Tigers see tough teams, signs of hope

The Princeton men’s baseball team (3-13) will look to pick up its form in its first Ivy League matchups of the season this weekend when it faces Brown and Yale at Clarke Field in doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Entering their spring break trip with a 1-6 record, the Tigers hoped to add to their win total as they faced off against University of Maryland (17-4), East Carolina University (16-8) and Navy (16-8) in Maryland and North Carolina. The team also faced Seton Hall University in a short away game at Short Orange, N.J. earlier this afternoon.

Maryland truly showed its dominance as the 16thranked team in the nation in the series against the Tigers, as the Tigers were easily swept in the three-game series. The first two games proved to be a struggle for the Tigers as they lost the first game 15-0 and the second game 5-0.

In the first game, starting pitcher and sophomore Chad Powers gave up 10 runs in 4.1 innings, all earned, while senior reliever Nick Donatiello gave up three more runs in 2.2 innings and sophomore Chris Giglio gave up two more in his one inning of work. The Maryland team combined to collect 15 hits, with right fielder Anthony Papio going a perfect 4-4 with two RBIs, while third baseman Jose Cuas went 2-3 with three RBIs. The Princeton offense was shut out for the first time this season, as the team only combined for six hits, with sophomores Nick Hernandez and Zack Belski both going 2-4 on the day.

The second game was another offensive struggle for the Tigers, as the team was shut out once again, combining for five hits in 33 at bats, three of which came from junior second baseman Danny Hoy, who had a great 3-4 day. Sophomore pitcher Keelan Smithers pitched a great game, going seven innings and giving up two earned runs on five hits, but the team still ended up losing 5-0.

The third game was a much better offensive performance, as the Tigers finally managed to put on some runs against their ranked opponent, losing out 13-6. Hernandez had a 3-5 day with one RBI and two runs scored, and junior DH Andres Larramendi went 2-5 with an RBI of his own. However, the pitching game could not hold down a strong Maryland offense, as they tacked on 13 runs on 15 hits. It was a tough series offensively for the Tigers, as the team had a meager .196/.261/.235 slash line for the series, with the pitchers giving up a 11.62 ERA.

The series against East Carolina did not provide better results for the Tigers as the team dropped two more games, losing 11-2 and 8-3. The team committed four errors in the first game, which led to four unearned runs for ECU, as the Pirates totaled 11 runs on 13 hits. The offensive performance was an improvement, as the team combined for nine hits, but only managed two runs, with senior outfielder Peter Owens going 3-4 and junior third baseman Billy Arendt going 2-3 that day.

The second game was quickly over by the fourth inning, as ECU had jumped out to a 7-0 lead: junior starter Chris Bodurian gave up 12 hits and seven runs in his 4.0 innings of work, and ECU totaled 16 hits and eight runs on the day. The offensive performance for Princeton was good, as the team plated three runs on 10 hits, with Belski, Hoy and Owens managing two hits each.

In the final series during spring break, the Tigers managed to play out a tightly contested series against Navy in Annapolis, going home after splitting the series 2-2. The Tigers won the first game 4-3, when the game was played for only seven innings. Clutch hitting from senior catcher Tyler Servais and sophomore outfielder Danny Baer in the 7thinning provided Princeton with the win. The Tigers combined for eight hits, with Baer having a fantastic 3-3 day with one RBI and Arendt having a three-RBI day of his own.

The second game was a 4-2 defeat despite Hernandez’s 4-4 game and junior pitcher Luke Strieber’s four innings of great pitching as senior reliever Tyler Foote gave up four runs in his two innings of work, and the Tigers could only reply with two runs of their own, despite tallying 13 hits and getting two-hit games from sophomore outfielder Paul Tupper, Arendt and Owens.

The third and fourth game provided similar results, as the Tigers lost the first game 3-1 and then responded with a 3-2 victory to clinch the tie in the series and improve their record to 3-13 after the break. In the lackluster first game, the Tigers only managed four hits and one run as Navy dominated its way to 10 hits and three runs. However, the Tigers magnificently responded in the final game, with a 2-3 performance from Arendt and a 3-4 day from senior DH Mat DeNunzio as they edged out Navy for a 3-2 win.

The Tigers' game on Tuesday would end in heartbreak, as they fell 6-5 to nearby Seton Hall after going into the bottom of the ninth up 5-3. The game was full of swings in score —Princeton had gone into the ninth inning down 3-2, and reclaimed the lead due to two unforced errors by Seton Hall and an RBI by Tupper. Owens, Arendt and Baer would score the runs to put Princeton up. However, in the second half of the inning, the tide began to turn. Freshman pitcher Kevin Thomsen was unable to halt the Pirates as they scored the final three runs of the game to secure the victory.

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A week of baseball where the team had some encouraging victories sets up interesting match-ups against Brown and Yale in the team’s first Ivy League games. The team’s performances against Navy provide a strong indicator of how the team will perform against their intra-conference rivals, especially because both the Bears and the Bulldogs are considered much weaker opponents than the teams that the Tigers faced last week, with the Bears sporting a 3-11 record and the Bulldogs at 6-4 so far this season.

The Tigers will face Brown on Sunday afternoon and Yale on Monday, both at Clarke Field.