NEW YORK - The Columbia baseball team will meet up with Dartmouth for a three-game series this weekend at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium. Both teams sit at 2-1 after one weekend of Ivy League play. The set begins with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 30 with game one slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. The finale is set for 12 p.m. Sunday, March 31.
LEADING OFF
COLUMBIA'S STATUS
The Lions have won four of their last five after taking down Manhattan, 7-2, Wednesday. Columbia started Ivy League play with a 2-1 weekend against Cornell.
DARTMOUTH'S STATUS
The Big Green also took two of three in its Ivy League-opening series with Princeton, scoring 33 runs in the first two games before falling, 8-2, in the finale. Dartmouth cruised to a 9-2 midweek game at Quinnipiac heading into the Columbia series.
Ubaldo Lopez is hitting .317 with two homers, five doubles and 14 RBI in just 15 games played on the year.
Max Hunter has been the Big Green's most reliable reliever, pitching to a 2.19 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 12. innings. He is also 1-0 with a save.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Dartmouth leads the all-time series 109-81 and have won six of the last seven. Last year in Hanover, the Big Green won the first two games by scores of 5-4 and 10-4. The Lions avoided the sweep with a 12-3 victory in the finale.
A FAMILIAR FACE
Former Columbia third baseman David Vandercook '15CC returns to Robertson Field at Satow Stadium for the first time as a member of Dartmouth's coaching staff. Vandercook was a unanimous first team All-Ivy League selection in 2015 and helped the Lions to three consecutive Ivy League Championships from 2013-15.
NEWS/NOTES
NO JOSHIN'
Senior Josh Simpson is living up to his billing as Columbia's ace. He struck out a career-high eight batters over at Cal Poly on Mar. 8. Simpson tossed eight innings of one-run ball against UNF on Mar. 15. In the opener against Cornell, he became the first Columbia pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout since 2014. He is among the top-five in the Ancient Eight in every major category and leads the conference in WHIP (0.81). Simpson missed all of 2018 while recovering from injury.
CHANDLER BING
Senior Chandler Bengtson has hit grand slam home runs in back-to-back games and is three dingers away from tying Columbia's all-time record held by Dario Pizzano and Gene Larkin. Four of those home runs have been of the grand slam variety. Bengtson belted an Ivy League-leading 10 dingers in 2018 en route to first team All-Ivy League honors. The Fresno, California, native returned to the lineup on March 20 at Miami after missing eight games due to injury.
JOLTIN' JOE
Senior Joe Engel takes a 23-game on-base streak into the weekend. The shortstop reached in the Lions' final six games of the 2018 campaign on his way to All-Ivy League honors and all 16 contests this season.
AJ DiTRIPLO
Junior AJ DiFillipo has four triples on the year, which put him second in the Ivy League and fifth in the nation. He has six four his career, one shy of entering the top-10 in Columbia history.
MILESTONE AHEAD
Head coach Brett Boretti needs four more victories to get to 400 for his career. Boretti spent four years at Franklin & Marshall before joining Columbia in 2006. His 280 wins with the Lions are third all-time and is 13 away from moving into second place.
