Szymanski puts on monster show as baseball dominates

Princeton had a wacky "weekend" of baseball that started on Sunday against Dartmouth at Cornell and ended against Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. on Monday.

After having its doubleheader against Harvard postponed on Saturday, the baseball team started its weekend by beating Dartmouth (8-13 overall, 2-6 Ivy League) in a thriller and then a blowout on Sunday. Those games took place in Ithaca, N.Y. because of poor field conditions in Hanover, N.H. Princeton (14-15, 7-1) made up its games with Harvard (7-15, 3-5) yesterday, recording two wins while allowing a total of two runs.

In their first game of the weekend, the Tigers jumped out on Dartmouth quickly before falling behind in the third, but eventually ended up winning in extra innings.

Princeton opened up the scoring in the top of the first when junior second baseman Steve Young scored from third off a 4-6-3 double-play ball off the bat of senior third baseman Jon Miller. The lead widened to 3-0 in the top of the third when Miller hit a two-run homer with two outs.

Dartmouth did not stand idly by, however, and took the lead in the bottom of the inning, which was a disaster for sophomore pitcher Ross Ohlendorf in his first game back from a wrist injury. The Big Green scored four runs despite only getting three hits because of an error, a hit batsman, and a wild pitch.

The game progressed to its final regulation inning, the seventh, without any more scoring. In the top of the inning Princeton ended the drought when sophomore center fielder B.J. Szymanski bashed a home run over the right center field fence to put the Tigers up one run going into the bottom of the seventh, 5-4.

The Tiger closer, senior Thomas Pauly, came in to shut the door on Dartmouth, but only caused problems as he allowed Jason DaCosta to reach base on his own error and then advance to third on the throw with only one out. The next batter Pauly faced, Ed Lucas, popped a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing DaCosta to even the score at five.

Without blinking, Princeton manufactured a run, culminating in a shot by Young past the shortstop, Lucas, to drive in the game-winner for a 6-5 victory.

The Tigers put game two to bed early, scoring seven runs in the first three innings — all off of starter Andrew Brown, who was subsequently yanked — and keeping the Big Green from mounting any rallies. Though the team won the game, 15-5, they still missed opportunities to extend their lead even more by leaving a whopping 10 men on base.

The star of the game was junior third baseman Ryan Reich, who went three-for-three on the day, scored three runs, knocked in five, and reached base a fourth time on a walk — all in only six and a half innings before he was given a rest in the bottom of the seventh.

Yesterday, the Tigers started right where they left off, beating Harvard comfortably, 5-1.

Princeton was up, 3-0, after four turns at bat. In the top of the fourth, the Tigers loaded the bases with two outs, and then scored two runs — one off a single that Young poked past the left side of the infield and another on a bases-loaded walk earned by Szymanski.

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In the bottom of the fourth, Zak Farkes scored Harvard's only run of the game with a blast over the right field fence.

Freshman right fielder Andrew Salini drove in Szymanski and sophomore first baseman Ryan Eldridge to wrap up the scoring for the Tigers, giving them a 5-1 win.

Senior pitcher Ryan Quillian went six innings, allowing only four hits from the 22 batters he faced. Pauly came into the game in the seventh inning and gave up a hit and a walk in between two strikeouts.

In the final game, the Tigers did not need much offense to win, and did not provide much either. Pauly and senior pitcher Mark Siano combined for the shutout, with Siano surrendering Harvard's only three hits and Pauly striking out five of the seven batters he faced.

The game-winning run came in the top of the fourth inning, when Szymanski singled to center field off Kenon Ronz, then advanced to second base on an error by the pitcher when he was trying to handle a shot from the next batter, Miller. The two Tigers then executed a double steal to get to second and third bases. Szymanski scored on a passed ball from Ronz, providing all the runs the Tigers would need.