So far, so good for Mississauga’s Corey Pappel.
With baseball talent to match his smarts, The Woodlands Secondary School graduate has made an instant impression among his peers at Cornell University.
The towering six-foot-six right-handed pitcher has made two stellar starts to open his collegiate career with the Big Red, south of the border. For his efforts, Pappel was named the Ivy League’s Rookie of the Week for the first two weeks of the season.
Pappel, 18, tossed six shutout innings in his debut, a 1-0 win over Siena at the Virginia Tournament, in Charlottesville. He allowed four hits while striking out six to pick up the victory.
In his second start, in Philadelphia against LaSalle University Explorers on March 7, Pappel threw another six strong innings, allowing one unearned run, only one hit and striking out six. Still, he was tagged with the loss in a 1-0 defeat.
When he isn't starring on the diamond, he's enrolled in the College of Engineering.
Pappel, who last year won the Blair McDonald Memorial Mathematics Award at The Woodlands, made a brief appearance in 2007 with the Intercounty League’s Brantford Red Sox. In three games, he tossed six shutout innings while fanning nine opponents.
Pappel is also a member of Canada’s Junior National team and spent part of last summer pitching against professionals in Major League Baseball’s Instructional League.
Pappel and the Big Red return to action on Sunday when they take on Pittsburgh in the opening game of the Papa John's Palm Beach Classic in Palm Beach, Fla. Cornell will play seven games in the Sunshine State, including a trip to Coral Gables to face the fifth-ranked Miami Hurricanes next Tuesday.
dwiner@mississauga.net