Monmouth tops Tigers

In the middle of an intense conference schedule, it can be hard to find sufficient motivation for non-league games. The baseball team (13-17 overall, 7-5 Ivy League) seemed to suffer from such a problem Tuesday afternoon, as the Tigers dropped one to non-Ivy Monmouth (18-15, 9-4 Northeast Conference) at Clarke Field, 5-3.

Sophomore pitcher Wills Sweeney got the start yesterday, and was the first of five Princeton pitchers to make an appearance. Sweeney, who threw a gem in his outing last week against Seton Hall, struggled against a solid Monmouth lineup that tested him right from the beginning.

After Sweeney walked the first two batters, the third doubled to left, scoring one and advancing the other runner to third base. The second runner then scored on a sacrifice fly. The third run of the first inning came off a single up the middle.

Princeton did damage of its own in the first, as sophomore second baseman Aaron Prince doubled down the leftfield line to open things up. Junior centerfielder Andrew Salini then tripled to bring in Prince and close the gap to 3-1. Salini was driven in by sophomore catcher Sal Iacono's single.

Monmouth hit right back in the second, though, this time scoring two runs. The Hawks merely took advantage of some crucial Tiger errors. First, a walk and a failed pickoff move put one man on third. A single drove him in. The runner on first then advanced on a wild pitch and scored on another single to put the score at 5-2.

Princeton could only put one more run on the board. In the fourth inning, junior first baseman Stephen Wendell singled in Iacono, who had tripled. The Tigers were unable to threaten after that, though.

Sweeney took the loss, his fourth of the year to go along with one win. He threw four innings, giving up five earned runs on four hits and four walks. The five runs takes his earned run average to 7.12.

Freshmen Steven Miller and Reid Peyton and seniors Worth Lumry and Brian Kappel all helped out the cause, taking care of the last five innings on the mound. They held Monmouth to only two hits and kept the Hawks scoreless for the second half of the game.

Both teams accumulated six hits, while Princeton helped out the Hawks by committing three errors in the game.

Monmouth has been difficult to stop as of late — the Hawks have rolled to nine straight victories. They currently sit in a three-way tie on top of the Northeast Conference.

This is the second time this season that the Hawks have gotten the better of Princeton, as they won an early-season matchup in Long Island, N.Y., 15-7.

Wednesday's game at Clarke Field was the first of a five-game home stand that the Tigers will continue this weekend against Columbia. Princeton is currently on top of the Lou Gehrig Division in the Ivy League, yet it sits behind both Dartmouth and Harvard in the overall league standings.