Tigers fall to Rutgers

There is a type of weather that emerges every year sometime in late March. It's not always the warmest day of the year or the one with the most sunshine, but something in the air signifies the arrival of something great. To some, this weather is a reminder that spring is around the corner, but for those who know and love the game, it is simply "baseball weather."

This week marked the return of baseball weather to the Northeast, and with it came the return of baseball to Princeton's campus. Yesterday afternoon, the Tigers (4-11 overall) welcomed instate foe Rutgers (12-10) to Clarke Field for the final game before they begin Ivy League play. As nice as it was to play on home turf, however, fielding errors plagued the Tigers, who fell to the Scarlet Knights, 12-4.

"It was great to finally play on our own field," said head coach Scott Bradley. "We do not get too many days at home where the weather is like this, and it is certainly enjoyable."

To start the contest, the Tigers turned to freshman right hander Jon Broscious, who pitched extremely well given his relatively limited college experience.

"Broscious was excellent today," said Bradley after the game. "He only pitched twice all spring, so it was great to get him some midweek innings and let him show his stuff."

In the first inning, Broscius surrendered a single to Rutgers lead-off man Todd Frazier, who promptly stole second and third base. Frazier came home two batters later on a sacrifice fly, but Broscius escaped the rest of the inning unscathed. The Tigers tied the score in the bottom half of the first on an RBI double by senior third baseman Sal Iacono, the first of his two hits. The Tigers were unable to take the lead, and the inning ended with a man stranded in a scoring position.

Rutgers scored once more in the second, then broke the game open with a three-run fifth inning which featured some defensive miscues by the Tigers. With two outs and one on, the Scarlet Knights caught a break when freshman outfielder Greg Van Horn misplayed a ball in left field. A wild pitch by senior right hander Stephen Richter during the next at-bat kept the inning alive long enough for Rutgers knock in a three-run homer and take a 5-1 lead.

The Scarlet Knights added another run in the sixth, but Princeton had already begun to claw its way back into the contest. The Tigers scored once in the fifth and then again in the sixth on a long homerun from freshman catcher Jack Murphy, who had an all-around solid game.

"Murphy has a great feel for baseball," said Bradley of the six foot, four inch 230 pound switch hitter, who was 1-3 with two runs, and also threw out a base runner trying to steal second. "He was getting a little jumpy at the plate towards the end of our [spring break] trip, but he shook that off this afternoon."

The score stayed 6-3 into the eighth, when, like the fifth inning, a pair of Tigers' fielding mistakes put the game out of reach. After giving up a lead-off double and a walk, freshman pitcher Ross Staine had trouble handling a bunt down the third baseline. Forced to rush his throw, Staine threw the ball well over junior first baseman Micah Kaplan's head at first, allowing both runners to score. Following an RBI double, Rutgers third baseman Tim Querns smashed a ball to deep left that was misjudged by Van Horn. The play resulted in another RBI double and brought the lead to 10-3.

The Tigers scored once more in the eighth, and Rutgers added two runs in the ninth, ending the scoring at 12-4. Such a one-sided score may look daunting, but after the game, a confident Bradley explained why he was happy with the performance.

"The score is never the most important thing," he said, "especially against a team like Rutgers. These midweek games are all about getting innings for a lot of different pitchers and at-bats for a lot of different hitters, and we did both of that today."

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

Bradley was especially proud of his pitchers, who stepped up to shoulder the load for an undermanned staff.

"We've had some pitchers injured, but I think that the guys that threw today did a great job," said Bradley. "Broscious pitched excellently, and Richter was stellar, especially after labrum surgery and all that he's been through. Peyton and Staine also showed us some impressive stuff out there."

A major reason for his desire to divide the workload among a number of different players is his desire to keep his players ready for the all-important Ivy League schedule, which kicks off this weekend with a pair of home doubleheaders against Brown and Yale.

"Last year we dug ourselves a hole [in the Ivy League] which we were lucky to get out of" said Bradley. "Hopefully this year will be different. Given what I saw today, I would say that this team is ready for that challenge."