Princeton (16-18, 6-6 Ivy League) fell behind 3-0 before coming to bat in the first inning, but it was sloppy fielding and offensive inconsistency in the later innings that eventually doomed the Tigers.
“We have trouble staying focused for all 27 outs, and though we have stretches of excellent play, we are prone to a bad inning, a bad at-bat or a bad pitch,” head coach Scott Bradley said. “Langford [Stuber] was excellent today, as he has been his last few times out, and the relievers pitched well, too, but we have a habit of giving games away.”
The Pirates opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, scoring three runs off Stuber with three hits and two Tiger errors.
“We just cannot do that,” Bradley said. “You cannot put yourself in a three-run hole and expect to hit your way out every time.”
Stuber conceded just two hits over the next three innings, allowing the Tigers to claw their way back into the game.
Junior outfielder Andrew Doupe walked to start the third inning and advanced to second on a groundout by junior second baseman Dan DeGeorge. Following a sacrifice fly to center from freshman third baseman Matt Connor, Doupe scored on a wild pitch.
In the fourth, the Tigers loaded the bases with two outs and scored on another wild pitch.
“As nice as it is [to] score on sacrifices and wild pitches, for us to win, we need to swing the bats,” Bradley said. “Consistent production is so important in this game.”
The Pirates stretched their lead to four runs in the fifth. With one out and runners on first and second, Stuber appeared to induce an inning-ending double play, but the runners, running on the play, forced Connor to abandon his position to cover third base, leaving the hole between second and third wide open. The Pirates added three more hits in the inning, opening a 6-2 lead.
In the later innings, Bradley showcased a number of the Tigers’ young, talented arms. Freshman reliever Matt Grabowski allowed an unearned run in the sixth inning, and freshman Tim Feess pitched a perfect seventh. In the eighth, freshman reliever David Palms pitched a scoreless inning, striking out two.
“These midweek games are huge for [the freshman pitchers’] confidence,” Bradley said. “We like to see them pitch in game situations before we decide how we want to coach them … but with just one game during the week, that is very difficult. To get them some game experience, they are really limited to one inning a week, and today they made the most of it.”
Princeton rallied the bottom of the eighth, drawing to within three runs. DeGeorge was hit to lead off the inning, and junior first baseman Adrian Turnham followed with a single. With two on and none out, sophomore catcher Jack Murphy doubled down the leftfield line, plating DeGeorge. Senior shortstop Spencer Lucian followed with a run-scoring groundout, bringing the score to 7-4, but the rally stalled there. Walks by senior outfielder Micah Kaplan and Doupe — sandwiching a strikeout — loaded the bases, but sophomore second baseman Noel Gonzales-Luna flied out to leftfield to end the inning.
The Pirates added one run off freshman Matt Welsh in the top of the ninth, and Seton Hall’s pitching retired the side to end the game.
In all, it was a sloppy loss for the Tigers. The team committed five official errors, but a number of defensive miscommunications hurt the Tigers.
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