Veteran offense looks for vengeance

For the 20 Tigers on hand last April at Cornell to see their season end in a crushing 5-4, 12-inning defeat, the feeling of coming so close — a win would have completed a miraculous six-game comeback and set up a one-game playoff against Penn for a chance to play for the Ivy League Championship — has just fed the fire that is this 2008 season.

Princeton graduated a very strong group of seniors last year, including the team’s best hitter — catcher Sal Iacono ’07, who is playing Class A ball in Houston after batting .413 as a senior — and most effective pitcher — Eric Walz ’07, whose 4.11 ERA was seventh in the Ivy League last season. But senior infielder and captain Spencer Lucian is confident in the current team’s ability to fill the holes left by last year’s seniors.

“Every year this team loses a strong group of seniors, and every year the younger guys step up,” Lucian said. “We have a strong group of freshmen, and we are expecting a lot from our sophomores, who now have a year of experience.”

Of the eight incoming freshmen, seven are pitchers, all of whom will strengthen a staff that, though fourth in the Ivy League last year with a 5.56 ERA, was plagued by injuries and inconsistency last season.

As usual, the team will expect its freshmen to contribute from the season’s opening pitch. Righthander Dan Barnes will most likely step into the rotation, and lefthander David Palms and righthanders Matt Welsh, Matt Grabowski, Tim Feess, Matt Connor and Chad Ohlendorf will all help bolster the bullpen. Accompanying the newcomers will be a group of highly skilled, experienced pitchers, combining to form one of the deepest pitching staffs in the Ivy League.

Senior righthander Christian Staehely was on last year’s watch list for the Roger Clemens Award, given to college baseball’s best pitcher, and junior righthander Brad Gemberling was recently rated the Ivy League’s third-best prospect. Righthanders senior Steven Miller and sophomore David Hale will add depth to the rotation, and sophomore southpaw Langford Stuber, one of the bullpen’s best pitchers last year, will headline a platoon of late-inning relievers.

The two freshmen position players are infielder Matt Connor, who is also a pitcher, and walk-on catcher Kyle O’Donovan. Connor has a combination of bat speed and quickness that makes him a threat for extra-base hits, while O’Donovan will provide more depth at the catcher position.

Joining O’Donovan and Connor in the field will be a number of last year’s starters, including Lucian, junior shortstop Dan DeGeorge and sophomore catcher Jack Murphy. Lucian was second on the team in batting last season — his .331 average was also seventh in the Ivy League — and started 34 of the team’s 39 games. DeGeorge batted second in the order for a large part of last season and will anchor the defense at shortstop, while Murphy, who led Princeton with six home runs as a freshman, will provide power in the middle of the lineup.

“It is going to crucial for us to string hits together,” Lucian said of the Tigers’ offense, which was second in the Ivies in 2007. “Last year we were successful in getting the hits that we needed, and with this group of guys, I expect the same.”

Life is tough for baseball teams in the Northeast. Due to the weather, the Tigers will not be practicing outside until after their season starts. The team’s first 17 games are on the road, including an eight-day trip over spring break during which Princeton plays nine times — three at UNC-Greensboro, two at No. 5 UNC and four at Navy.

Weather permitting, the Tigers may not even begin work on Clarke Field until that trip is over, meaning that the early games of their season — against the toughest opponents — will be a time of great adjustment, as new players get used to their roles and head coach Scott Bradley begins to figure out the best lineup and best pitchers for the all-important Ivy League season.

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“We don’t really look at it as a disadvantage,” Lucian said of the situation, which has Princeton opening on March 1 at Delaware but not playing at home until its Ivy League opener against Dartmouth on March 29. “Baseball is baseball … It might take a little longer [to get adjusted to the daily grind], but we’ve all been playing this game for most of our lives.”

As for last season, Bradley and the team rarely think about what could have been.

“Obviously we’re not happy with the way last year ended, but we came back this year with the attitude that we wouldn’t let it happen again,” Lucian said. “We know that to be successful we are going to have to leave it all on the field every day, and this team is more than capable of that … We’ve been working hard all year — hitting live, pitching live — and we’re definitely excited to get started.”