In Ivy League baseball, there's Harvard, Dartmouth and Princeton, and then there's everyone else.
Those three teams have combined for every Ivy League championship in the past nine years. The Tigers lead in the column with five, with Harvard taking four. Dartmouth has played for the title on three separate occasions, but has not been able to reach the winner's circle.
So Princeton (10-15 overall, 5-3 Ivy League) had a rather difficult weekend on its hands with road doubleheaders against Dartmouth (9-9, 6-2) on Saturday and Harvard (14-8, 7-1) on Sunday. The Tigers managed to win just one of the four games, dropping both games to the Big Green and splitting with the Crimson.
The performance was disappointing for the Tigers, who were confident after opening the conference season with four straight wins against Brown and Yale.
"We had a few games in our grasp, and managed to let them slip away," junior outfielder Andrew Salini said. "They were a lot more rested than we were, and while you can't blame it all on account of our grueling week, it definitely was a factor."
Big Green looms large
The first game versus the Big Green looked bad from the start. With sophomore pitcher Gavin Fabian on the mound, Dartmouth took advantage of a disastrous start for the Tigers, scoring three runs on two hits, a walk, a hit batsman and three fielding errors.
Princeton hit right back in the second, though. Juniors Stephen Wendell and Matt Becker started things off with back-to-back singles, putting runners on first and second. Sophomore second baseman Aaron Prince then flew out to advance Wendell to third. Senior centerfielder Will Venable then ripped a single up the middle to score Wendell and bring the score to 3-1.
This was as close as Princeton would get, however, as the Big Green proceeded to score one in the third and then blew up for five in the fourth to put the game away. The Tigers were only able to add one more run on an RBI double from senior third baseman Zach Wendkos.
The second game was again a struggle for the Tiger offense, as the teams locked into a pitcher's duel. Freshman Christian Staehely was impressive on the mound for Princeton, throwing a complete game and allowing two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts. The offense was only able to produce one run, however, making for another disappointing loss for Staehely, who is now 0-2 for the year.
The only Tiger run came in the ninth. Down 2-0 in the last frame, Venable and senior designated hitter Ryan Eldridge singled to put runners on the corners. Balkan then hit a bomb to left field that would have cleared the bases and tied the game if it fell, but instead the Big Green outfielder made a game-saving diving catch.
This ended the threat and secured a 2-1 victory and a sweep for the Big Green.
Offense comes to life
The Tigers fared better in Cambridge, Mass., though. In the first matchup, junior hurler Erik Stiller continued his excellent pitching, giving up only two runs on six hits in five and a third innings. His record now stands at a team best 4-1, with an earned run average of 2.29.
"There are a lot of things that have made Stiller so effective this season," Salini said. "He has a commanding fastball, a hard-breaking curveball and a major league changeup. He is constantly keeping hitters off balance by changing speeds and throwing strikes."
The offense was far more supportive this time, as it was able to get the jump on the Crimson in the first inning, plating three runs. Prince walked to get things started and advanced on a single by Venable. Salini then drove in both on a bases-clearing double in the right-center gap. Salini then scored on a single by sophomore Sal Iacono.
Princeton picked up another run in the third on a solo shot from Venable and one in the sixth from a bases-loaded bloop single from Wendell.
Runs number six and seven were picked up in the seventh, as Prince scored on an error and Venable scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Kevin Liao. Harvard was never able to get anything going, only scoring two runs and allowing for a 7-2 Princeton victory.
In the fourth and final game of the weekend, the Tigers looked in charge after again jumping out to a big early lead, scoring two in the second and two more in the third to go up 4-0.
The Crimson battled back in the fifth, however, and moved ahead with a four-run sixth inning to go ahead 9-5. Princeton was able to put together a slight charge, led by another dinger by Venable and one by Iacono.
The rally fell short, however, as the Crimson added four unearned runs in the seventh to put the game away with a final score of 13-8.
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