Splitting something 50-50 is never a bad deal, but with a four-game set against Stony Brook this weekend, the baseball team was looking for a little more.
Fifty-fifty was all Princeton (5-11 overall) got, though, as they took one and dropped one both Friday and Saturday at Clarke Field.
On Friday, the Tigers got down early on as the Seawolves scored in the first to take a 1-0 lead. Scoring was at a halt from then until the fifth, when Stony Brook added another run to push the score to 2-0.
Princeton responded in its half of the fifth. After sophomore second baseman Aaron Prince smashed a double down the leftfield line, senior centerfielder Will Venable reached on an error to put runners at the corners. Junior rightfielder Andrew Salini then came to the plate and proceeded to rip a 1-1 pitch to the warning track. His hit was not quite enough for a round-tripper, but it did clear the bases, leave him at second and tie the score at 2-2.
Junior designated hitter Ryan Eldridge prolonged his hot hitting by smoking a single up the middle to score Salini and give the Tigers their first lead of the game at 3-2.
Fabian cruises
Not much changed from that point on, with sophomore pitcher Gavin Fabian on cruise control. He threw all seven innings, scattering four hits and allowing only one earned run. The outing brought his record to 2-1 on the year and lowered his earned run average to 3.46.
Salini did most of the damage on the offensive end, going 3-3 with two runs batted in and one run scored. Eldridge had the other RBI, his team-leading 18th.
Princeton didn't fare as well in the second game, as the Seawolves walked away with a 7-2 victory. The game was close early on, though, as sophomore pitcher Eric Walz allowed just two runs in six innings of work.
Junior first baseman Stephen Wendell tied the game at 1-1 in the third by belting a homer to deep left field, his third of the year.
After giving up one run to Stony Brook in the fifth, the Tigers again knotted the score thanks to the base running of Prince, who was able to navigate his way from first to third due to a botched pickoff attempt. Venable then singled to drive him home.
Things got ugly for Princeton from that point on, though, as the Seawolves scored one in the seventh and four more in the eighth to finish with a 7-2 win. Senior reliever Worth Lumry, who relieved Walz to start the seventh, gave up all five runs and took the loss.
Déjà vu
On Saturday, the script followed a similar path with Princeton taking the first and Stony Brook taking the last of the four weekend games.
Junior righty Erik Stiller shut down the Seawolves in the day's first contest. He threw a complete-game, five-hit shutout in the Tigers' 2-0 win. The outing lowered his team-leading ERA to 2.74.
Despite Stiller's gem, Princeton still needed extra innings to snag the win after laying goose eggs of its own through the first seven innings.
The Tigers finally got on the board in the first extra frame, when junior shortstop Matthew Becker drew a walk and then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly. Fortune then smiled on Princeton when the Stony Brook pitcher uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Becker to score. Salini, the batter at the time, proceeded to make the unearned run a moot point when he jacked one over the rightfield fence, his third home run of the season.
Rough start
The second game of the day and final game of the weekend was a disappointing one for the Tigers. Sophomore pitcher Willis Sweeney started the game for Princeton and took a beating, giving up five runs on a hit and four walks in just one-third of an inning.
Down 5-0 after the first inning, the Tigers were unable to recover. Princeton got one run across when Eldridge singled in freshman second baseman Spencer Lucian, who had reached on a walk. It was the only offense the Tigers could muster, though, and Princeton lost 7-1.
The Tigers return to action on Wednesday, hosting Rutgers at 3 p.m.
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