April 4, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--The Yale baseball team is finally home. Now the Bulldogs just need Mother Nature to cooperate. After opening the season with 25 straight road games, Yale (9-15-1, 2-1-1 Ivy) opens a 12-game homestand with a pair of Ivy League doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. Princeton (10-12, 2-2 Ivy) comes to Yale Field for a 12 p.m. twinbill on Saturday. However, rain is in the forecast for Saturday. Cornell (6-11, 0-2 Ivy) visits New Haven for two games starting at 12 p.m. on Sunday. All four games this weekend will be broadcast by WYBC, Yale's student radio station. Saturday's doubleheader will be available exclusively online at www.yalebulldogs.com, while Sunday's twinbill will be broadcast over-the-air only.

The Bulldogs are coming off a 19-13 victory at Quinnipiac on Wednesday. Davis Stanley hit the first two home runs of his career and Robert Gruber picked up his first career win. Ryan Lavarnway belted his league-leading 12th home run of the season in that game. The current Ivy League Co-Player of the Week, Lavarnway also leads Yale in batting average (.432), RBIs (36) and runs scored (26). Josh Cox went 3-for-6 on Wednesday to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Cox is hitting .396 and leads the Bulldogs with 44 hits and 11 doubles. Yale's nine wins have been awarded to nine different pitchers. Brian Irving leads the squad with a 3.81 ERA and 33 strikeouts, while closer Steve Gilman has three saves and hasn't allowed an earned run in 12 innings pitched.

Princeton split its first four conference games last weekend. The Tigers were swept by Dartmouth in a twinbill last Saturday, then rebounded to take two from Harvard last Sunday. Princeton dropped an 11-8 decision at Monmouth in a non-conference game on Tuesday. Spencer Lucian leads the Ivy League with a .462 batting average. Jack Murphy is hitting .381 and paces the Tigers with five homers and 23 RBIs. David Hale, Steven Miller and Christian Staehely all have two victories on the mound. Hale leads the team with a 3.25 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 27.2 innings.

Cornell was swept by Dartmouth in its first Ivy doubleheader last weekend. The Big Red's scheduled twinbill with Harvard was snowed out and will now be played on Tuesday. Cornell lost to LeMoyne, 11-5 in 10 innings, on Thursday. Nathan Ford leads the Big Red with a .413 average, 26 hits and 16 RBIs. Domenic Di Ricco is hitting .358 and leads Cornell with 16 runs scored. Matt Hill and Corey Pappel anchor the pitching staff. Hill is 3-1 with a 4.30 ERA, while Pappel is 2-2 with a 4.55 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 29.2 innings.

Princeton swept the doubleheader at Clarke Field last season, taking game one 5-2 before scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the nightcap 7-4 on a three-run walk-off homer. The Bulldogs and Big Red split last year in Ithaca. Cornell took game one, 5-0, but Yale rebounded to post a 6-5 victory in game two.

Saturday's pitching matchups are right-hander Brad Gemberling against right-hander Irving in game one, with right-handers Staehely and Brandon Josselyn squaring off in game two. Right-hander Chris Finneran and southpaw Alex Christ will throw for the Bulldogs on Sunday against Cornell righties Pappel and Tony Bertucci.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity