Baseball: Tigers claim sole possession of division lead

The first games of the weekend, initially scheduled for Saturday, were moved up to Friday afternoon due to forecasts of rain. It did not take Penn long to get its bats rolling against sophomore starting pitcher Matt Bowman, as outfielder Greg Zebrack led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run for the Quakers. Although Princeton tied the game in its next turn at bat on a single by junior third baseman Andrew Whitener, Penn’s offense exploded for six runs in the bottom of the inning. With runners on second and third and two outs, sophomore shortstop Alex Flink could not field a potentially inning-ending ground ball cleanly. After this run-inducing error, Bowman allowed five hits in a row and five more Quakers crossed the plate. All six runs in the inning were unearned.

Freshman pitcher Michael Fagan replaced Bowman in the third inning for his first Ivy League outing of the season. He allowed just one earned run in three innings pitched, retiring the side in order in the fourth and fifth innings. Though junior catcher Sam Mulroy homered to lead off the fourth and sophomore left fielder Steve Harrington and Flink each had RBI singles in the sixth, the offense could not overcome the consequences of the disastrous start, and the Tigers lost the seven-inning game 12-4.

Friday’s second game, on the other hand, remained a contest for all nine innings, as neither team led by more than one run until the top of the eighth. Freshman first baseman Jonathan York opened the top of the first inning with a single to right field on the first pitch of the game. He eventually scored on Mulroy’s RBI single up the middle. The game remained 1-0 until the fifth, as sophomore starting pitcher Zak Hermans struck out two and scattered two hits over the first four frames. The game went back and forth for the next few innings, as Penn scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take its first lead of the game.

In the top of the eighth, the Tigers put the game away. After Bowman led off the inning with a single, and two errors by Penn second baseman Brandon Engelhardt allowed him to score. Flink followed with a single to drive in Mulroy, and a throwing error by Zebrack in center field allowed Ford to score as well. These three errors gave Princeton a two-run lead, which it did not surrender en route to a 6-5 victory.

Penn got off to a quick two-run lead in the first inning of Sunday’s opening game, but Princeton got the runs back in the third inning. Junior centerfielder Tom Boggiano led off with a single, freshman left fielder Alec Keller followed with another one and sophomore right fielder John Mishu doubled to center field, driving home both runs to tie the game.

“I was just trying to put solid contact on the ball because we had runners on second and third,” Mishu said. “He left the changeup up, and I just squared it up.”

Ford did not allow a run and scattered four hits throughout the final six innings, and he helped himself in the top of the seventh. After Keller led off the inning with a double, Ford doubled him home to give him the lead he needed to close out the complete game 3-2 victory.

The Quakers scored first in the nightcap with a run in the fifth inning, but freshman designated hitter Ryan Albert tied the game in the top of the sixth with a solo home run. When Penn took the lead once again in the seventh, Mulroy answered with an RBI single in the top of the eighth to make the score 2-2, where it remained into extra innings.

Mishu led off the 10th frame with a bunt single to third base, and Ford followed with a walk. With two outs, Albert provided the heroics, driving home both runs with a double to give Princeton the lead. Senior David Palms, who pitched two and one-third innings of scoreless relief, retired the side in the 10th to earn his second win of the weekend.

"Coming out of this weekend two games ahead of any other team on our side of the division means that we are in charge of our destiny going into these last two weeks," Palms said. "We have known since the beginning of the year that we have a significant amount of talent on our team, it's all just dependent on if we go out and perform."

“It’s huge to lose the first game and then win three in a row, especially against a team like Penn that’s going to challenge us for the division title,” Mishu said. “We’re in pretty good shape going forward.”

Princeton now stands two games ahead of Penn and three ahead of Columbia in the Gehrig Division and boasts the best conference record in the Ivy League. The Tigers will host the Lions in a four-game series next weekend.