Baseball: Monmouth lineup directs assault

Under gray clouds at Clarke Field on Tuesday afternoon, the baseball team fell to Monmouth 24-7. The Tigers (8-20 overall, 3-5 Ivy League) struggled early and were unable to get on track against a powerful Hawks offense. Princeton committed five errors and surrendered 15 hits before the game was called due to darkness at the end of the seventh inning.

“Midweek games are always interesting because you never know what to expect,” head coach Scott Bradley said. “This team is hard to figure out: You feel like you’re getting it and that things are going right, and all of a sudden you take a step backwards.”

Monmouth (11-14) opened the scoring early with three runs in each of the first two innings. In his two innings of work for the Tigers, junior Matt Welsh gave up four hits and three walks and four earned runs. Throwing errors by Welsh and freshman shortstop Matt Bowman further compounded the damage.

“It’s hard to stay focused after a start like that,” Bradley said. “We’re not the type of offensive team that can dig ourselves out of huge holes. Also, in midweek games, you get yourself into spots where you’re trying to rest key guys, especially pitchers, for the weekend.”

Princeton got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Junior outfielder Brandon Englert singled with one out in the inning, and after a hit batsman, came around to score on a throwing error by Monmouth second baseman Ryan Terry.

In the fourth inning, however, Monmouth put the game away. Facing sophomore pitcher Ryan Makis, the Hawks scored five runs on three hits to open an 11-1 lead. Makis struggled with his control early, and after two hit batsmen, surrendered two straight infield singles. The inning was punctuated with a grand slam from Terry.

“Their fourth was a big inning,” Bradley said. “Makis has been a great pitcher for us, but he fell behind early to a few batters. Unfortunately, we don’t have full use of our pitching staff for midweek games.”

Monmouth added two more runs in the fifth inning off senior Ross Staine and 11 in the seventh off a combination of sophomore Stephen Elmore and junior Matt Grabowski.

Princeton scored two runs in the fourth on a two-run home run to left field from sophomore third baseman Andrew Whitener. In the sixth inning, the Tigers added four more, on a sacrifice fly from freshman outfielder Nate Baird and a three-run home run to left field off the bat of sophomore catcher Sam Mulroy. The homer was Mulroy’s fourth of the season. Mulroy is currently second on the team in homeruns and RBI, with 19.

“[Mulroy] is having a real breakout season,” Bradley said. “He’s really improved from the beginning of the season to now with his catching and his hitting. We ask a lot of our catchers, and for him to catch literally every inning of every game and produce at the plate — that’s huge for us.”

The Tigers received a solid pitching performance from junior David Palms, who pitched a scoreless sixth inning. Palms struck out one and walked one.

The Tigers struggled defensively early in the season, but, last Sunday’s loss to Yale aside, Princeton has been solid in the field lately. The team’s 53 errors are the second most in the Ivy League, and Princeton leads the league in unearned runs, with 51.

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“We tend to make errors in streaks,” Bradley said. “We have been good in league play, but we certainly didn’t help ourselves out today.”

The beauty of mid-week games, however, is that they have little bearing on the outcome of the season. Princeton rested a number of its normal starters on Tuesday, allowing the team’s younger, less experienced players to see valuable playing time.

The Tigers resume their all-important Ivy League season this weekend with four road games against Gehrig Division-leading Columbia.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how these guys respond,” Bradley said. “Our guys are generally pretty good at forgetting. Baseball is all about who you run out on the mound. We are going to throw [junior Dan] Barnes and Palms on Saturday, and if they pitch well, this could be a great weekend.”