Early spring weather in this and other Ivy League locales may be welcomed by jacket retailers, hot chocolate profiteers and snowman building enthusiasts, but it sure isn't winning any friends among Ivy League baseball players.
Because of the long winter, Princeton and other Ivy schools are forced to squeeze an entire season's worth of games into just two months, usually playing back-to-back doubleheaders on weekends.
The Tigers (6-13 overall, 2-2 Ivy League) will play their second of five consecutive four-game weekends beginning Saturday at Harvard (6-10, 2-2) and continuing Sunday home versus Dartmouth (4-13, 1-3). The weather in Hanover will prevent the Big Green from hosting the Tigers.
For those keeping score at home, that is 36 innings in scarcely more than 24 hours. That is a lot of baseball.
"[The busy schedule] is good when you're feeling good and when you're hot, but it's pretty bad when you have an off day," sophomore shortstop/second baseman Dan DeGeorge said. "You get 10 at-bats a day, so 20 a weekend. If something's off, that's 20 at-bats that you can easily waste right there."
Junior outfielder/first baseman Micah Kaplan pointed out that not only does the wintry weather push back the start of Ivy League games, it makes playing in them more difficult as well.
"It's really hard physically to play 18 innings back to back days, especially in some of the weather we play in," Kaplan said. "It's hard staying warm when the weather's so bad. You have to be tough enough to deal with playing for that long."
Games at both Harvard and Dartmouth scheduled for Wednesday were postponed due to weather concerns, and it's a possibility that Princeton will be the next victim of the unforgiving New England climate.
"The weather is going to be a big issue," Kaplan said. "It's supposed to be really cold in Boston."
Assuming all goes as planned, however, the Tigers could be in for a satisfying weekend. Fresh off a strong sweep of Yale (7-16, 1-3) last Sunday, Princeton is eager to keep the ball rolling against two teams coming off losses to catch Cornell (9-10, 3-1) for the division lead.
According to Kaplan, the Tigers are especially looking forward to facing the Crimson, given the teams' recent history.
"We're definitely excited to go back to Harvard," Kaplan said. "Harvard is usually a pretty good team, and I'm sure that beating them at their place last year for the Ivy League championship is going to give them some motivation to beat us. They were pretty confident they were going to beat us, and we actually destroyed them. Ever since last year it's kind of gotten personal between the two of us."
Sophomore pitcher Brad Gemberling likes his team's chances.
"I think we're the most talented team in the Ivy League," Gemberling said. "We took care of Harvard last year — we took them down hard in the Ivy League championship. I think we stack up against anyone."
Gemberling's confidence is representative of his teammates' general optimism at this point in the season. Though the team's record is so-so at this point, the bulk of the Ivy League schedule lies ahead, and Princeton is starting to hit its stride.
Last year, the Tigers lost each of their four regular season games against the Crimson and the Big Green, but DeGeorge said the team is feeling great and has "nothing but a positive outlook" for this weekend and for the rest of the year.
"We've been playing pretty well, our pitching's been pretty good and we've been hitting well," Kaplan added. "I think we should be able to take whatever [Harvard and Dartmouth] give us."
Princeton has a lot of baseball to play in the coming weeks, but neither the crummy weather nor the intense schedule bothers DeGeorge.
"Personally, I like it," DeGeorge said of the hefty workload. "I just like playing baseball."
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