palms (1-5, 6.09 ERA) will get the start in the second half of Friday’s doubleheader. On Sunday, freshman righthander Zak Hermans (3-3, 7.23 ERA) will start the first game, and senior lefthander Langford Stuber (1-3, 9.86 ERA) will start the final game of the season to cap off his collegiate career.

Like the rest of the team, Stuber is disappointed with how the season has turned out for the Tigers.

“It gets down to the end, and you realize you’ve got one or two outings left but not much to play for,” he said. “It’s important, at least for me, to have a good outing and send the guys out on a good note for next year.”

The games against Cornell present good opportunities for the Tigers to get a few wins and climb out of the division basement. Princeton will carry some momentum from its victory on Wednesday against Rider.

The Tigers have struggled in almost every category this season. They rank last in the Ivy League in batting average (.258) and have the second-highest team ERA (7.97).

“Everything’s just not working out the way we thought it would,” Palms said.

Fortunately for the Tigers, Cornell has posted similar statistics even though it was predicted to finish first in the Gehrig Division. Cornell ranks third-to-last in batting average (.275) and has the fourth-highest team ERA (6.43). The games should be very competitive since the two teams are so evenly matched.

Though their season is four games from over, the Tigers are still going to try to end on a good note. “We just want to go out there and win,” Palms said.

“There is not a change in strategy or thought process,” Stuber said, despite the fact that the postseason is well out of reach. “It’s important to end well.”