Baseball Visits Brown, Yale for Doubleheaders This Weekend
4/2/2015 3:53:00 PM | Baseball
NEW YORK - The Columbia baseball team is back in action this weekend when they take on Brown and Yale on the road this weekend. Both sets of doubleheaders are slated for noon starts.
COLUMBIA'S STATUS
The Lions took 3-of-4 in their Ivy League opening weekend, splitting with Dartmouth and coming from behind twice to sweep Harvard. Columbia has won eight of its last nine contests.
BROWN'S STATUS
The Bears have alternated wins and losses over their last six games, including splits with Princeton and Cornell last weekend. Brown leads the Ivy League with 11 homers on the year and have similar offensive to the Lions in many categories.
YALE'S STATUS
The Bulldogs have been a streaky team all season long. They snapped a four-game slide with a series sweep of Princeton on March 30 to even their Ivy League record at 2-2. Yale is one of the best offensive teams in the conference, boasting a team batting average of .271 and have the best fielding percentage in the Ancient Eight at .974.
SERIES HISTORY - BROWN
Columbia is 56-61-1 all-time against the Bears, but have swept the last two seasons and won 5-of-6 in the series. Last season, the Lions posted a pair of 4-0 victories at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
SERIES HISTORY - YALE
The Lions have a 66-98 record against the Bulldogs all-time, dating back to 1888. Yale earned a road sweep last season before Columbia reeled off a program-record 15 consecutive victories.
LIONS IN THE RPI
Through March 29, Columbia boasts an RPI of 49 and strength of schedule of 24, according to D1Baseball.com. The RPI trails just Harvard (No. 46) among Ivy League programs and the SOS is the best in the Ancient Eight.
CRAIG HEATING UP
Senior outfielder Gus Craig has heated up since the team returned north, hitting .471 with a 1.000 slugging percentage in five games last week. For his efforts, he was named Ivy League Player of the Week on March 31.
DIRTY HARRY
Also honored last week, was first-year pitcher Harrisen Egly who was tabbed Rookie of the Week. The 6-4 righty factored in to three decisions with two saves and a victory in four shutout innings of relief.
COOK-IE MONSTER
Senior third baseman David Vandercook is also coming on both with the bat and the glove. As the third member of Columbia's “murderer's row” of lefties in the heart of the lineup, Vandercook is hitting .529 with three doubles, four runs and four RBI in his last five games. At the hot corner, he's gone error-free in his last seven games and has made miscues in just two contests this season.
