On a weekend trip to Cambridge, Mass., Tigers baseball (10–13 overall, 4–2 Ivy League) lost two of three games against the Harvard Crimson (7–16, 4–2).
While the offense remained locked in all weekend with 38 hits and 32 runs across three games, none of their starting pitchers could make it through five complete innings. All three games were barn burners, with Princeton winning the first 18–9 on Friday, before losing both legs of the doubleheader 11–8 and 9–6 on Sunday.
In the first game, every single Princeton starter had at least one hit. A trio of juniors, outfielder Matt Scannell, and infielders Kyle Vinci and Nick DiPietrantonio, led the team with three hits each.
Vinci had six RBIs and DiPietrantonio had five, accounting for more than half of Princeton’s scoring. Vinci had two home runs and Scannell added another to the scoreboard as the whole team benefitted from four Crimson errors — a healthy recipe for a win.
Vinci’s power-hitting throughout the first four Ivy games has helped him lead the team in home runs (10, twice any other player’s total), total bases (59), runs batted in (25), and slugging percentage (.678). But he also leads the team in strikeouts (39) and has had the fewest walks (6) and lowest on-base percentage (.312) of any starter. This duality is indicative of Princeton’s losses in the two games of the doubleheader.
Vinci, in particular, went hitless over eight at-bats with five strikeouts and two walks in the doubleheader. In general, the team did not have the same pop from the first game, with only one more home run on Sunday.
In the first game of Sunday, Harvard built a 9–0 lead after five innings, taking advantage of junior pitcher Tom Chmielewski’s control issues, tallying nine hits and three walks. But the Tigers didn’t roll over, combining a collection of singles and doubles into seven runs to cut the lead to two by the top of the eighth. However, two more Harvard runs in the bottom of the eighth popped the bubble despite an RBI double from senior infielder Eric Marasheski in the ninth. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Princeton lost 11–8.
While the first Sunday game saw Harvard dominate early and Princeton mount an intense comeback late, the second one was much more of a back-and-forth affair. Junior outfielder Scott Bandura reached on a walk to lead off the second, then moved around the base paths, stealing second on a wild pitch, then third and home on another, to score the first run. Another Scannell home run in the third pushed the Princeton lead to 3–0.
However, in the bottom of that inning, the Crimson loaded the bases with no outs and cashed in four runs to take their first lead. First-years defined the fifth: a single from catcher Jake Bold tied the game, but a balk from Justin Kim, pitching in relief, allowed two Harvard runners to advance and the Crimson to get back ahead 5–4.
The seesawing at the hands of Marasheski continued in the sixth, as a two-run single from the senior gave the Tigers the advantage for a second time, 6–5. But in the other half of the frame, with two outs and the bases loaded, he bobbled a grounder to short, allowing two runners to score. Another two-out double put Harvard ahead 9–6.
The rest of the game was, relatively, uneventful, and the opposition won the final contest.
The Tigers will take on New Jersey rival Seton Hall (12–13, 0–0 Big East) in a mid-week tilt at home on Wednesday, before continuing Ivy play in Philadelphia against the Penn Quakers (13–10, 4–2 Ivy) next weekend.
Gabriel Robare covers baseball and is the Head Archivist. They were previously the Head Puzzles Editor.
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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