Baseball: Tigers drop nonleague road game

This weekend, the baseball team will finally return to Princeton after an 10-game road trip during which it went 6-4. The Tigers will kick off their seven-game homestand with doubleheaders against Columbia on both Saturday and Sunday. The Lions (16-18 overall, 6-6 Ivy League) are third in the Ivy League’s Lou Gehrig Division, just three games behind the division-leading Tigers (15-17, 9-3).

Columbia is looking to capitalize on its chance to climb up the standings, but it will have to sweep a tough Princeton team if it wants to take the division lead.

The Tigers took a two-game lead over Penn in the Gehrig Division standings with three victories in four games in doubleheaders on Friday and Sunday. But after these encouraging victories in Philadelphia over the weekend, Princeton suffered a tough end to its road trip with a 5-1 loss against Monmouth (22-13) in non-league play on Thursday.

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Kevin Link took the mound against the Hawks — who currently sit in first place in the Northeastern Conference — and retired the side in order in each of the first two innings. But when freshman lefty Michael Fagan came in to pitch for Link in the third, he allowed a ground ball from catcher Tim Bickford. Freshman third baseman Jonathan York fielded it cleanly but made an error on the throw to first base, allowing Bickford to advance to second.

Two singles and a wild pitch later, Monmouth had a two-run lead, which proved to be all they needed.

It was a frustrating afternoon offensively for the Tigers, who left runners on base in seven of their nine innings at the plate. Princeton scored a run in the fourth when sophomore second baseman Alex Flink drove in junior catcher Sam Mulroy, who had reached base on a double down the left-field line. Despite two and one-third strong innings of scoreless, one-hit relief from senior closer David Palms, the Tigers did not capitalize on any offensive opportunities and ended up losing 5-1.

After the defeat, the Tigers will be happy to return to Clarke Field. They have dominated at home this year with a 4-0 record, including two wins against Yale, which currently sits atop the Ivy League’s Red Rolfe Division.

At home, Princeton generates eight runs per game on average while holding opponents to just 2.5 runs per game.

The four-game series will be a battle of two teams that appear to be headed in opposite directions. The red-hot Tigers have won three of their last four games while Columbia is trying to bounce back from a three-game losing streak, including a 6-0 shutout at the hands of Manhattan in its most recent game.

However, the Lions are much stronger than their record indicates. Columbia’s overall record is two games below .500 even though it has outscored its opponents by 32 runs; in league play, the Lions are 6-6 with a run differential of plus-21.

Princeton has its sights set on the Ivy League Championship Series, in which the leader of the Lou Gehrig Division faces off against the leader of the Red Rolfe Division for the Ivy League title.

The Tigers have not won a division or league championship since 2006, and this weekend will be key in securing a spot in the Ivy League Championships. They could conceivably clinch the division title with a strong performance and Penn losses at Cornell.

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After the pair of doubleheaders against Columbia, Princeton’s four remaining Ivy League matchups are against last-place Cornell. The Tigers will take the field at 1 p.m. tomorrow for the first of their four battles against the Lions.