Baseball: Princeton comeback falls short against Rider

The Tigers struck early, as senior right fielder Steve Harrington drove in two runs on a single in the first inning. Princeton’s sophomore left-hander Tyler Foote showed a strong start, as he kept Rider scoreless through the first two frames. But Foote was unable to work out of a third-inning jam, in which he loaded the bases with one out. After Rider senior third baseman Adam Wayman popped out for the second out, junior designated hitter Jerry Mulderig smacked a bases-clearing triple to put the Broncs ahead 3-2.

The Tigers’ defense struggled in the fifth inning, when two consecutive fielding errors led to another run for Rider and put men on second and third with one out. After sophomore Nick Donatiello replaced Foote on the mound, an unearned run made the deficit 6-2. The bullpen showed its depth and tenacity, as Donatiello, junior Michael Fagan and sophomore Danny Thomson combined for 4.2 innings of two-hit ball.

“We had a good performance, but we gave Rider a few opportunities with extra outs, which cost us because they capitalized,” freshman shortstop Billy Arendt said. “But our offense was pretty strong today. [Junior centerfielder] Alec Keller had a great day at the plate.”

Keller went three for four at the plate and scored three runs, while freshman second baseman Danny Hoy continued his strong rookie campaign at the plate. Hoy accounted for all of Princeton’s runs of the day, scoring twice and driving in three runs in his four-hit performance.

Down 8-4 going into the bottom of the ninth, Princeton refused to go quietly, as Keller quickly walked and then scored when Hoy doubled to left field. Singles by senior Alex Flink and junior first baseman Mike Ford brought Hoy into score. Down by two and with two men on, though, senior outfielder Johnny Mishu flew out to centerfield to end the game.

“It was a tough game since the errors were costly, but we battled all game,” Hoy said. “Down four runs in the last inning, we still threatened and scored runs even though we came up short. A disappointing loss, but we definitely showed some fight.”

The Tigers now look toward the weekend, as they face a four-game series against Cornell in their final conference series of the season. Columbia holds a three-game lead in the division with four conference games remaining for both teams. Columbia needs to take just two games off of Penn, which stands in last place in the Lou Gehrig Division of the Ivy League, to clinch the division title. Despite their destiny lying out of their hands, the Tigers know they need to take at least three of four games from Cornell to have any chance of tying Columbia by the weekend’s end.

“We’re going to play with nothing to lose,” Mishu said. “We can’t worry about what Columbia does. We’re going to come out loose on Friday, try to get two wins and hope that Penn can help us out. It should be a fun weekend.”