Tigers go 1-3 against Brown and Yale

The men’s baseball team (4-17 overall, 1-3 Ivy League) began its Ivy League season by hosting Brown and Yale at Clarke Field in consecutive doubleheaders on Sunday and Monday as it hoped to get its Ivy League season off to a good start after some recent encouraging performances against the US Naval Academy during Spring Break.

In its first series of the weekend, the baseball team split its doubleheader against Brown. The Tigers were defeated 4-3 in the opener, before bouncing back to claim an 8-2 victory in the second game.

The Tigers were the first to strike in the first game of the doubleheader, scoring once each in the second and third inning. Sophomore Danny Baer drove home on a groundout to third by junior Blake Thomsen after Baer walked to open the inning. Junior Billy Arendt scored the second run of the game after a RBI double from senior Peter Owens.

However, the Tigers could not hold on to the lead and gain a win for their starting pitcher, sophomore Chad Powers. In an error-filled seventhinning, Brown scored four unearned runs to take the lead and go on to win. Powers pitched well during the game, going six strong innings and allowing only three hits and three walks, but gave up four unearned runs. The Tigers’ offense was strong, getting seven hits and three walks, and sophomore Danny Hoy went 2-3 with a home run and a single.

The second game proved much more successful for the Tigers as they easily dispatched Brown with eight runs, five of which came in the first two innings. The Tigers took advantage of poor pitching from Brown to plate a total of eight runs off of nine hits and five walks. Impressive on the day was Arendt who went 2-4 with three runs and senior catcher Tyler Servais, who went 3-4 with a home run in the fifth inning. Freshman starter Nick Brady also had a great game, throwing six innings and giving up only two runs on five hits. He also struck out four batters in the game.

The Tigers could not repeat this success against Yale as they fell in both games of their doubleheader, losing in a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat in the first game before losing casino online 8-3 in the second game.

Despite scoring in the first on an Owens RBI single, the Tigers could not cling on as they once again fell in the late innings, with Yale scoring a run in each of the last two innings. The Yale pitcher shut down the Tigers’ hitters, with Princeton only managing a meager five hits, with Hoy going 2-3 for the day. Although he had to take the loss, sophomore starter Keelan Smithers pitched a strong 6.2 innings, allowing two runs from seven hits and striking out five batters.

Hoping to bounce back against Yale in the second game of the doubleheader, the Tigers took a 1-0 lead via a sacrifice fly from sophomore Zack Belski in the third inning after three consecutive errors by Yale. However, a five run eighth from five hits from Yale saw them ease to victory and improve to 2-2 in Ivy League play. Although the Tigers lost, their offense was clicking with nine hits in the game, with Arendt going 2-4, sophomore left fielder Paul Tupper going 2-4 and Servais going 3-4.

The Tigers continue their Ivy League play this weekend, as they travel to Harvard for a doubleheader on Saturday in Cambridge, Mass. before traveling to Hanover, N.H. to face Dartmouth in a doubleheader on Sunday.