Baseball Hosts Princeton in Gehrig Division Action; Will Honor 1976 and 1977 Ivy League Championship Teams Saturday
4/22/2016 10:05:00 AM | Baseball
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In between games one and two on Saturday, Columbia will honors returning members of the 1976 and 1977 Ivy League Championship squads.
The Lions have dropped eight of their last 10 and will aim to get back in the Gehrig Division race with a four-game set against first place Princeton this weekend. Columbia went 1-3 at Cornell last weekend and dropped a mid-week contest against Fordham at home Wednesday.
PRINCETON'S STATUS
The Tigers took three of four from Penn last weekend and is coming off a 7-2 win against Rider Wednesday. Princeton has won 8-of-9 and hold a three-game lead in the Gehrig Division.
Danny Hoy checks in batting .317 with four homers, 17 RBI and seven stolen bases. Nick Hernandez and Zack Belski have driven in 23 and 22 runs, respectively.
The Lions can expect to see some combination of Chad Powers (3-3, 2.56 ERA), Keelan Smithers (3-1, 2.77 ERA), Cameron Mingo (5-2, 3.43 ERA) and Luke Stieber (2-3, 3.79 ERA) on the mound.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Princeton leads the all-time series 125-93-2. Columbia took three of four games last season on the road in 2015.
ST. NICK
Senior first baseman Nick Maguire had a strong weekend at Cornell, leading the squad with a .583 batting average to go with a .706 on-base percentage. Maguire leads the Ivy League with 20 walks and is five shy of cracking Columbia's single-season list for base on balls.
NO JOSHIN'
First-year Josh Simpson has given Columbia quality starts in three straight appearances from Mar. 26-Apr. 10), posting a 1-1 record with a 2.29 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 19.2 innings.
UNLEASH THE SAVAGE
Junior Will Savage has had another strong season. He has reached base in all but two games this year and leads the conference in hits and and stolen bases. while checking in second in batting average. Against Long Beach State on March 20, Savage became the first Lion to record five hits in a game since Dario Pizzano had six at Harvard on Apr. 11, 2010.
RANDELL'S ISLAND
After missing 13 games due to injury, Randell Kanemaru came back with a flourish, going 9-for15 (.600), slugged 1.133 and posted seven RBI in four games against Yale and Brown. For his efforts, he was named Ivy League Player of the Week on April 5. Kanemaru leads the squad with 20 RBI despite the long absence to the lineup.
BIG BART
Junior Kyle Bartelman has recorded five triples this year to lead the Ivy League. The mark is the third highest single-season total and is two shy of tying the Columbia record.
