Ivy Baseball Season Reaches Midpoint

Rain may have pushed back today’s contests by a day, but there’s plenty of weekend baseball left in the crucial division-opening weekend for Ivy League baseball. Gehrig and Rolfe foes will battle amongst themselves in an effort to begin forging a playoff picture.

With reigning-champ Dartmouth struggling somewhat out of the gate, and upstarts Columbia and Brown setting the pace, this weekend could start to separate division contenders and pretenders. Let’s take a look around the Ivies:

BROWN (9-20, 6-2 Ivy) AT HARVARD (11-18, 4-4)

The four-game slate between the Bears and the host Crimson should provide some fireworks at O’Donnell Field. Brown leads the league in long balls with 33, but also brings an Ivy-worst 9.45 ERA into the weekend. With Harvard coming off of two solid offensive outings during the week—in which it notched 22 runs in two games—expect some high-scoring affairs between these two squads.

Prediction: 2-2 split.

PRINCETON (8-20, 3-5) AT COLUMBIA (15-13, 6-2)

A year removed from finishing third in the Gehrig at 7-13, the Lions are just one Ivy victory away from matching last year’s total in the third week of league play. Columbia has been mashing opponents lately, topping the league in team batting average at .319 while keeping opponents honest with a 5.93 ERA—second among Ancient Eight squads. The Tigers, on the other hand, have struggled despite a strong starting rotation. Junior lefty David Palms has not lived up to last year’s effort and Princeton’s best slugger, Jon Broscious, is looking like an all-or-nothing hitter, posting seven home runs despite a .245 batting average.

Prediction: 3-1, Columbia.

CORNELL (8-14, 2-6) AT PENN (14-14, 4-4)

The Big Red, last year’s other LCS participant, have also endured a fall from grace, as Cornell sits in the cellar of the Gehrig at 2-6.  The team won’t fare much better this weekend, traveling to Philadelphia to take on the Quakers. Penn boasted a 9-5 record at home going into the weekend, and with Cornell posting a league low in RBI by a wide margin at 93, this should be a lopsided series.

Prediction: 4-0, Penn.

YALE (16-13-1, 3-5) AT DARTMOUTH (13-12, 4-4)

Although both squads have managed records above .500 to this point in the season, neither team has excelled in Ivy play. The Big Green has split all four of its series and continues to look for the consistent hitting that propelled it to an Ancient Eight crown in 2009. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, simply haven’t translated a league-leading ERA into enough victories, but the team has been streaking in the right direction. With a sweep of Cornell and a split with Princeton last weekend, the Bulldogs do not seem ready to go down without a fight. Even though the team is on the road in poor weather, look for Yale to continue the trend.

Prediction: 3-1, Yale.