Tigers to face Ivy's best on road

Tomorrow, senior Will Venable and the baseball team (9-12 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) will return to Hanover, N.H., where, in the Ivy League championship last May, the Tigers were powered by their star outfielder's six hits to a sweep of Dartmouth.

If Princeton's perfect Ivy League record survives its bout with the Big Green (5-9, 2-2), fans in attendance for Sunday's matchup at Harvard (11-7, 4-0) could be treated to a battle of conference undefeateds.

As the Tigers fight through this season's first pair of true Ivy challenges, they will be led by some holdovers who came up big as last year's squad secured the league title. Though it is Venable whose team-best .431 batting average and 16 runs scored inspire fear in opponents, last year's Dartmouth victory proved that unheralded players often play just as great a role in determining the outcome of games.

In that game, it was then-freshman second baseman Aaron Prince who delivered the bases-loaded, game-winning single that gave the Tigers a 5-4 win in 10 innings. Now a sophomore starter, Prince's play continues to play a key, albeit quiet, role for Princeton. As the team's leadoff hitter and leader in assists on defense, Prince's play is evidence of how much the Tigers' success hinges on production from every single spot in the lineup.

That type of team play will need to be showcased tomorrow in particular, when Princeton visits a Big Green team that remains a favorite to repeat as the Ivy League's Rolfe Division champion.

At the same time, though, Dartmouth's record is proof of its struggles this season. The Big Green's team earned run average is a bloated 5.20. The team's closer, Michael Madson, has done little to relieve the pitching staff's woes. Madson, who has appeared in almost half of the team's games, sports a team-worst ERA of 11.57.

Dartmouth's lineup is anchored by first baseman Jeff Speights, whose .415 batting average and 16 runs batted in lead the team by a wide margin. Absent of Speights, the Big Green is batting a meager .233, and five of the team's regulars have batting averages of .200 or below.

Although the Crimson has the better record of the weekend's two opponents, it is coming off of a discouraging offensive performance in its last game. In a 1-0 loss to Holy Cross on Wednesday, Harvard muddled through 14 scoreless innings, finally succumbing to the Crusaders on a groundball up the middle. Collectively, the Crimson managed just six hits in 45 at-bats over the course of the game.

When the Crimson does manage to put runs on the board, it is often thanks to the pair of Josh Klimkiewicz and Steffan Wilson, who are one-two on the team in both batting average and home runs. Harvard is also rather prolific on the base paths, having swiped 42 bases on 54 attempts.

Still, on paper, Princeton appears to be a more solid squad than either of its opponents this weekend. And for those Harvard and Dartmouth fans who point out that baseball games are not played on paper, Tigers like Aaron Prince serve to remind them that Princeton can come through in the heat of the moment as well.

Tigers fall to Monmouth, 15-7

Monmouth tagged sophomore pitcher Willis Sweeney for five runs in the bottom of the third inning and coasted to a 15-7 win over the baseball team in West Long Branch, on Thursday afternoon.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The Tigers scored two unearned runs in the top of the first to take the lead but gave up 12 unanswered runs in third, fourth and fith innings against Sweeney and senior reliever Worth Lumry.

The Hawks' Fran Rotella led the way, going 3-4 with two home runs on the day. Nick Massari added a home run and four runs batted in.

Brett Conner picked up the win, scattering seven hits over five innings.

Princeton tallied three runs in the top of the sixth, with junior first baseman Stephen Wendell, junior shortstop Matt Becker and sophomore second baseman Aaron Prince driving in runs.