For the baseball team, spring break was no break at all. The squad was hard at work on a southern road trip, playing 10 games in nine days against difficult regional powerhouses, including No. 17 North Carolina. Despite finishing the trip 4-6, the Tigers (4-10) have come away with some valuable experience against high-quality lineups that will surely be of use when battling Ivy League opposition later in the season.
“We got better. I think that’s what we were looking for,” head coach Scott Bradley said. “I think we anticipated going into the year that we’re going to play a lot of close, low-scoring games, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
Bradley emphasized that the trip was an opportunity for a number of underclassmen to gain valuable in-game experience.
“This is a team that only has four guys on our roster with more than 50 career at-bats,” he said.
On the first stop of its road trip, Princeton played UNC-Greensboro (11-8) in a three-game series. The first two games saw the Tigers drop competitive, one-run contests. In the first, the teams were tied 2-2 late in the game before the Spartans scored the game-winning run from a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth inning off sophomore reliever Ryan Makis.
In the second game, the Tigers took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth behind the stellar pitching of junior David Palms, but UNC-Greensboro grabbed three runs off junior reliever Matt Grabowski in a last-ditch rally to end the game, the winning run coming off a walk-off single.
“The two games on the trip that David Palms pitched — they were both phenomenal,” Bradley said. “He gave up [one] earned run on the spring trip.”
The third game, however, saw the squad’s fortunes turn as it finally recorded its first win of the season after six tries. The star of the game was freshman pitcher Matt Bowman, who earned his first collegiate victory by throwing seven scoreless, no-hit innings of relief. Bowman also helped his team at the plate by singling in the game-winning run in the 12th inning.
Despite allowing six runs in the opening inning, the Tigers answered back immediately, scoring five in the top of the second, thanks in part to a two-run homer from senior Jon Broscious. The teams then traded runs until the score was knotted 7-7 after nine frames, forcing the game into extra innings. Bowman’s sturdy pitching kept the Spartans at bay until his clutch single put Princeton ahead for good in the 12th.
Princeton’s second stop on the road trip saw it take on nationally ranked North Carolina (15-6) in a two-game set. Last year, the Tigers had been outclassed by the then-No. 1 Tar Heels, losing 17-0 and 6-1. This year was no different.
In the first game, the outcome was already decided by the second inning, as North Carolina scored eight runs in the bottom of the first. Despite their commanding lead, the Tar Heels refused to let up, recording subsequent six- and seven-run innings. In the end, after using six pitchers to vainly stop the Tar Heel lineup, Princeton lost 25-1.
Though the score of the second game was more reasonable than the first, the outcome was again decided in the opening innings. Freshman pitcher Kevin Link allowed nine runs, only four earned, as North Carolina jumped out to a 9-4 lead after four innings. The Princeton lineup seemed more accustomed to Tar Heel pitching, as freshman outfielder John Mishu hit a two-run blast and sophomore outfielder Tom Boggiano recorded an RBI double. North Carolina went on to win the game 12-5.
The next day, Princeton returned to Greensboro to take on North Carolina A&T (6-10). Unlike in previous contests, the Tigers built a commanding 4-0 lead early in the game as a result of a single from sophomore catcher Sam Mulroy and two Aggie errors. Though the Aggies attempted to crawl back into the game, a spirited performance from junior pitcher Dan Barnes, who allowed two runs over seven innings, helped ensure the 5-3 victory.
“We’re such a young team,” Bradley said. “Our pitching, for the most part, was pretty good. Our defense, for the most part, was pretty good. The wins and losses are going to come, but it’s going to come down to getting a big, key two-out hit and getting a big stop with two outs.”
To complete its spring break trip, the team traveled north to Annapolis, Md., to take on Navy (15-5) in a four-game set. The first game of the series on Friday saw the Tigers continue their success on the mound: Palms shut down the Midshipmen, pitching eight and two-thirds of an inning and allowing only two runs in the final inning. The Tigers triumphed 6-2 behind the three-hit performances of junior outfielder Brandon Englert, senior second baseman Noel Gonzales-Luna and shortstop Bowman.
On Saturday, the squad dropped both games in an afternoon doubleheader. In the first encounter, Princeton took the lead, 1-0, off an RBI double from Broscious, only for Navy to grab the lead by scoring two runs in the following frame. It was a lead the Midshipmen would never relinquish as they scored three more runs to win the game 5-3.
In the second game, the teams were knotted 4-4 until the eighth inning, when Navy scored six runs, including three off a bases-clearing double, to decide the affair.
Princeton ended the week on a high note, topping Navy 4-3 in a Sunday afternoon contest. The Tigers trailed 3-2 heading into the top of the ninth, but Englert laced a two-run, bases-loaded single to give his team a 4-3 lead. Link, who recorded the final seven outs without allowing a run, shut down the Midshipmen in the final frame for the win.
“The only way you get used to playing in close games it to play them,” Bradley said. “We got a big hit [on Sunday] from Brandon Englert, and that was something we missed most of the trip: getting a big key hit in a big spot.”
On Friday, the team will travel to the West Coast to battle Santa Clara in a four-game set in its final tune-up before its Ivy League campaign begins.
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