On an Easter weekend trip to Philadelphia, Tigers baseball (11–16 overall, 5–4 Ivy League) lost two of three against the Quakers (16–11, 6–3).
Both teams began the series in a five-way tie at the top of the Ivy League; along with Harvard, Yale, and Columbia, there was a logjam at 4–2. The weekend saw road sweeps for Columbia over Yale and Harvard over Dartmouth. When the dust settled, Princeton tumbled from a tie for first place all the way to fourth — two games off the leaders.
In the first game of the Saturday doubleheader, the Tigers’ offense couldn’t overcome their persistent rotation woes. Senior starting pitcher Jackson Emus stumbled, allowing nine hits and nine earned runs in just four innings of work. Before the Quakers’ hitting began, junior outfielder Scott Bandura stayed hot, supplying a two-run double in the third.
However, the Quakers would add the final blow with four runs in the bottom of the frame, and five more in the fourth. Senior pitcher Reece Rabin mopped up for the final four innings, allowing only one more run. The offense only mustered one more hit after the fourth inning and before the ninth, when an RBI double from senior outfielder Brendan Cumming, and an RBI single from Bandura, made the final score a more respectable 10–5.
The second game of the doubleheader saw perhaps the finest pitching performance for a Tiger thus far this year. Junior Tom Chmielewski dealt eight scoreless innings, striking out seven, walking none although hitting one batter, and allowing just four hits. The Quakers simply had no answer for his fastball all afternoon.
On offense, Bandura continued mashing, with a solo home run to open the scoring. He’s riding an 11-game hitting streak, with nine multi-hit games in that stretch. A two-run single each from sophomore infielder Kevin Blowers and junior first baseman Kyle Vinci finished Princeton’s scoring. First-year Justin Kim finished the game with yet another stellar relief appearance, with three strikeouts; he drove down his ERA to a team-best 2.63. Princeton won in easy fashion, 5–0.
Two-out scoring defined the final game. Junior Matt Scannell got the start on the mound, and found two outs in the first inning, before two singles, three straight walks, and a hit by pitch allowed a 3–0 Quaker lead. With two outs in the third, senior shortstop Eric Marasheski reached on a dropped third strike. Cumming was hit by a pitch, and an infield single from Bandura scored the Tigers’ first run. A walk from first year catcher Jake Bold scored another run, bringing the road team within one.
But then, the offense fell flat. The Tigers recorded only one more hit in the remainder of the game — a double from sophomore outfielder Caden Shapiro. Meanwhile, sophomore Andrew D’Alessio held the Quakers in check, keeping the lead at one, but sophomore Jacob Faulkner allowed a two-run home run to put the game away. It ended with a bang from UPenn and a whimper from Princeton, 5–2.
Princeton will take on the Monmouth University Hawks (12–15, 3–10 Colonial) before returning to Clarke Field next weekend to take on league-leading Columbia (16–11, 7–2 Ivy) for a pivotal series: a sweep would shoot the Tigers into first place, but too many losses may put the top of the Ivy League out of reach.
Gabriel Robare covers baseball for the ‘Prince.’ They are also the Head Archivist and were formerly the Head Puzzles Editor.
Please direct any corrections requests to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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