This past weekend, the Princeton men’s baseball team (6-10 overall, 0-0 Ivy League) traveled to Annapolis to take on the United States Naval Academy (18-6-1) in a four-game series. The Tigers dropped two back-to-back games in their first doubleheader against the Midshipmen on Saturday before splitting a pair of games on Sunday to finish the overall contest with a 1-3 record.
The first game was a low-scoring affair. Navy managed to place a runner in scoring position to open the contest, but senior pitcher Luke Strieber struck out the next two Midshipmen to prevent Navy from capitalizing on the base hit. In the top of the second, junior outfielder Paul Tupper hit a single, but his effort also ultimately failed to result in a run for the Tigers. For the next several innings, Strieber dominated, retiring seven out of Navy’s next eight batters from the second through fourth.
However, in the fifth inning, the Midshipmen finally broke through. Firstbaseman Ben McGrath hit a single and made it to second off of a sacrifice bunt. Outfielder Robert Currie then smacked a base hit that drove McGrath home and put Navy ahead at 1-0.
Tupper attempted to even the score in Princeton’s final turn at bat, drilling a double to right center, but two ensuing Princeton outs doomed his effort. The Midshipmen escaped with a 1-0 win in the first game, although Strieber still recorded a strong performance with only one run allowed through six innings.
Later in the day, the Midshipmen ran away with the second match of the doubleheader, scoring two runs in the first inning, adding a third score in the fifth and piling on three in the sixth to build a commanding 6-0 lead that the Tigers never threatened. After a final Navy score in the eighth, the Midshipmen walked away with a 7-0 win to finish Saturday 2-0; the Tigers’ scoreless effort was led by senior infielder Billy Arendt, who registered two hits.
Princeton’s fortunes changed in the third game, as they opened off Sunday’s doubleheader with a 4-1 win. After a scoreless first inning, Princeton finally got on the scoreboard with a tremendous three-run series to start off the second. Runs were scored by junior right-handed pitcher Chad Powers, who demonstrated his offensive versatility, junior infielder Cody Phillips and senior infielder Danny Hoy. However, Navy responded with a score in the third from outfielder Stephen Born to cut the Tigers’ lead to two. From then on, however, senior right-handed pitcher Cameron Mingo held the Midshipmen scoreless, allowing only two more hits during the remainder of the game. Powers would score one final run in the sixth, allowing Princeton to walk away from its third game with a 4-1 victory.
However, Navy would take the final match of the weekend in a frustrating contest that again ended with the Midshipmen on top, 1-0. The Tigers tallied nine hits over the course of the contest and even had a runner in scoring position to open the first, but two consecutive strikeouts from Navy quashed Princeton’s hopes of opening the fourth game with a quick score. In their first turn at bat, Navy received its lone run of the game off of an RBI ground out from outfielder Sean Trent. Junior left-handed pitcher Keelan Smithers then held Navy scoreless in the second, producing a double play that aptly countered the Midshipmen’s loaded bases. However, the Tigers never succeeded in evening out the score, with their closest attempts coming from a double by junior infielder Zack Belski in the seventh and a man on third in the eighth. The Midshipmen prevented both of these opportunities, walking away with a 1-0 win to finish the weekend 3-1.
Princeton will now begin a six-game homestand, playing Seton Hall on Wednesday before opening Ivy League play against Dartmouth and Harvard next weekend.
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