After defeating Penn (15-18-1 overall, 6-9 Ivy League), 1-0 and 5-2, in the weekend’s opening doubleheader, Princeton (16-20, 8-8) dropped both games on Sunday, 10-7 and 5-4, to end its fourth consecutive weekend with two wins and two losses. The weekend split leaves the Tigers three games behind Columbia for the Gehrig Division lead with only four league games remaining in the season.
Junior righthander Brad Gemberling got the weekend started off on the right foot for the Tigers, pitching a complete game shutout in Saturday’s 1-0 matinee win.
“It was outstanding,” head coach Scott Bradley said. “His command with both his fastball and his slider was where we were expecting it, and his changeup was also good ,so he had three pitches working for him.”
With reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year starter Todd Roth on the mound for Penn, Gemberling turned in his best performance of the season, striking out five Quakers while allowing just three hits and two walks over seven innings.
For the first three innings of the contest, each squad managed just one hit apiece as Gemberling and Roth dominated opposing hitters.
In the fourth, however, junior first baseman Adrian Turnham broke the scoreless tie with a solo shot to right center. The home run was Turnham’s third of the season and just the third Roth had allowed this year.
Turnham’s home run turned out to be enough for Gemberling, who did not allow a runner to reach third base all game.
In the second game, senior righthander Christian Staehely turned in an equally impressive performance as Princeton again defeated Penn.
The Orange and Black jumped on top early when junior shortstop Dan DeGeorge scored off a sacrifice fly from Turnham. After leaving the bases loaded in the second inning, Princeton struck once again in the third. After a walk to Turnham and a double by sophomore catcher Jack Murphy, senior third baseman Spencer Lucian grounded out to score Turnham and give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Staehely cruised until the top of the sixth, when the Quakers plated two runners off three hits and a walk. After a hit batsman loaded the bases, the senior righthander was able to induce a groundball to end the threat.
The Tigers answered right away, as Lucian doubled down the line in left and senior leftfielder Micah Kaplan tripled to right, plating Lucian. Sophomore rightfielder Jon Broscious then singled to send Kaplan home and restore Princeton’s two-run lead.
The lead proved to be more than enough for Staehely, who cruised the rest of the way, striking out eight and scattering seven hits and a walk to pick up his team-leading fifth win of the season.
The first game of Sunday’s doubleheader began with similar pitching success for sophomore righthander David Hale, who retired the side in order with two strikeouts in the first inning.
In the second, however, the Quakers unleashed the offense that Gemberling and Staehely had held back a day earlier. Seven consecutive runners reached base before Hale recorded his first out, and eight Penn runners crossed home before Hale induced an inning-ending double play.
Down 10-1 in the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers rallied for five runs behind a two-run shot to deep centerfield by Broscious and a solo homer from Murphy, but it was too little too late.
Looking to bounce back from the 10-7 defeat, Princeton sent senior righthander Steven Miller to the mound in the nightcap. The Quakers, however, continued their hot hitting from earlier in the day, plating three runners in the first inning.
Down 3-1 heading into the seventh, the Tigers tied the game thanks to a walk from junior centerfielder Derek Beckman, a double from DeGeorge and a single from Turnham.
Penn answered right back in the top of the eighth, scoring a pair of runs off freshman righthander Dan Barnes.
Still trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers got their first two runners on base after Beckman and DeGeorge were hit by pitches. After Turnhman advanced Beckman to third with a fly-out to right, Murphy drove in the centerfielder with a single up the middle.
With runners on the corners and one out, Lucian lined out to second before Hale grounded out to short to end the Princeton threat and the game. The Tigers stranded 11 runners in the game, their second-highest total in league play this season.
Despite this, Bradley saw the team as unlucky with a few long fly balls caught by the Penn centerfielder.
“I thought the second game we swung the bats as well as we have in any one game all year,” Bradley said.
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