Baseball: Late-inning miscues doom host Princeton

Though he ran into trouble in the first and third innings, Fagan escaped from the jams he caused. He walked two batters and threw a wild pitch in the first inning but got third baseman Andrew Wayman to foul out to freshman catcher Bobby Geren. With one out in the third, Fagan allowed two consecutive singles and then moved the runners to second and third with a poor pickoff throw. But, just as in the first, he managed to induce a strikeout and a groundout to get out of the inning.

But Princeton had just as much trouble scoring off Rider starter Kyle Kennett, who gave up seven hits over five and one-third innings to earn the win. Kennett sent the Tigers down in order in the first and fourth frames. In the third, despite a leadoff bunt single by junior center fielder Tom Boggiano, Kennett induced a double play and threw just four pitches in the inning.

But the Princeton batters figured Kennett out in the bottom of the fifth, when junior left fielder Andrew Whitener hit a clean line drive to right center field. After Whitener stole second, Boggiano walked and sophomore shortstop Matt Bowman followed with a triple to left field. Whitener scored easily, but Boggiano just barely managed to beat the relay throw to the plate.

“I was glad that we had guys on base when it happened, and I knew that we were in a bit of a lull and I was hoping that it would kick us into drive,” Bowman said. “As soon as runs start crossing the plate, we sort of wake up, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.”

Sophomore right fielder John Mishu followed with a deep flyball to left that carried over the fielder’s head and allowed Bowman to score to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead.

But after replacing Fagan with junior Ryan Makis for the top of the sixth, Princeton gave the lead right back. After loading the bases with one out, Makis appeared to catch a break when catcher Kat Kremer hit a pop-up to shallow center field. Sophomore left fielder Steve Harrington came charging in but missed the ball as it fell, allowing Rider’s first run to score. He then threw the ball away trying to get the out at third and yet another Bronc crossed the plate. Rider tied the game when a hard ground ball that just got past freshman third baseman Jonathan York.

“In a mid-week game, we sort of got lulled into going through the motions,” Bowman said.

Senior David Palms came on in relief and gave up what could have been an inning-ending double play, but the relay throw from sophomore second baseman Alex Flink arrived just a split second too late, allowing Rider to take the lead. The Tigers threatened in the coming innings but never managed to get a run across the plate.

The Tigers split games between Clarke Field and Ithaca, N.Y., this weekend for their last four league games of the regular season.

“It’s just energy level and mental focus. It’s not physical things. When we’re not mentally in it, everything falls apart,” Bowman said. “We’re happy that it happened in a mid-week game so we can see that this weekend we need to focus.”