Despite injuries, pitching dominates for baseball

Coming into this weekend, the baseball team's pitching staff was running on fumes. Princeton had to take an extended road trip to New England and allow some of its pitchers to have big games to get back on track.

The Tiger hurlers had not been at full strength, and up until this weekend their regular starters could do nothing more than watch from the sidelines and nurse their injuries. Sophomore Tommy Crenshaw had been battling mononucleosis, and freshman Scott Hindman was experiencing some elbow soreness and could not throw.

"All of a sudden two out of our four weekend starters are out of the loop," head coach Scott Bradley said. "So it's put a little bit of a strain on our pitching depth."

At the time, only one pitcher on the staff — senior Jason Quintana — had a winning record. Princeton (11-13 overall, 4-4 Ivy League) was in such a bind for lack of healthy pitchers that habitual catcher and designated hitter Casey Hildreth got the nod to take the mound last Thursday against Monmouth.

So during this pivotal Ivy weekend against Yale and Brown, the Tigers needed some league wins. They needed a few good, healthy pitchers. And that's just what Princeton got, as several Tigers stepped up to take control of the game from the pitching mound.

Princeton's first missionary to the mound had only seen limited action this season. While cleared to pitch four innings against Dartmouth April 1, sophomore Chris Young was allowed to start, finish and dominate a full game against Yale Saturday. Young fanned ten batters in a one-hitter, bringing his record to 1-0 and his ERA to 0.69.

In the second game of the doubleheader, fellow sophomore Tom Rowland — who had struggled so far this season to a 1-3 record — returned to fine form and led the Tigers to a 6-1 victory over the Elis. Rowland struck out seven and limited Yale to just five hits in the effort, improving his record to 2-3.

Aside from garnering two important league wins for the Tigers, Young and Rowland provided Princeton with another favor — pitching complete games. The Tigers were able to rest their depleted staff and save the rest of the pitchers for the next game.

In the first game of the doubleheader Monday against Brown, freshman Ryan Quillian survived a tough first two innings to go the distance and pitch four more strong innings. Quillian gave up a total of six earned runs in the first and second innings, but shrugged off the initial barrage by Brown and went on to strike out eight. The freshman hurler improved his record to 2-1.

The Bears, however, would not allow the Tiger pitchers to have a perfect weekend. In the second game of the doubleheader, Quintana was tagged for nine runs in the first three innings as Princeton dug itself an insurmountable hole. The Tigers would go on to lose 13-4 — just Quintana's second loss of the season.

The Tigers' recent success has not come as a result of their pitching alone, however. Princeton's hitting has also played a crucial role in notching key league wins, and the two have gone hand-in-hand.

In Princeton's first six wins of the season, the Tigers won by only an average margin of 2.6 runs. Since April 2, in Princeton's last five wins, the Tigers have triumphed by an average of six runs.

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The increased run production at the plate makes any pitcher's job easier, giving the hurler a cushion and removing some of the burden from his shoulders.

But out of the Tigers' 12 losses, nine were lost by a margin of six runs or more. Princeton has had trouble rallying — as in the second Brown game when the Tigers were down by nine runs in the third inning. Princeton relies on its pitchers to keep the game close, and can't always count on its bats to make an appearance.

If the Tiger pitching staff gets to full strength and remains healthy for the rest of the season, Princeton will be able to keep games close and compete with any team.