Baseball falls in last game before Ivy slate

The baseball team heads into Ivy League play this weekend as an unproven team. It has lost 13 of its first 17 games, but the lofty level of competition of those games makes ascertaining the Tigers' position among Ivy teams very difficult.

Princeton had its latest installment of troubles with a high-caliber program last night against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights, whose record now stands at 17-7, edged out the Tigers, 3-1, in Princeton's home opener.

Against the stingy starting pitching of sophomore righthander Mark Siano of the Tigers and Jason Bergmann of the Scarlet Knights, neither team was able to get on the scoreboard until the fifth inning.

At that point, sophomore Ryan Quillian was on the mound for the Tigers, having entered the game in the top of the fourth. Though he allowed only two hits in his two innings of work, Quillian was tagged as the losing pitcher when the Scarlet Knights scored an unearned run in the top of the fifth.

Rutgers would add two more in the seventh off of junior Tom Rowland to take a 3-0 lead. Again, neither run was earned, as the Tigers felt the burden of defensive mistakes.

Princeton scored its only run in the bottom of the seventh, when junior third baseman Eric Voelker ripped a Bergmann offering for a triple, scoring senior catcher Casey Hildreth, who had reached on a walk.

Voelker's triple was one of only three hits for the Tigers on the afternoon, with Hildreth doubling in the fourth and senior first baseman Andrew Hanson singling in the first.

With the loss, the Tigers have now completed their non-league schedule. This weekend, they begin their quest for a second consecutive Ivy League championship with a home doubleheader against Yale Saturday and another against Brown Sunday.

Pacemaker

The Elis were the worst team in the league last year, finishing 3-17 in the Ivies. That record might be a high mark to reach for Yale this year after the losses of top pitcher Sudha Reddy and several key batsmen. So far this year, the Elis have piled up four non-league wins — two over Quinnipiac, one over Sacred Heart, and one over Pace — and six losses.

The outlook is considerably more cheery for Brown. The Bears return Jim Johnson, the team's ace for the third year in a row. Johnson has already been All Ivy twice. In addition, Brown returns seven of the nine regulars from last year's line-up. Like Princeton, the Bears have struggled in the early going against quality opponents, including losing two of three against Duke, the same outcome the Tigers had when they traveled to Durham this year.

Though Brown should pose a challenge, the Bears have not been major contenders for the Ivy League crown in recent history. That struggle has lately come down to Dartmouth, Harvard and Princeton.

At this point in the league breakdown and at this point in the season, one would expect to be able to point the the top contenders' impressive early season records and draw bold conclusions as to their distinct superiority in the league. But, just like Princeton and Brown, neither Harvard nor Dartmouth has been particularly notable thus far this year.

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The Big Green has 50 percent more wins than the Crimson. They have two. Harvard has three. Dartmouth has seven losses, Harvard has eight.

Not suprisingly, those losses have come against powerful opponents, so they do not serve as proof that Dartmouth and Harvard have miserable excuses for baseball programs.

Yes, there is not way to predict with certainty the outcome of the upcoming Ivy season. Hence, starting Saturday, the Tigers will play the games.