With strong gusts of wind roaring from left field, Tigers baseball (10–14 overall, 4–2 Ivy League) fell to the Seton Hall Pirates (14–13, 1–0 Big East) in a 12–10 defeat at home Wednesday.
First-year pitcher Will Sword got the start, opening the game shaky by hitting Seton Hall’s Will Gale on the first pitch of the game. Gale stole second on a breaking ball in the dirt, but was eventually stranded as Sword got out of the jam on a groundout to avoid giving up the first run.
“Will really pitched well for us,” head coach Scott Bradley told The Daily Princetonian in a phone interview. “We were very excited with what we saw.”
Sword went on to retire six in a row, but hit two Seton Hall players to open the third. A Pirates hit out to right sliced past outfielder Scott Bandura to bring in the two on base, but this only ignited the Princeton bats. The Tigers would retaliate in their half of the third inning, bringing in four runs on four hits, including a home run to right from Bandura.
After two and a half scoreless innings, Princeton would add two runs to their lead with a two-run homer from junior infielder Kyle Vinci to stay ahead 6–2 in the bottom of the fifth. The Mendham, N.J. native — who is boasting an Ivy League-best .736 slugging percentage — leads the Ivy League in home runs and is ranked 34th in the category nationally.
Before the top of the sixth, Sword checked out of the game with three strikeouts after facing 18 batters. Sophomore pitcher Max Zdimal would come in for a short stint from the bullpen, but would allow three Pirates to reach base before exiting the game with the bases loaded. A five-run Seton Hall rally had the Tigers trailing 7–6 after going through three relievers over the course of the half-inning.
“The midweek games, as much as you want to win them, are more about development and preparing yourself for the weekend,” noted Bradley. “You can’t burn your pitchers out knowing you have the Ivy League games coming up.”
Later, with the bases loaded, senior infielder Eric Marasheski batted in sophomore outfielder Caden Shapiro to tie the game 7–7. In the following inning, a second two-run Vinci blast would see the Tigers take a 7–9 lead. The home run brings Vinci within one of Michael Ciminiello ’96’s all-time single-season home run record of 13.
“His power is just unbelievable,” said Bradley. “For him to get some confidence going this year and have 12 home runs in 90 at bats … he’s just been a mainstay for us.”
Vinci’s impressive performance this season follows setbacks he faced last year following a bicep injury. However, Wednesday’s two home runs helps to keep the junior on track to set a new record for the conference as a whole, which has stood at 19 since 1984.
The eighth saw the Tigers struggle to keep the Pirates at bay. Seton Hall jumped ahead 12–9 through a series of singles from the top of the lineup, helped out by an error in center field.
A late double from first-year catcher Jake Bold sparked hope for Princeton in the bottom of the ninth, with Vinci soon joining him on base through a fielding error at third. Junior infielder Nick DiPietrantonio singled into center field, earning an RBI as Bold came in to score. With the tying run at the plate, the Tigers were unable to equalize it and ended the meeting 12–10.
Princeton Baseball will be in Philadelphia, Pa. on Saturday as they face off against the Penn Quakers (14–10, 4–2 Ivy League) for a three-game series. The first pitch of the double-header is set for 11:30 a.m., followed by a game on Sunday beginning at 12 p.m.
“Penn was one of the preseason favorites,” said Bradley. “ They’re there. They have depth at every position. … We just have to go in and hold serve and try to come away with two out of three.”
Yousif Mohamed is a copy editor and contributor to the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’
Please direct any corrections requests to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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