Though the baseball team split its home-opening doubleheader against Brown on Saturday — facing its first conference foe of 2009 — there was a tangible feeling of celebration in the home team dugout at Hoy Field. After a crushing loss in Game 1, 10-2, Cornell relied on standout performances from both a rookie and a seasoned veteran, freshman right fielder Brian Billigen and senior shortstop Scott Hardinger, to take the back end of the doubleheader, 8-4.

“To beat a team as good as Brown after losing the first [game] shows the character of this team and shows that [Cornell’s players] are starting to figure out how to win,” said first-year head coach Bill Walkenbach, who tallied his first Ivy win on Saturday.

The sweet smell of victory couldn’t come soon enough for the Red.

The men’s baseball team, losers of 10 straight games, limps into Ivy League play to take on Brown and Yale this weekend. The teams are practically mirror images of each other — each struggling to find consistent pitching to match their potent bats. If these characteristics hold true, prepare for some slugfests.

“Brown’s a really good hitting team,” said junior outfielder Nate David. “They’ve got a few guys in their lineup, some older guys, who can swing it.”

Brown’s senior shortstop Matt Nuzzo and his double play partner sophomore Ryan Zrenda have done the heavy lifting thus far, racking up 50 total bases between them. The combo has also provided airtight defense up the middle for Brown’s bevy of ground ball pitchers.

Who would have believed the baseball team would be happy to return to cold and dreary Ithaca after basking in the warm glow of the California sunshine during a nine-game road trip? Dropping all nine contests on the West Coast can make even Ithaca seem like a warm and friendly oasis.

On Saturday, the baseball team (2-1) suffered its first loss of the season to La Salle (4-3). Thanks to poor field conditions, the Red’s bid to earn a weekend split was cancelled. Cornell was scheduled to face Villanova (4-6) on Sunday, but the team could only fit one game into its weekend trip to Pennsylvania.

La Salle jumped on the Red early. Junior centerfielder John Malloy blasted a two-run home run off of Cornell junior Matt Hill in the first inning.

“It was a slider that was supposed to be located on the outside part of the plate, but stayed inside,” Hill said. “I knew he was a pull-type hitter, an inside hitter. We were trying to throw him outside, but one of the pitches I threw was inside. He was sitting on it and he made a good swing on it.”

The Red hopes to keep their early win-streak alive as they travel to Villanova, P.A., on Sunday to take on the Wildcats in a short two-game series.

Cornell opened-up its season with a convincing sweep of Navy in Annapolis, M.D., in a two-game set that was cut in half by inclement weather.

The Wildcats, meanwhile, have had a rough opening to their spring, coming-in to this weekend’s matchup with a 2-6 record, having faced the likes of L.S.U. and N.C. State.

This might be the week that the baseball team’s new head coach, Bill Walkenbach ’98, experiences not one, but two significant life events. With his wife due to give birth last Friday, Walkenbach’s squad managed to sweep a doubleheader, 7-0 and 5-4, against the U.S. Naval Academy on Saturday for the Red’s first outing of 2009. The Red (1-0) made the trip to Annapolis, Md., to face an Ivy League caliber foe in the Midshipmen (1-2-1).

“We came out and played some of the best games we could,” said sophomore right fielder Mickey Brodsky. “We really stopped [Navy’s] offensive production the whole weekend.”

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Maybe this was a wise and brilliant saying in its day, but do not tell this to the baseball team. The 2005 season, when the Red won the Gehrig Division, is a distant memory while each of the past three seasons ended with Cornell in last place. However, when the baseball team opens up the 2009 campaign this weekend with back-to-back doubleheaders at the U.S. Naval Academy, the past three seasons will be the furthest thing from the players' mind.

“Our big thing this year is that we’re not thinking about past years at all, said senior catcher Adam Jacobs. “We’re concentrating on this year. That’s our mindset. We go one pitch, one inning, one game at a time.”

This is Part II of a two-part column. Part I appeared yesterday.  

There were three scoreboards floating separately out in center field — one, two, three.

Ron Santo quickly looked out to the mound.

“Bill Singer was the pitcher for the Dodgers and there were three of him — one, two, three,” said Santo, former third baseman and current radio broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs.

“And I go, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m having a reaction.’”

Once, for me, nobody came anywhere close to Mo Lewis. That’s right. Mo Lewis. Former hard-hitting outside linebacker for the New York Jets. Today Mo’s retired, but, in his prime, he sure could put a lickin’ on anything dumb enough to run in his direction.

I spent many a Sunday with Mo and the Jets as a kid, I witnessed his ascent to football greatness and his descent into its loathsome counterpart — the total obscurity of professional sports retirement. No matter, I was always in Mo’s corner. Fully and unquestioningly, I was in the tank for this guy big time.

Spring arrives on Saturday. Yes, I know the groundhog saw its shadow, and yes, I know that technically the vernal equinox isn’t until March 20th. But, for me, Spring starts on Saturday. Because on Saturday, Mets pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.

Despite my excited anticipation for the upcoming season, there’s one thing about it that’s been driving me crazy: the politics surrounding the naming of the Mets’ new stadium: Citi Field.

Since the fall, politicians like Rep. Dennis Kucinich (R-Ohio) and Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) have been making waves, complaining that the $400 million naming rights deal that Citi signed with the Mets in 2006 is irresponsible in light of Citi’s recent acceptance of bailout money from the government.