Baseball uses explosive offense to take three of four Ivy contests

With an offensive explosion and a little bit of luck, baseball continued to assert itself as an Ivy League contender.

In its second weekend of Ivy play, Princeton (13-7 overall, 6-2 Ivy League) followed up last weekend's strong performances by again winning three of four games, splitting a doubleheader – losing 11-10 and winning 13-9 – at Brown Friday and sweeping Yale in New Haven, Conn., Saturday by scores of 5-3 and 19-0.

The wins plant the team atop the four-team Gehrig Division, putting the Tigers in good shape as they prepare to face division rivals Columbia, Penn and Cornell in coming weeks.

As important as winning, though, was the way the Tigers won. Having proved a week ago that they could win close, low-scoring ball games, this weekend they showed that they also could win slugfests and capitalize on opportunities to win a game they probably should not have won.

Comeback

Princeton's most dramatic victory came in the first game against Yale and one of the top Ivy pitchers, Eric Gutshall. With the Tigers trailing 3-2 with two outs in the top of the seventh and final inning, junior first baseman Matt Evans reached first on an error.

After freshman right fielder Max Krance walked to put runners at first and second, freshman designated hitter Andrew Hanson singled to right to tie the game, while a two-base error on the play allowed Krance to score and give the Tigers the lead.

Sophomore catcher Buster Small doubled in Hanson, providing an insurance run for the Tigers, and senior left-hander Joe Machado finished off the 5-3 comeback win by shutting down the Bulldogs in the bottom of the inning to earn the complete-game victory.

Aside from this first game against Yale, the story of the weekend for the Tigers was offense – lots of offense. Combined, Princeton batted .401 (55 for 137), scored 47 runs and smacked 23 extra-base hits, six of which were home runs. Senior shortstop Justin Griffin went 7 for 13, connecting for two home runs and four doubles, while knocking in five RBI and scoring six runs.

Short end

Yet offense wasn't enough in the first game of the weekend against Brown. After falling behind 8-2, the Tigers battled back but came up short in an 11-10 loss. Small and Evans each homered and drove in three runs to help close the gap to 11-9 entering the top of the seventh, but in that inning the Tigers could only rally for one more run.

In the second game, Princeton broke a 7-7 sixth inning tie by plating six runs, holding on for a 13-9 win and earning a split with the Bears. The freshman trio of Krance, catcher Casey Hildreth and center fielder Mickey Martin, hitting fifth through seventh in the order, respectively, went a combined 6 for 10 and knocked in six runs.

The Tigers capped their offensive explosion in their second game against Yale, scoring 11 fourth-inning runs en route to a 19-0 win. Sophomore Jason Quintana and junior Jay Tedeman combined on the four-hit shutout.