After dropping three straight, baseball salvages a win in first Ivy weekend

After three straight league losses, the baseball team's back was against the wall. Needing a victory in the last game of the weekend, the Tigers were bailed out by their bats.

Saturday against Dartmouth, Princeton (6-12 overall, 1-3 Ivy League) lost the first game, 4-2 in extra innings, and the second, 13-4. Against Harvard on Sunday, the Tigers lost in extra innings again, 6-3, but this time rebounded to claim the second game, 12-3.

The Tiger bats went wild in that second game. Princeton got at least one run in each of the first six innings and every player in the lineup had at least one RBI.

Princeton could have gone 3-1 on the weekend, but the Tigers failed to get the critical hits in the first games of both doubleheaders. The weekend was not as negative as the 1-3 record may indicate, however, as the team gained a lot of momentum with the final-game victory.

The second game Sunday seemed early on like it was going to be the kind of back-and-forth battle that usually comes with a Harvard-Princeton showdown.

Harvard led off the scoring with one run in the top of the first inning. Princeton took the lead in the bottom half with runs on consecutive RBI singles by junior first baseman Andrew Hanson and junior catcher Casey Hildreth.

But after Harvard (8-11, 3-1) recaptured the lead again with two runs in the top of the second, the next six innings belonged to Princeton starter senior Jason Quintana. The righthander pitched six straight shutout innings before being relieved by freshman Chris Higgins in the ninth.

"One of the reasons we pitch Jason on the last day, when we're 0-3, is that he can handle being a stopper," head coach Scott Bradley said.

The Tigers took the lead in the bottom of the second and never looked back, rolling to a much-needed win.

"The last one was the most important, team-wise," junior left-fielder Jon Watterson said. "We needed to get momentum."

Watterson was solid all day Sunday for Princeton in the leadoff spot. He went 6-for-9 from the plate with two walks. Watterson served mainly as a pinch hitter last year, starting only three games.

"Jon is going to have a chance to run himself out there on some league weekends. He's earned it," Bradley said. "He puts the ball in play, and at this point that's what this team needs."

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Offense, especially crucial hits, is what Princeton needed more of in the first game Sunday. Harvard started the scoring early in the game, getting two runs off Tiger freshman righthander Ryan Quillian on a triple by catcher Brian Lenz.

Princeton evened the score in the bottom half of the inning on singles by junior designated hitter Max Krance and Hildreth.

In the third, the Crimson took the lead again. After John Frane, who played right field in the first game and pitched in the second, was thrown out at the plate by Watterson, Jeff Bridich's single to left field gave Harvard a 3-2 lead.

Then Crimson starter Ben Crockett took over the game. Crockett, who allowed only eight hits in nine innings of work, pitched five straight shutout innings and was one out away from closing out the game.

But the Tigers made that last out count. Bradley brought in sophomore Tony Dent, who spent all of last year on the junior varsity team, to pinch hit for junior rightfielder Mickey Martin. Dent singled to right and was driven in by Watterson to tie the score.

Freshman righthander David Boehle, who had taken over for Quillian in the seventh, owned the Crimson in the eighth.

But in the ninth, Harvard struck back. Boehle walked the first batter on four pitches and hit Lenz. Then Bridich doubled to the left field corner to drive in the winning runs. The game ended when Crockett got sophomore shortstop Pat Boran to ground into a double play.

On April Fool's Day Saturday against Dartmouth (9-8, 1-1), the joke was on the Tigers. The Big Green, which had beaten then-No. 18 Miami on Mar. 24, took two straight from the Tigers, winning 4-2, and 13-4.