Apparently no one told John Baumann about one of the recent innovations in baseball: the bullpen.
Unfortunately for the baseball team (8-8 overall, 4-6 Ivy League), Columbia (12-19, 7-7) never needed its relief pitchers in its second game against Princeton. Baumann, the Lions' starting pitcher in the nightcap, tossed nine strong innings to defeat the Tigers 3-2. Saturday's earlier game also came down to the wire, as the Tigers lost by a score of 6-5. Sunday's scheduled doubleheader between the two teams was postponed due to rain.
Columbia's starters carried the day against Princeton. Baumann, despite showing the Tigers few breaking balls, threw a stellar outing. Bad luck also hurt the Tigers' chances.
"He had an interesting release point on his fastball. He went fastball, changeup, which was effective," junior centerfielder Spencer Lucian said. "We were hitting the ball pretty well, but a lot of our shots just went straight to fielders."
Late comeback falls short
Bill Purdy also gave Columbia a commendable start in the seven-inning series opener, pitching all seven frames for a brief but complete game. Purdy ceded five runs on nine hits and two walks but he also got crucial outs.
After a four-run opening frame for Columbia, Princeton knocked in two runs off Purdy to halve the deficit. The Tigers found themselves down by four again after the third inning, when Miller allowed a single into the gap before pitching a strikeout and a walk to put two men on. The Lions took the opportunity and belted one down the left field line for a double to score.
Miller escaped the third inning with limited damage, but Columbia struck again soon afterwards. After a single and a stolen base, Miller gave up an opposite field single through the hole in the infield to score the runner and give Columbia a 6-2 cushion.
Purdy, in contrast, seemed to have settled down after giving up two runs in the first inning. He threw five consecutive zeros on the scoreboard until the Tigers made a late run.
Sophomore shortstop Dan DeGeorge led off and ran the count to 3-2 before stroking a double to left center. Freshman leftfielder Greg Van Horn, second on the team with a .378 average, crushed a 0-1 pitch for a double and the RBI. After a popout by senior second baseman Aaron Prince, Lucian made solid contact but lined out straight to the rightfielder.
Those two outs were crucial for the Columbia starter. Senior third baseman Sal Iacono, who is batting .396 with three home runs and a team-best 25 RBI, crushed the first pitch he saw from Purdy over the fences. Lucian spoke regretfully of the team's missed opportunities against the Lions.
"I hit a hard line drive, but [it went] right to the rightfielder," Lucian said. "If I'm on, that's another run, and then it's a tie game [with Iacono's home run]."
The Tigers' comeback ultimately fizzled out. Purdy maintained his composure and threw two quick strikes to freshman catcher Jack Murphy. On the 0-2 count, Murphy made good contact but lofted a fly ball out to left center for the final out of the game.
Lions earn comeback win
In the nightcap, Princeton seized early leads of 1-0 and 2-1 but ultimately dropped the contest.
In the third inning, Williams made a crucial error that allowed DeGeorge to reach base, which Van Horn capitalized on by singling through the left side to drive in DeGeorge, though his base-running error ended the inning when he attempted to take second base.
Columbia tied the game on shortstop Craig Rodwogin's RBI double in the very next inning. Princeton then answered in its half of the inning, when Prince hit a solo homer.
This time, it was the Lions who had to make a late comeback bid.
Unfortunately for Princeton, junior rightie Christian Staehely could not stop Columbia. Staehely, who threw eight outstanding innings, allowed only two earned runs.
Those runs, unfortunately, came in the seventh and eighth innings, as the Lions rallied for the win.
In the seventh, second baseman Henry Perkins lined a shot up the middle and then advanced to second on a balk. Staehely immediately paid for the mistake, ceding a single to the hot-hitting Williams to knot the game at 2-2.
In the eighth inning, the Tigers suffered from a bad case of deja vu. Just as Williams' error in the third allowed Princeton to pick up a run, sophomore first baseman Adrian Turnham's fielding gaffe allowed Summerhays to reach base. After a sacrifice bunt moved pinch runner Thomas Stevens up to second, the Lions collected another key hit to score Stevens and put his team up for good, 3-2.
Rather than go to his bullpen, Columbia left its starter in. Baumann repaid that trust with a quick inning. With his pitching, Baumann added yet another close loss to Princeton's record.
"We've lost seven one-run games this year," Lucian said.
Baumann's dominant performance secured the win, and his bullpen was probably pleased with the unexpected day off.
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