Baseball: Penn, Princeton headline Ivies at halfway mark

The Penn men's baseball team won 13 of its final 18 outings at the end of last season, coming within two games of catching Princeton for the Lou Gehrig Division title of the Ivy League. That finish prompted the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper to pick the Quakers as the preseason favorite in the Ivies.

So far Penn (14-9, 6-2 Ivy) has lived up to its billing, winning six of eight Ivy games and staking an early lead over Princeton (10-15, 3-1) and Harvard (7-12, 2-2) --the defending Ivy League champion.

While the Crimson have a subpar record in the early going, it has come against some of the best competition the nation has to offer. On one roadtrip to Florida, Harvard fell to now-No. 12 Miami and No. 15 Florida Atlantic. The Crimson lost, 10-9, in 10 innings to the Hurricanes.

For the second straight season the Crimson are sparked at the plate by first baseman Trey Hendricks, who is batting .425 with a slugging percentage of .629. Last season Hendricks was a first team All-Ivy selection.

However, with the graduation of Ben Crockett -- a third round draft pick by the Colorado Rockies -- Hendricks has been forced to lead Harvard's pitching staff as well. He has responded to the tune of a 2.79 earned run average in four starts and is the primary reason that Harvard will -- despite its mediocre start -- in all likelihood be a serious contender for a second straight Ivy crown.

Princeton looks to defend its Lou Gehrig division title and win its third Ivy title in four years behind the pitching of Thomas Pauly. The junior was a first team All-Ivy selection a year ago and was the only Ivy League player to be named to the Baseball Coaches/Rawlings All-America Team. So far this year, Pauly is performing at an even higher level, lowering his ERA of 1.3 from a season ago to a miniscule 1.0.

While Pauly is the reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Week, Princeton's offense is sparked by the Rookie of the Week -- B.J. Syzmanski. The outfielder is batting .344 this season. Last season Princeton's four-game sweep of Penn virtually eliminated the Quakers from title contention, despite their late run. While Penn surged, Princeton suffered a late collapse, losing its last three Ivy games -- including two to the Crimson -- to give up its title to Harvard.

Rounding out Penn's Lou Gehrig Division are Cornell (8-9, 2-2) and Columbia (12-15, 4-4). Penn has already taken the season series from the Lions three games to one, while it will face the Big Red in a season-ending series in Ithaca at the end of April.

Aside from the losses to Penn -- which included a 21-2 rout -- Columbia is playing well, defeating then-nationally ranked South Florida on March 20, while splitting its season series with Harvard and sweeping Dartmouth.

Despite Ryan Schmidt's impressive season .314 average and 25 RBIs in 24 games, the designated hitter will be hard-pressed to lead the Lions to improve on last year's third-place division finish, with both Princeton and Penn in the division.

Despite relishing their role as spoilers to Princeton's title bid last year, the Big Red finished in last place in the division and given the strength of the other Ivy squads are likely to do so again. Cornell has split series with both Yale and Brown this year in getting off to a 2-2 start.

Brown (7,-17, 2-2) and Yale (9-13, 1-3) are in second and third place in the Red Rolfe Division.

Dartmouth (6-11, 0-4) has lost its last six games, including all four Ivy contests, in dropping out of title contention early.

Last season Brown finished 13-7 in the Ivy League, good for second place in the Red Rolfe division. However the Bears have struggled mightily so far this season, particularly on the mound. Before Sunday's 3-2 win over Cornell, the Bears had been giving up nearly eight runs per game over their past 17 contests. If Brown wishes to vault itself into contention, it must overcome the loss of its best pitcher from last year's success -- Jonathan Stern.

Yale saw its two best pitchers from a year ago -- Mike McCarthy and Craig Breslow -- drafted by California and Milwaukee, respectively. So far Mike Elias (3.44 ERA) and Jon Hollis (3.38 ERA) have helped filled the void for the Elis. Josh Sowers (3.65 ERA) fills out what is one of the Ivy's strongest pitching staffs. It will need to continue its high level of play for Yale to compete, as the Elis' offense has been anemic. In four Ivy League games Yale is averaging just over four runs per outing.

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