Baseball to face Rutgers, start Ivy League season

The conference schedule for the baseball team will begin this weekend, as Princeton looks to get a head start in the Ivy League standings. The Tigers, who are the defending conference champions, will start things off with a doubleheader against Dartmouth (7-7 overall) on Saturday and then play two more against Harvard (6-6), their opponent each of the last two years in the Ivy League Championship Series, the next day. All four games are at Clarke Field.

Princeton does still have one final warm-up before the conference match-ups. That will come today against rival Rutgers (8-13, 1-2 Big East) in Piscataway.

The Scarlet Knights, who like the Tigers are defending champions in their conference, will look to get their season back on track after an early spring that has been full of mediocre performances. The record is a bit deceiving, however, as many of the losses have come at the hands of NCAA powerhouses like Miami, Georgia Tech and Ohio State.

Now in an easier stretch of their schedule, the Knights have won three of four including a 7-1 victory over Rider, a split with Seton Hall, and a record-setting 27-0 whomping of Fairleigh Dickinson.

Fortunately for Princeton, it will not have to face Rutgers' ace pitcher — junior Aaron Kalb. Kalb pitched eight innings in Tuesday's win against Rider and will have Thursday off. He is the only pitcher on the staff to have an earned run average below three (1.29). This means the Tigers will have the opportunity to get good use out of their potent offense. The Scarlet Knights, however, are no stranger to offense, as they have eight players who are currently hitting above .330.

Much of the concern for Princeton will be centered around sophomore outfielder Johnny Defendis, who was named New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association's Division I Player of the Week. Defendis hit .421 with 11 RBIs in his performances last week and had an impressive slugging percentage of 1.000.

The meeting will be the 91st between the two teams. Rutgers leads the series 54-32-2.

Saturday's game will not be lacking intensity, as the opening weekend in conference play is a chance for all teams to show if they're a contender or not. Princeton especially has a considerable amount at stake as it tries to show that last year's title was no fluke and that whatever doubts may be surrounding the team this year were unfounded.

Dartmouth will be the first to visit Clarke Field as it is coming off a Spring Break trip to Florida in which it went 5-6. The bright spot of the trip, and the player Princeton has to worry about, is Big Green senior shortstop Ed Lucas. Lucas hit .583 over the trip south and had five games in which he had two or more hits, four of which were three-hit games.

Lucas is the center of a Dartmouth lineup that is solid on top, but struggles in the lower part of the order. For the Tiger pitching staff, making sure to keep the bottom of the order off the base paths is essential if they want to defend their home field with victories.

The offense, led by junior centerfielder B.J Szymanski, will be facing a usually solid Dartmouth pitching staff that has been struggling as of late, giving up more than 10 runs in three of its last four.

Dartmouth swept Princeton two years ago, but the Tigers returned the favor last year on their way to the Ivy League title.

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With no rest, Princeton returns to action on Sunday to play another doubleheader, this time against Harvard. The Crimson are a dangerous team to play as they possess an offense that can put runs on the board with one swing of the bat. Trey Hendricks, Zac Farkes and Schuyler Mann have combined for 12 homers on the season so far. The game may be an offensive battle, as the Harvard pitching staff doesn't have a pitcher with an ERA below four.

The Tigers swept Harvard last year in Cambridge.