On a rainy weekend in Ithaca, Princeton baseball (12–30 overall, 8–12 Ivy League) kept their dreams of the Ivy League Tournament alive for at least another week. The Tigers rallied after an opening game loss, and took the next two games against the Cornell Big Red (12–22, 7–14).
“Very proud of our guys for the way in which they competed and played,” Head Coach Scott Bradley told The Daily Princetonian. “This critical series win keeps us alive.”
Tigers Split Crucial Doubleheader
The Tigers opened the series with a brutal 15–1 loss early Saturday afternoon. Cornell hung fifteen hits and seven walks on the Princeton pitching staff, which collapsed in the fourth inning when junior Justin Kim surrendered seven runs. Now two games behind fourth-and-fifth place Dartmouth and Harvard in the win column with just three to play, another loss would spell near-certain elimination.
Rather than roll over, the Tigers fought back. Down 6–5 in the seventh inning of Game 2, the Tigers got a baserunner thanks to a single by senior outfielder Caden Shapiro, then took the lead for good thanks to their best power bat, junior catcher Jake Bold.
“Caden did a great job getting on base with two outs so I could get up,” Bold told the ‘Prince.’ “At that point in the game I was 0-5 on the day and I honestly felt a lot of pressure. When I got up there, I got a strike call that our coach argued, and that distraction weirdly got me to calm down and take a deep breath.”
In a season filled with clutch moments for Bold, Saturday may have been the pièce de résistance. With two outs and a runner on first, Cornell pushed their starter all the way to a whopping 110 pitches in an at-bat against Bold. The 111th pitch was a fastball that started outside but bled over the middle of the plate. Bold whipped his bat around, pulling the pitch deep over the left-field fence for a no-doubt, two-run shot that put the Tigers ahead, 6–5.
“When I got back in the box I just tried to battle with 2 strikes and I got a mistake,” a jubilant Bold explained to the ‘Prince.’ “After I hit it, I knew it was gone and blacked out. I turned to the dugout and let all of the pressure and emotions out.”
The rest of the game passed without much incident, as senior righty Jacob Faulkner locked down the last three innings in true shutout fashion. Shapiro drove in another run in the ninth with his third hit of the day in a three-run inning that sealed the game for the Tigers, who won 9–5. With Dartmouth sitting idle for the weekend, the Tigers’ win combined with Columbia’s doubleheader sweep of Harvard meant that the fourth spot in the tournament remained open – and the Tigers were now just one win behind thanks in large part to the bat of Jake Bold.
“Just knowing that we were essentially playing an elimination game, it felt great to get the boys back on top,” Bold told the ‘Prince.’
Faulkner Brilliant in Rubber Match
Needing another win to make up ground, Coach Bradley turned to his ace, senior pitcher Jacob Faulkner, for Sunday’s game. Faulkner dazzled, setting a season high in strikeouts and going the distance for a complete game.
The Tigers broke through in the first inning, loading the bases with one out. Up stepped first-year catcher Will Robbins, making just his fifth start all year in place of a banged-up Jake Bold. If he felt any pressure, he didn’t show it, taking a hanging curveball and driving it off the left-field wall to score a pair of runs.
After Cornell pulled back within one in the fifth inning, it was Robbins again who got the big hit for the Tigers. The Big Red pitching staff clearly hadn’t learned anything after the first inning, giving Robbins nearly the same pitch that he doubled on in the first inning and getting nearly the same result. With two runners on, the first-year pulled a curveball again, sending a line drive double to left to make it 3–1 Tigers.
“All year I’ve been waiting to get a shot, and when I got into the game I really just wanted to play well for the team,” Robbins told the ‘Prince.’ “When the results came it felt amazing to finally be able to contribute to the success of the team and to help keep our season alive.”
On the other side of the ball, Faulkner dominated the Big Red offense. He baffled Cornell’s hitters, never giving them a serious chance to equalize. Only four runners reached scoring positions against Faulkner, and just one of them scored. Showing no signs of tiring, Faulkner got the green light to finish the game.
“I feel like I commanded my fastball really well throughout all 9, and was able to consistently rely on it regardless of the count or situation,” Faulkner told the ‘Prince.’ “It’s a great feeling to have the team’s back like that in a big situation at the end of the season.”
After a two-run homer from Shapiro brought the score to 5–1 in the eighth, Faulkner took full advantage of the insurance runs and brought the Tigers home. Though he surrendered a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth, he never ran into serious trouble, closing out the inning to conclude his first complete game since 2024.
“I can’t say enough about Jacob Faulkner,” Bradley told the ‘Prince.’ “Our pitching staff is so thin at this time, so Jacob took things into his own hands by throwing a complete game.”
Joe Uglialoro is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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