Baseball Takes On Penn This Weekend in Battle for Division Crown
4/23/2015 7:15:00 AM | Baseball
NEW YORK - The Columbia baseball team wraps up the regular season with a crucial series against Penn this weekend. The Lions and Quakers will battle at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium on Saturday twice before the series shifts to Philadelphia for a twinbill Sunday. Both days are slated for 1 p.m. starts.
COLUMBIA'S STATUS
The Lions continues to swing hot bats, scoring in double-figures in their last three games. Columbia swept Cornell with a pair of comeback wins on Saturday and two blowouts on Sunday. In their final non-conference contest on Wednesday, the Lions blitzed Fordham, 16-3.
PENN'S STATUS
The Quakers kept pace with Columbia by sweeping Princeton last weekend. Penn had two relatively easy games in the first two contests, before grinding out a pair of wins on Sunday.
DEJA VU
Just like a season ago, the Lions and Quakers are tied for first place in the Gehrig Division standings heading into the final weekend. If the teams' split the four-game series there will be a one-game playoff to determine who will advance to the Ivy League Championship against Dartmouth, who clinched the Rolfe Division last weekend.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Columbia is 115-127-3 all-time against Penn, including nine of the last 11 meetings.
BASH BROTHERS
Joey Falcone and Gus Craig became the first set of teammates to share Ivy League Player of the Week honors after the duo combined for 20 RBI in five games last weekend, including a four-game sweep of Cornell.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
For the second consecutive week, Columbia is receiving votes in the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) top-30 poll. With their 24-12 record, the Lions are 12 games over the .500 mark for the first time since the 1926 team finished the year 17-5.
LIONS MASH
Columbia has been at the top of the Ivy League in the majority of offensive categories on the season (see page five for full breakdown). They have scored in double-figures in three consecutive contests and have hit multiple home runs in five of their last six games.
PALLER POWER
After missing the bulk of Columbia's spring break trip due to a hand injury, junior tri-captain Robb Paller has hit safely in all 21 games since he returned to action against Army on March 25. He is also riding a 15-game hit streak, the longest for a Lion this season. Against Fordham on April 22, Paller had a career-day, going 4-for-6 with seven RBI, the most in a game since Dario Pizzano had six at Harvard in 2010.
GRAND SLAMS
After not recording a grand slam in four years, the Lions hit a homer with the bases full in back-to-back games. Falcone broke the drought late in the game against Cornell on April 19 and Randell Kanemaru kept the streak going against Fordham on April 22.
