Baseball: Tigers clinch share of division

“These guys are generally just thrilled,” head coach Scott Bradley said. “It’s been a few years since we’ve been in this position, and they’re really excited about it.”

The series opened on a rough note for the Tigers, who ran into trouble early in the first game as sophomore pitcher Matt Bowman gave up two hard singles to left-handed batters to lead off the second inning. After a bunt advanced the runners, Columbia scored its first run when freshman shortstop Jonathan York could not handle a choppy ground ball. The Lions scored their second run in a similar fashion, as York fielded the two-out ground ball cleanly but threw it wide of first base.

Princeton started its comeback with one out in the fourth inning, when sophomore leftfielder Steve Harrington lined a double down the right field line. Sophomore infielder Alex Flink followed with a single to left field, advancing Harrington to third. York followed with a chopper to the shortstop that looked sure to be an inning-ending double play, but Flink’s slide disrupted the play after the force-out. Harrington scored on the fielder’s choice to put the Tigers on the board.

Princeton tacked on two more in its next turn at bat, as sophomore outfielder John Mishu led off the inning with a walk, and freshman first baseman Mike Ford followed with a single. Junior catcher Sam Mulroy grounded into what should have been a double play, but the first baseman came off the bag, sending Harrington up to the plate with runners on first and third. Harrington’s double barely clipped the right field line, and the Tigers took the lead as Mishu scored easily and Mulroy beat the throw at the plate.

Columbia tied it up with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and Princeton failed to score in its last two at-bats, sending the game to extra innings. After the teams traded runs in the eighth, Lions third baseman Eric Williams homered on the first pitch of the ninth, and Columbia followed with three more runs off Bowman. The Tigers threatened in the bottom of the ninth, but they connected for just one run and dropped the opener 8-5.

Princeton began its offensive attack much earlier in the second game, scoring one run in the first and five in the fourth, while sophomore starting pitcher Zak Hermans held the Lions scoreless for the first four innings. With two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth, Bowman hit a double that landed just inside the left-field line to drive in two and give the Tigers a 4-0 lead. Mishu then broke it open with a two-run single to left field, giving Princeton a 6-0 lead. Columbia twice threatened to mount a comeback, scoring two in the fifth and two in the eighth, but freshman A.J. Goetz closed out the 6-4 win.

“The guy had been using his change-up a lot, so I figured he’d probably try to get me out with it. I just stayed back and stayed through it,” Bowman said of his run-scoring hit. “It was a big situation.”

The Tigers, who entered Monday’s games just three games ahead of Columbia and two ahead of Penn, knew that the afternoon was a crucial one in the race for the division championship. It did not take Princeton long to get started, as Mishu, Ford and Mulroy each singled to load the bases in the bottom of the first. Harrington hit into what seemed sure to be an inning-ending double play, but Mulroy’s slide into second distracted the second baseman, who threw it wide. Bowman scored to give Princeton the early 1-0 lead.

Ford let up two runs on two hits and a hit batsman in the third, but apart from one walk in the sixth inning, those were the only base runners he allowed for the entire game. The complete-game two-hitter was probably his best outing of the season so far.

“I’ve watched Mike Ford play more baseball than anybody I’ve ever recruited because he’s a local kid. He played with my son,” Bradley said. “I knew exactly what we were getting when he was coming here, and he’s a special kid and a special competitor.”

“I felt good; I kind of just threw my game,” Ford said. “They’re pretty much the same team as Penn for me hitting-wise, so I just went in with the same game plan and it worked.”

In the bottom of the third, the heart of the Tigers’ lineup once again rallied to give them the lead. Mishu reached third base standing after crushing a deep fly ball to right center field. Mulroy drove him in with a double, and Harrington’s opposite-field single drove in Mulroy for what proved to be the game-winning run.

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The momentum did not carry over into Princeton’s offense for the second game, however, as Columbia starting pitcher Geoff Whitaker threw a perfect game through the first four innings.

The Lions struck first in the top of the fifth, as shortstop Alex Ferrera hit a two-run shot off sophomore starting pitcher Kevin Link. Link had allowed just one hit in the previous four innings, but he nonetheless left the game a few batters later as the potential pitcher of record on the long end.

Harrington broke the perfect game in the fifth with a single to right field, but the Tigers did not take the lead until the sixth. Junior centerfielder Tom Boggiano led off the inning with a single to right, and Bowman followed with a chopper down the third-base line that appeared certain to go foul. But Columbia third baseman John Eisen cut it off, aiming for the out, and threw the ball away, allowing Boggiano to score and Bowman to advance to third. Ford and Harrington later followed with singles to tie the game and take the lead, respectively. Princeton tacked on one more in the eighth, and senior Matt Grabowski earned the win with four-and-a-third innings of scoreless pitching to clinch a share of the Lou Gehrig Division title for the Tigers.

“It feels good, but our job isn’t done yet,” Mishu said. “We want to host the championship here, and we haven’t even clinched our side yet. We can enjoy the win tonight, but we have to get back to work tomorrow and win against Rider on Wednesday.”