While the Major League teams all opened their seasons last week, the Princeton baseball team waited until last weekend to start its conference schedule.
Given the wait, this was not the start that the Tigers had in mind.
The team went 1-3 in last weekend's conference openers, splitting a doubleheader against Dartmouth on Saturday before being swept by Harvard on Sunday at the friendly confines of Clarke Field.
"We didn't want to start off like that," senior catcher Tim Lahey said. "We got some good pitching, but the bats just weren't able to come through." Thursday's scheuled home game against Rutgers was postponed to April 15 at 3:30 p.m. because of rain.
The Tigers' best game of the weekend also happened to be their first, on Saturday against Dartmouth. The offense started off hot and was complemented by solid pitching, resulting in a 10-2 Princeton victory.
Sophomore rightfielder Andrew Salini got things started off in the first inning. After senior second baseman Steve Young led off with a single, junior centerfielder B.J. Szymanski was walked on four pitches to bring up Salini, who wasted no time smashing the first pitch over the wall in right-center for a three-run homer, his second of the season.
The 3-0 lead was stret1ched to 5-0 in the next inning, as Princeton took advantage of two Big Green errors, scoring sophomore shortstop Matthew Becker and Young, who had also scored in the first inning.
From there, the pitching of junior Ross Ohlendorf kept the score in the Tigers' favor. Ohlendorf allowed only two runs on seven hits in seven innings of work, in the mean time improving his record to 4-1 and notching his second straight complete game. Szymanski again led the offense, going 2-3 with four RBIs and one run scored.
The following game against Dartmouth was a loss that could largely be credited to bad timing and bad luck, as the Tigers outhit the Big Green, 8-3, but still recorded the loss by a score of 5-2.
Dartmouth took an early 1-0 lead before Princeton came charging back in the fourth. Junior leftfielder Adam Balkan ripped a double, then scored on a Syzmanski single. Szymanski, who advanced to second on an error, scored when the next batter, freshman third baseman Sal Iacono singled him in, pushing the score to 2-1 in favor of the Tigers.
But the Big Green took over from there. Dartmouth scored the rest of the runs in the game, all four of them coming in the top of the fifth. This was the only inning in which the Big Green recorded a hit.
Taking the loss for the Tigers was sophomore Erik Stiller, who pitched seven innings, giving up five runs in the process. However, it was not all bad for Stiller, as he struck out four and gave up only three hits. The loss dropped his record to 2-2.
On a chilly and rainy Sunday, Princeton welcomed Harvard to Clarke Field for a doubleheader. The Crimson faced the Tigers in last year's Ivy League Championship Series, from which Princeton emerged victorious and was awarded the conference title. This time the Tigers were not so fortunate, as Harvard swept Sunday's games.
The first matchup was shaping up to be an easy Tiger victory, as Princeton was up big, shutting out Harvard, 5-0, after the first inning. Five hits were recorded in the inning, including a single by Salini that ricocheted off of Crimson starting pitcher Jake Burton, forcing him out of the game.
A run in the second and one more in the fourth boosted the score to 7-2 in favor of Princeton. The sixth inning was a disaster for the Tigers, however.
Harvard plated seven runs in the sixth, three off starting pitcher sophomore Eric Walz, who was then replaced by junior Brian Kappel, who gave up the other four. Kappel took the loss for his one inning of work in which he gave up the four runs on four hits and two walks.
The Crimson tacked on two more runs in the final frame, and the Tigers weren't able to mount a rally.
Hoping to salvage a split in the second game, Princeton kept it close throughout, but was unable to get any sort of momentum on offense and dropped the game, 4-1. Much of the credit for Princeton's weak offense can be given to Harvard pitcher Trey Hendricks, who not only pitched the complete game for Harvard, allowing only one run on two hits while striking out eight, but also helped out at the plate. Hendricks drove in the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly in the first inning.
Freshman pitcher Gavin Fabian took the disappointing loss after going eight strong innings against a powerful Crimson offense. Most impressive were his 11 strikeouts, , which was a career high for Fabian, who also did not give Harvard any walks.
Junior designated hitter Will Venable and sophomore first baseman Stephen Wendell were the only Tigers to record hits in game two. Wendell also drove in the lone Princeton run.
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