Baseball: Pitching struggles in losses

So much for a pleasant welcome to the new season. The baseball team returned from the Elon Invitational and the warm climes of North Carolina with nothing to show for its endeavors, losing all four of its opening games over the weekend. To be fair, the squad’s opponents — Radford, Elon and Bucknell — were already well into their seasons, but it will be a bitter pill to swallow for a Tiger squad that harbors ambitions of an Ivy League championship.

“The first weekend is always a big adjustment for our team,” senior outfielder Brian Berkowitz said. “This weekend was our first time practicing and playing outside since the fall due to the weather. Also, the teams we played were six or seven games into their seasons, whereas these were our first.”

Still, the team will not be disheartened by its performances and in fact came very close to winning its opening game against Radford (3-6) on Friday evening. Thanks in part to a two-run double by senior second baseman Noel Gonzales-Luna, a two-run single by senior outfielder Jon Broscious and another two-run blast by sophomore catcher Sam Mulroy, the Tigers built an 8-3 lead going into the fourth inning. The Terriers, however, were back in the game by the bottom of the fifth after scoring three runs off sophomore reliever Ryan Makis, who gave up two hits and three runs in two innings.

For the rest of the game, Princeton struggled to generate offense and advance runners on base as a solid core of Radford relievers shut down the Tiger bats.

The Terriers crept back into the game, scoring in the bottom of the seventh and tying the game 8-8 in the bottom of the ninth after an error by Gonzales-Luna allowed the game-tying runner to score. The teams remained knotted until the 11th, when Radford second baseman Alex Guerra singled home the winning run. Junior reliever Chad Ohlendorf took the loss for the Tigers.

“We would have liked to win the first game of the season, but losing a tough game like that may have been better for our team than an easy win,” Berkowitz said. “It taught us that we can’t just get a big lead and sit on it for the rest of the game, but instead we have to keep trying to score runs and widen our lead. ”

On Saturday, the team was swept by Elon (7-4) in an afternoon doubleheader. In the first game, the Phoenix jumped out to a 7-0 lead after four innings after a grand slam from second baseman Seth Canipe in the bottom of the third. Junior David Palms, the Tigers’ starting pitcher who took the loss, was shaken after the home run and was pulled after allowing six runs and six hits in three innings. Princeton’s only offensive bright spot in the 10-2 defeat was junior outfielder Brandon Englert’s two-run shot in the seventh.

The rematch followed much the same pattern as the first game, as the game was settled early on by the Phoenix’s bats. By the end of the fourth, Princeton was losing 14-6 after a shaky performance by senior starter Langford Stuber, who gave up nine runs and five walks over three innings. His replacement, freshman Kevin Link, did not fare much better, as he was tagged for six earned runs over four innings. Solo homers from Englert and Berkowitz as well as an RBI double from freshman outfielder John Mishu saw the game eventually end at 18-8.

Despite the rough start for the rotation, Berkowitz said he believes the staff will soon find its groove.

“Our staff had a tough weekend, but we know we have an outstanding rotation this year, so we are not worried about pitching being an issue at all,” he explained.

“We played in a very hitter-friendly ballpark and did not play superb defense behind them. If you look at the statistics, the biggest issue for our pitchers this weekend was walking too many hitters, but this will not be an issue down the road.”

Princeton’s final game of the weekend saw it take on a tough Bucknell (5-5) team. Early runs were again an issue for the squad, as the Bison jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning. The Tigers responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning off of RBI groundouts from freshman outfielder Nate Baird and junior third baseman Matt Connor, but Bucknell would not relinquish its lead, eventually taking the game 10-4 after a two-run homer from Broscious later on.

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The team will again head south next weekend to play a three-game set with UNC-Greensboro and a two-game series with perennial powerhouse North Carolina.