Baseball: Late-game rally ends in loss

Princeton (9-13 overall, 2-6 Ivy League) found itself mired in a slump after splitting a set with Yale and dropping a pair of games to Brown in the opening weekend of Ivy play. Last weekend was shaping up to be more of the same after Princeton was swept by Dartmouth (10-9, 8-0) on Saturday.

But after scoring four runs in the ninth inning against Harvard (7-18, 5-3) to tie up the second game at eight, it appears that the Tigers may again be on the upswing. Despite not being able to seal the win — Princeton fell 13-12 in the 17th inning to Harvard in dropping to 1-3 on the weekend — the Tigers’ performance bodes well for the future.

“Really, we all just got cold throughout the lineup,” junior outfielder Jon Broscious said. “We’re starting to get back in the groove.”

On Saturday, Princeton was in Hanover, N.H., for a two-game set with red-hot Dartmouth. The Tigers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the opener off an RBI double from junior catcher Jack Murphy. But that proved to be the only Tiger run in the game, as Dartmouth lefthander Robert Young pitched a complete-game four-hitter.

And Princeton didn’t hold the lead for long, as the Big Green took a 2-1 in the bottom of the first. Dartmouth stretched its lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the third off another two-run shot. From there, Dartmouth coasted home and took a 4-1 victory: While Princeton junior pitcher David Hale struck out seven over six innings of work, the two home runs did the trick for the Big Green.

In the second game, Princeton again had the early edge, scoring two runs in the first behind a Murphy two-run homer. And again, the Dartmouth offense was unrelenting, tying the game up in the bottom of the inning. The Big Green continued its assault on senior pitcher Brad Gemberling, adding another run in the second, three in the third and one more in the fourth.

Meanwhile, Princeton only managed one run in the third and one in the fourth. The Tigers added a fifth run in the top of the sixth inning. The Dartmouth bullpen clamped down, however, and the Tiger offense was ineffective from there on out. The Big Green won 8-5.

Sunday brought the Tigers a doubleheader against Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. In the opener, Princeton sophomore lefthander David Palms pitched a complete-game four-hitter of his own, giving up only one run. Palms’ gem of a performance took the pressure off the Tiger offense, which finally took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when DeGeorge doubled in sophomore infielder Matt Connor, who extended Princeton’s lead to 2-0 with a home run in the fifth inning. Harvard narrowed the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, but Murphy added another home run in the top of the sixth to push the Tigers to a 3-1 lead.

Neither team expected what would happen in the second game, which lasted almost four-and-a-half hours and was ultimately decided in the 17th inning.

After three scoreless innings, Harvard finally cracked junior pitcher Langford Stuber, scoring three runs in the fourth and five in the fifth to knock him out of the game after only four-and-a-third innings pitched. Princeton marched right back, however, scoring four runs off six hits in the top of the sixth. After Berkowitz grounded into a double play, it seemed as though Princeton would go down quickly, but excellent hitting from the Tigers and blunders from the Crimson narrowed the Princeton deficit to four runs.

There the score remained until the bottom of the ninth inning, when the Tigers rallied and scored four runs to tie the game at eight. Broscious scored the tying run off a single from senior catcher Adrian Turnham and forced the game to extra innings.

“The biggest thing was that we were down 8-0, and we ended up coming back in the top of the ninth and scoring four runs,” Broscious said.

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The game remained tied at eight until the 13th inning, when a two-run single from Connor scored Hale and Berkowitz. It appeared that the Tigers would win, but with two outs in the bottom of the 13th, the Crimson got first a single and then a two-run home run to tie the game at 10.

From there, the score remained tied until the top of the 17th inning. Freshman outfielder Tom Boggiano reached on a throwing error and advanced to third on a passed ball. From there, a triple from Connor scored Boggiano, and Connor scored on a sacrifice fly from senior outfielder Derek Beckman.

Again, though, the Crimson came back, and this time it not only tied the game but also score the winning run. Harvard led off the inning with two singles followed by a sacrifice bunt from outfielder Dillon O’Neill that scored infielder Chris Rouches and narrowed the Princeton lead to one run. Still with no outs, Princeton sophomore righthander Chad Ohlendorf intentionally walked infielder Taylor Meehan, putting the force at home plate. But Crimson outfielder Matt Rogers singled, scoring pitcher Jeff Reynolds and tying up the game. After a popup led to an out, the Crimson, still with the bases loaded, scored the winning run off a single from outfielder Tom Stack-Babich.

“It was pretty tiring,” Broscious said. “We showed some fight and some good energy. It was tough coming out the other side of it, but there wasn’t really much that we could do.”