Tigers try to start season hot at Citadel

This afternoon, the baseball team embarks on a season-opening stretch of 17 consecutive road games, traveling to Charleston, S.C. for the first contest in a four-game series against The Citadel.

While the series could be seen as a chance for Princeton (0-0) to get a quick start on improving last year's 7-18 record away from Clarke Field, head coach Scott Bradley is not going into the games against the Bulldogs (5-3) thinking about wins and losses.

"It's not like I'm going to go out and play each of these games like it's the seventh game of the World Series," Bradley said. "It's just an opportunity for us to go outside and play."

Bradley knows from experience that, after weeks of practicing in the bowels of Jadwin Gym, his Tigers will need some time to get their baseball instincts back once they are under the sun rather than a ceiling.

For that reason, he acknowledges that he has done very little scouting going into the weekend, over the course of which Princeton will play a Saturday doubleheader, sandwiched between afternoon games tomorrow and Sunday. He is less concerned about The Citadel than he is about easing his own players into the rigors of a college baseball schedule.

"It's very difficult to not play at all, then go out and play four games in one weekend," Bradley said. "Going into the game, I know who's going to play when. No one is going to go out there and pitch a complete game, no matter how good he's doing."

The fact that Bradley chose the Tigers' pitching staff for this example is telling, because it only thinly veils his eagerness to experiment with his bullpen in the late innings.

Among the first orders of business is getting sophomore right-hander Steven Miller onto the mound for a save situation in his new role as the Princeton closer. Miller excelled as the team's setup man last season, posting an earned run average of 2.78, best among returning players.

It also remains to be seen which Tiger — or Tigers — will take over Miller's old job of bridging the gap between the starting pitchers and the closer. One candidate is sophomore righty Reid Peyton, a submariner who looked effective in seven appearances last season, and who can only benefit from more mound time in games.

The bullpen option that Bradley talks about with the most excitement, however, is freshman right-hander Brad Gemberling, who should see his first collegiate action against the Bulldogs.

"[Gemberling] has terrific stuff," Bradley said. "He's our hardest thrower and probably has the best breaking ball. We're going to put him out there a whole lot this season, we're just not sure in what role."

The same could be said about Gemberling's classmate, Adrian Turnham, who is able to play first base, third base and catcher. With Bradley planning on splitting playing time in games for his fielders as well, Turnham could get a chance at each of his positions over the weekend.

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Such experimenting and shuffling in no way indicates overconfidence on Bradley's part regarding his team's ability to dispatch its first opponent. The Citadel is a high-scoring unit that should prove more than competitive with the rusty Tigers. There is no exhibition season in college baseball, however, which means Princeton will have to discover itself while being thrown into the fire of games that count.

Making that task more difficult is the fact that the Bulldogs have already played eight games and are in the midst of hitting their offensive stride, paced by first baseman Chris Swauger. Occupying the third spot in the batting order, Swauger's batting average stands at a robust .484 and he has already totaled 10 runs batted in.

"[Swauger] is just on fire at the plate," said Princeton senior starting pitcher Erik Stiller, who will likely start on Friday. "He's obviously somebody to watch out for."

But Stiller is also quick to add that waiting for one hitter to tear the cover off the ball is by no means The Citadel's style. Having played with the Bulldogs' shortstop Matt Matulia over the summer, he expects to be engaged in a battle of small ball by his first opponent of the season.

"If [Matulia]'s any indication," Stiller said, "they'll be a really scrappy, hardworking team that really fights for runs and does whatever it can to move runners around the bases."

The Tigers, of course, will be trying to do the same thing. The only difference is that there will be a few more of them given a chance to try and do it.