Baseball clinches Gehrig Division title against Cornell

The baseball team wasted no time in clinching the Ivy League's Lou Gehrig Division title on Friday. Only needing one victory in a four-game series this weekend against Cornell, Princeton (24-18 overall. 12-8 Ivy League) took the first game in Ithaca by a score of 14-2. In the remaining three games, which were essentially meaningless after the victory, the Tigers went 2-1 to close out the conference season. With the division championship under their belt, they will now move on to the Ivy League Championship Series this weekend to face either Harvard or Dartmouth.

"This is the position that we want to be in every year," head coach Scott Bradley said. "This is what we prepare for, so we should be ready."

In the championship-clinching game, the Princeton offense came out hot and immediately put up three runs in the first inning and six in the second, while allowing only two to put the score at 9-2.

The first run of the game came after both senior second baseman Steve Young and junior leftfielder Adam Balkan were walked to lead off the contest. Junior centerfielder B.J Szymanski then came to the plate and smoked a line drive over the third baseman's head, resulting in a double that scored Young. Later in the inning, with Balkan on third and Szymanski still on second, junior designated hitter Will Venable singled up the middle to score both.

The second was an even more productive inning for the Tigers, as they recorded seven hits, including six consecutive singles to distance themselves from the Big Red. Sophomore rightfielder Andrew Salini, senior first baseman Ryan Reich and freshman third baseman Sal Iacono all recorded one run batted in a piece, while Szymanski picked up two in the inning.

The score was pushed to 11-2 after the fourth as Princeton scored two more, with Salini and Szymanski each picking up an RBI. From there the Tigers scored one more in the fifth and two in the sixth to make for a final score of 14-2.

Every player in the Tigers' lineup recorded a hit in the game. Balkan and Salini each had three, while Reich and Venable had two. Venable also had three RBIs. The real star of the game however, was Szymanski who went five-for-five on the day and had four RBIs. To add to that, he also scored three times.

Freshman pitcher Gavin Fabian threw an excellent game but was perhaps overshadowed by the offense. He picked up his fourth win, going to 4-2 on the year. He pitched six strong innings, allowing only two runs on six hits.

The second part of the Friday doubleheader was not as successful for the Tigers, as they got down 4-0 after the fifth before they finally put two runs on the board in the sixth to make it 4-2.

From there, the Big Red scored one in the seventh and two in the eighth to make it 7-2. Princeton made a run in the ninth, picking up three to close it to 7-5 but could do no more, making that score the final. Sophomore hurler Erik Stiller took the loss for the Tigers.

In Sunday's first game at Clarke Field, Princeton took advantage of solid pitching from junior Ross Ohlendorf, who got the start in the game. Ohlendorf was efficient as he allowed only one run in five innings, while striking out six and walking none.

The Tiger offense took some pressure off of Ohlendorf early by getting up 1-0 after the first. Young led off the game with a walk and advanced and scored after two passed balls.

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The next score for the Tigers came in the third on a bases-loaded fielder's choice that Salini hit into scoring sophomore shortstop Matthew Becker, making the score 2-0.

Princeton surrendered one in the fourth to make the score 2-1, but that was as close as Cornell would get, as the Tigers picked up two more runs of their own in the fifth to push their lead to 4-1.

Junior pitcher Brian Kappel came in for relief and preserved the 4-1 victory for Princeton. Ohlendorf picked up the win to go 5-3 on the season.

The final game on Sunday, the last game at Clarke Field of the season was a good one to end on for the Tigers. Although they had only seven hits compared to Cornell's 12, Princeton was able to complete the Sunday sweep and walk away with a 3-2 victory. The Tigers scored one run in the fourth and two in the fifth to complete the scoring for the day. Senior pitcher Brian Biegen got the nod in his final home game and did very well, throwing five and two-thirds innings, while giving up only one run to pick up the win. His record now stands at 4-1 on the year.