Baseball: Divisional battle to begin with four-game stint at Penn

As the weather gets warmer, the heat of Ivy League play will continue to mount this weekend for the baseball team as it travels to Penn for a four-game weekend series.

A strong weekend will be vital for Princeton (8-20 overall, 5-3 Ivy League) if it wants to keep pace in the Lou Gehrig Division of the Ivy League baseball standings. The Tigers and Quakers (19-11, 5-3) are currently in a three-way tie with Cornell for second place in the Gehrig Division. Columbia’s 6-2 record in conference play gives it a one-game lead.

Strong offensive performances from the entire team will be necessary if Princeton wants a result that is similar to last year’s, when the Tigers took three of four games against Penn at Clarke Field. Freshman second baseman Danny Hoy, who went 4-6 with five RBIs and a home run in Wednesday’s 9-7 win over Monmouth, is looking to maintain consistency at the plate as the team heads to Philadelphia.

“We’ve been getting into an offensive rhythm lately, which is great,” Hoy said. “Guys are swinging the bat now, and when hitting becomes contagious, we can get the results that we’re looking for. And [junior centerfielder Alec] Keller’s recent return from injury is huge for us, since he’s such an important presence at the plate.”

But the Tigers will have their hands full with the offensive threat that Penn poses. The Quaker squad is led by senior centerfielder Ryan Deitrich, the returning All-Ivy selection who currently leads Penn in batting average (.456) and is already only two hits shy of matching his total number of hits from last season (49). The Quakers’ slugging is not to be underestimated, either, as Deitrich and freshman second baseman Mike Vilardo have already combined for six home runs on the season. The offensive potential of both sides only adds to the importance of defense this weekend.

“We’ve been working a lot on bunt defense, which doesn’t directly correlate to just Penn but will help us against all teams,” Hoy said. “Penn has a really good team this year, so we’re just trying to improve the small ball game on the defensive end.”

“In our second game against Dartmouth last weekend, our defense wasn’t too strong, so we’ve been working on fielding performance,” freshman shortstop Billy Arendt said. “Errors are inevitable in baseball; it just comes down to minimizing errors and quickly recovering from mistakes.”

The weekend provides a promising spectacle on the mound, as both teams sport strong pitching staffs. The Tigers’ junior right-hander Mike Ford has been dominant, with a 3-0 record and a 1.12 ERA, while senior Zak Hermans already has 32 strikeouts on the season and boasts a 1.78 ERA. Ford or Hermans will likely face off against Penn’s sophomore ace Dan Gautieri, who is 5-0 in six outings and has surrendered just six earned runs over 39 innings on the mound.

“Penn has a strong rotation, but our starting rotation is amazing,” said sophomore pitcher Nick Donatiello. “Our guys just need to keep stringing hits together like we have been, and our pitchers will always keep them in the game.”

The team is all too aware of how crucial a strong performance is against Penn as it begins divisional play.

“Penn’s our first divisional opponent, and we always have a good competitive series against them,” senior centerfielder Johnny Mishu said. “So anything can happen. For us, our at-bats have gotten much better, so if we continue to swing it, and if we continue to get quality starts from our staff, we should have some success this weekend.”

“Ultimately, we need to win at least three games this weekend,” Hoy said. “We didn’t use up too much pitching against Monmouth, and our hitting has been great, so we’re confident and ready to go this weekend.