The baseball team will look to get a sense of how well they can compete against bigger schools over Spring Break. They will travel to North Carolina for the week to play a three-game series against Duke, two games against North Carolina, and one against Elon College.
Princeton (3-0 overall) thus far has won all three of its games in the early season. They all came last weekend against Old Dominion in Virginia and were won in convincing fashion. The final scores were 14-8, 6-1, and 9-5. A Princeton team hasn't started 3-0 since 1989.
As seen by looking at the scores, the Tiger offense is difficult to stop. In the first game alone Princeton recorded 20 hits, at least one coming from each spot in the lineup. The Tigers also connected for three dingers in the game. This powerful, well-balanced offense is something that head coach Scott Bradley will be relying on all season.
The offensive output against Old Dominion, however, may be difficult to match against bigger schools such as Duke (7-7) and North Carolina (10-3). Such teams will surely test Princeton, who will play a game every day from March 12 to March 21.
The first three games of the trip will be in Durham, N.C. against the Blue Devils. A member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Duke has been able to play several more games than the Tigers have so far. Princeton may be catching them at the right time, however, as the Blue Devils have lost three in a row to date.
Duke's main weapon is its pitching staff. In contrast with the young Tiger staff, the Blue Devils have several upperclassmen in the rotation, including senior Kevin Thompson, who managed to pitch a perfect game last year. The rest of the staff has all seen action in years past and so far this season, leaving the Princeton offense with a tough challenge.
North Carolina, who the Tigers will play two games against, represents much of the same strengths that Duke possesses — an experienced pitching staff, for example. In addition to this, the Tar Heels have brought in the nation's best recruiting class, some of whom will look to contribute.
A hole in the lineup that Princeton will look to expose is UNC's inconsistent late-relief pitching, something that could make late-inning runs easier to come by for the Tigers.
After the three game series with Duke, a single game against Elon (6-9), and the two games against North Carolina, Princeton will move on to face North Carolina A&T (1-10).
Both Elon and North Carolina A&T will be excellent chances for the Tigers to pick up a few wins, as both are struggling through the early season. An example is the 24-0 thrashing that the University of Miami put down on Elon recently. Both team's pitching staffs are questionable and Princeton hitters will look to take advantage.
Leading the charge will be junior center fielder B.J. Szymanski, who started the season off in excellent form last weekend. The potential draft pick went 8-15 at the plate with two homers, two triples, a double and eight runs batted in. He also scored five times.
Playing as many consecutive games as the Tigers are over break, the pitching staff will likely be put under enormous pressure. The coaching staff will be hesitant to allow the starters to throw too many innings this early in the season, and will thus probably have to get quite a few innings out of the bullpen.
To end the trip, Princeton will face Virginia Commonwealth (9-5) four times. The series will likely be exciting, as both teams have explosive offenses. The Rams recently put up 29 runs in one game, and followed it with a 12-run performance.
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