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Tigers grab win against Dartmouth, go 1 - 3 on the weekend

After starting their Ivy League campaign 1-3 against Brown and Yale, the Princeton baseball team (5-20 overall, 2-6 Ivy League) followed that up with another 1-3 weekend against Harvard (14-13, 3-5) and Dartmouth (6-18, 4-4) at Cambridge, Mass. and Hanover, N.H., respectively.

In the first of two doubleheaders, the team faced off against Harvard at O’Donnell Field. Harvard had lost all four of their Ivy League matchups this season, but was poised to pick up two victories.

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In the first game of the doubleheader, a dominant pitching performance from Nick Gruener allowed the Crimson to dominate the game. Gruener pitched a complete game, going seven innings, allowing only four hits and one run, whilst striking out seven batters. The Crimson also capitalized on an off day from sophomore starter Chad Powers, who allowed twelve hits and eight runs in five innings. The Tigers offense was stifled by Gruener, only able to collect four hits, with sophomore second baseman Danny Hoy going 2-3 and scoring the Tigers’ only run via sophomore Nick Hernandez’s single.

The second game was a much better offensive performance from the Tigers, as they were able to plate eight runs, but they still disappointingly lost out 11-8 against Harvard. Princeton combined for nine hits and nine walks, whilst Harvard scored 11 runs from 17 hits and three walks. The Tigers had multi-hit days from Hoy, who went 2-4, junior third baseman Billy Arendt, who went 2-5, and sophomore left fielder Paul Tupper, who went 3-5 with 2 RBIs.

The Tigers travelled to New Hampshire to play against Dartmouth the very next day. The game featured a fantastic pitching duel between sophomore Keelan Smithers and Dartmouth’s Duncan Robinson. The Tigers' man went six innings and allowed only five hits and three runs. His counterpart went for seven innings, allowing six hits and a solitary unearned run. The Tigers offense was unable to beat the Dartmouth pitching, however, with freshman shortstop Asher Lee-Tyson going 2-2 on the day.

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Tigers were finally able to get their second Ivy League win of the season in a dominant 4-0 shutout. Junior starter Luke Strieber pitched an absolute stunner, going 8.1 innings, allowing only four hits and striking out two batters before senior closer Nick Donatiello came in and closed out the game for his second save of the season. The Tigers offense was also firing on all cylinders, recording ten hits and four runs on the day, with Arendt, Hoy, Lee-Tyson and Powers each recording two hits on the day.

The Tigers return to action Wednesday afternoon against Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey at 3 p.m. The team will play back-to-back doubleheaders at Clarke Field against Columbia (14-10 , 6-1) this upcoming weekend in a four game series. Currently, the Tigers reside at the bottom of the Ivy League rankings, but they are tied with Yale with a 2-6 Ivy League record.

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