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By the Numbers: Baseball milestone and NCAA fencing title

Man in white fencing suit raises arms and épée.
Senior Tristan Szapary raises his arms in celebration after securing the NCAA individual championship in épée.
Photo courtesy of @TigerFencing/X

By the Numbers: Baseball milestone and NCAA fencing title 

Each week, Sports and Data editors analyze recent athletic competitions to provide analysis and insight on the happenings of Princeton athletics and individual players across the 38 intercollegiate teams at Princeton. Whether they are record-breaking or day-to-day, statistics deliver information in concise ways and help inform fans who might have missed the action. Read the past By the Numbers.

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Princeton Tigers: March 21–March 27

Thirty games and matches were played across 13 sports and 11 U.S. states over the past week. Of the 13 games with an individual winner, the Tigers won 69 percent of all games and 63 percent of games within the Ivy League. As usual, the Tigers performed strongly at home, winning 83 percent of home games, while teams returned to the Orange Bubble victorious 57 percent of the time.

Multiple-day meets and tournaments are counted individually for each day of the competition. Competitions with more than one event or opponent such as swimming & diving, golf, and tennis are not included in our win percentage analysis.

Face-off Fanatic

In No. 13 men’s lacrosse’s 14–11 victory over Harvard on Saturday, sophomore face-off specialist Andrew McMeekin won 20 of 29 face-offs, picked up 15 ground balls, and contributed a goal. He is the first Princeton player to record such numbers since Zach Currier ’17 in 2017.

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“He really impacted the game,” men’s lacrosse head coach Matt Madalon said. “That’s what we’re trying to have him do. We really need that young guy to continue to impact games and sway the possession battle and you know, he keeps getting better every single week.”

Kabiri Kraziness

First-year attacker Nate Kabiri netted five goals in the Tigers’ victory over the Crimson, bringing his season total to 22. In order to break the first-year goal record of 41 set by Michael Sowers ’20, Kabiri needs to rip 20 more past opposing goalies in the five remaining games of the season.

“For young guys to come in and make an impact like that, I mean, Nate’s a really impressive freshman,” Madalon said. “I think playing alongside Coulter takes a little pressure off him, but he’s a really talented young guy. He’s got his best lacrosse ahead of him.”

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Mad about Brad(ley)

After men’s baseball’s 4–3 victory over Cornell on Friday, head coach Scott Bradley reached 450 career wins as the Tigers’ manager. The former major leaguer, who played stints with the Yankees, Reds, White Sox, and Mariners, is second on the all-time wins list, trailing only Bill Clarke, who won 564 games throughout the early 20th century.

“Celebrating Coach Bradley’s 450th win is not only a huge accomplishment, but also a testament to his remarkable leadership and dedication to the Princeton baseball team,” raved sophomore pitcher Justin Kim to the ‘Prince.’ “His impact goes past the field, as he instills values of teamwork, brotherhood, and sportsmanship, his decades of experience and guidance have helped us become stellar individuals on and off the field.”

All Gas No Brakes for Blake

Women’s lacrosse’s junior attacker Mackenzie Blake was just named to the Tewaaraton Award watch list, a top-25 list for college lacrosse’s top individual award. Blake paces the No. 18 women’s lacrosse team with 24 goals and is second in points with 26.

Holy Mackesy

Junior attacker Coulter Mackesy scored his 100th career goal for men's lacrosse on Saturday, becoming just the 16th Princetonian to reach this milestone and the sixth to add over 50 assists as well. Mackesy is one the nation’s premier offensive threats, with his patented lefty low-to-high shot. Chris Brown ’22 was the last Tiger to reach the century mark.

“Everyone's just so happy for him,” Madalon said. “It’s such an impressive accomplishment. We hope he continues to break a bunch of records.”

En Garde

Last week, senior Tristan Szapary took first place in men’s épée at NCAA regionals. On March 24, Szapary won the NCAA title, after defeating Notre Dame’s Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle 15–14. This win marks Princeton’s ninth individual NCAA men’s title and the first in twelve years.

Six Tiger fencers earned All-American awards this week from the US Fencing Coaches Association as well. For the men, Szapary won in épée and sophomore Matthew Limb clinched an award in saber. For the women, senior Ariana Rausch and junior Jessica Lin won in épée, while senior Ryan Jenkins and first-year Alexandra Lee earned accolades in saber.

All in all, it was an exciting week for Tiger athletics, especially within the conference. Winter sports concluded their respective postseasons and spring sports continued conference play. Check back next week to stay updated on all things Princeton athletics, by the numbers.

Andrew Bosworth is head Data editor and Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Harrison Blank is an assistant editor for the Sports section at the ‘Prince.’

Please send all corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.