Columbia
Harvard
Lions Look to Stay Ahead of Crimson in Ivy League Race
4/26/2019 10:55:00 AM | Baseball
Columbia takes a one-game lead over second-place Harvard into Cambridge in a pivotal series.
LEADING OFF
COLUMBIA'S STATUS
The Lions dropped its midweek contest to Rutgers, 8-5, Wednesday, but took 2-of-3 against Brown in their final home weekend of the season. Columbia sits one game ahead of Harvard in the Ivy League standings in the race for the Ivy League Playoff Series.
HARVARD'S STATUS
The Crimson are coming off a series win at Dartmouth, claiming two wins in a doubleheader Sunday before falling to the Big Green in the finale. Harvard also took an 8-4 midweek victory at UMass-Lowelll Wednesday.
Harvard boasts one of the top offense's in the Ivy League, hitting .292 as a team. Patrick McColl is hitting .430 with 11 homers and 38 RBI, while junior outfielder Jake Suddleson checks in at 10 long balls and 44 RBI.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Columbia is 67-85-1 all-time against Harvard, but have won 11 of the last 13 meetings dating back to 2013. The Lions dropped the first game, 11-6, but rallied to win the series with 7-1 and 9-6 victories. Columbia has not played in Cambridge since 2016 due to the Ivy League format changing last year.
WHAT'S THE SCENARIO?
Columbia does have an opportunity to clinch a berth in the 2019 Ivy League Playoff Series or an Ivy League Championship this weekend. It would require a series win or sweep, plus help from several other schools, but regardless, the winner of this weekend's series in Cambridge will put themselves in the driver's seat.
NEWS/NOTES
CHANDLER BING
Senior Chandler Bengtson broke Columbia's all-time home run record with his 26th career dinger at Princeton on April 6. Bengtson has nine homers in just 85 at-bats this season after missing eight games due to injury. He is currently No. 6 on the Ivy League all-time list with 29 career long balls and is five shy of tying the record. Bengtson's eight home runs in confernence games has tied a single-season Ivy League record. The Fresno, California, native was named a Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week on April 1 and Ivy League Player of the Week twice. Four of Bengtson's career home runs have been of the grand slam variety, which is believed to be a program record. Bengtson belted an Ivy League-leading 10 taters in 2018 en route to first team All-Ivy League honors.
FIVE-CENT DISCOUNT
Sophomore Josh Nicoloff picked up Ivy League Player of the Week honors on April 15 after hitting .353 (6-for-17) with three doubles and five RBI in four games. He now leads the squad in batting average at .341 and is hitting .429 in conference play - second in the Ancient Eight.
NO JOSHIN'
Senior Josh Simpson is living up to his billing as Columbia's ace. He leads the conference in WHIP (1.11) and is second ERA (3.02) and wins (four). The left-hander struck out a career-high eight batters at Cal Poly and on Mar. 15. against Cornell, he became the first Columbia pitcher to throw a nine-inning complete-game shutout since 2014. Simpson missed all of 2018 while recovering from injury.
BUFFALO BEN
Ben Wereski, a product of Orchard Park, New York, has won his last four outings. In six innings against Dartmouth on March 31, the lefthander tossed six shutout frames with 10 strikeouts - the most for a Columbia pitcher since 2014. Wereski followed that up with 5.2 innings of one-run ball with seven K's in a 2-1 win at Princeton on April 7. On April 14 at Yale, he lasted a career-high 7.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits. Wereski paces the team with 47 strikeouts.
