Coming into the Spring Break road trip, the baseball team faced three teams that had played 41 games between them. Princeton had played none. The Virginian teams had been playing outside since early February. The Tigers only had one week outside before the trip. Anyway you look at it, the baseball team faced long odds this Spring Break.
As usual, those odds were too large to overcome.
Every spring, the Tigers start the season with a week-long road trip south. It may not be the land of eternal sun, but it may as well be when compared to New Jersey. Princeton annually faces teams that have already played 15 to 20 games on this road trip — when it is playing its first.
Not only are these southern opponents some of the best in the country, they are also well into their seasons. So when the Tigers hit the road this past week, they were looking for experience more than wins. That is exactly what they found.
Princeton went 2-7 on the trip, but gained valuable game time in preparation for the upcoming Ivy League season.
The Tigers started the nine-game stint on the right foot, beating Old Dominion, 8-3, Mar. 10. As he did all week, junior designated hitter Max Krance — who batted .441 with six runs, four RBI and three doubles — led the Tiger attack in the first game of the season.
Down, 2-1, in the third inning, senior second baseman Jay Mitchell led off the inning with a bunt single. Sophomore centerfielder Mark Grayson walked before sophomore shortstop Pat Boran tied the game with an RBI single.
After Monarch starter Shawn Weaver loaded the bases by hitting junior first baseman Andrew Hanson with a pitch, Krance stepped up to the plate. The cleanup hitter lined a double to center field to drive in two runs, including the game-winner.
McGwire vs. Sosa
A slugfest ensued the following day, when the two teams met again. Old Dominion jumped out to an early seven-run lead after three innings that proved to be too much to overcome. The Tigers — led by junior catcher Casey Hildreth's three hits and four runs — scored ten runs in the final six innings, but could not outpace the Monarchs. Old Dominion jumped all over sophomore righthander Tommy Crenshaw for six runs in the fourth, en route to the 16-10 win.
Old Dominion closed out the series Mar. 12 with a 10-1 blowout on a day when Princeton stranded 12 runners. Freshman lefthander Scott Hindman held the Monarchs to one run over three innings in his debut and sophomore righthander Nick Pappas held the Tigers close into the eighth, allowing two runs — none earned — in three innings. But Old Dominion blew open the game in the final inning, scoring three earned and four unearned runs off senior lefthander Jay Tedeman.
Bright spot
The Tigers earned their only other win of the week the following day when they travelled to William and Mary. Young pitching led Princeton against the Tribe, as freshman righthanders Ryan Quillian and David Boehle combined on the three-run outing.
Princeton never trailed in the contest, scoring six runs in the first two innnings behind a two-run double and a two-run single from sophomore designated hitter Eric Voelker. Princeton scored only one run over the final seven innings, but held on to win, 7-3.
Princeton then went on to drop the final five games of the trip, two to Virginia, 11-5 and 5-2, and three to Virginia Commonwealth, 12-2, 9-2, and 7-6.
Yesterday's game was the closest of the quintuple. The Rams took a first-inning three-run lead off of Quillian, but Princeton came back with three in the top of the second. The two teams traded runs in the bottom of the fifth and top of the sixth and did so again in the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh, but the Tigers only managed to counter Virginia Commonwealth's three runs with two; Princeton could not come back in the final two innings.
The Tigers now take on local competition with a home game against Monmouth tomorrow and Connecticut Thursday. The Ivy League season commences in two weeks April 1.
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