Baseball: Tigers play for outright Gehrig title

The Tigers (18-19 overall, 12-4 Ivy League) come into these games having won six of their last eight Ivy League contests. Cornell (9-27, 6-10) will arrive at Princeton having won three of its last four games. While the Big Red has already been eliminated from contention, its wins against Penn last Monday might give the team the confidence to cause the Tigers some trouble.

Cornell’s success against the Quakers was in large part due to the efforts of outfielder Brian Billigen, who had two nearly flawless games at bat to pad Cornell’s score. Cornell’s pitching was also stellar in both of its last two victories.

Despite its pitching, Cornell only managed such success because the Quakers’ offense never found a groove. Princeton has proved that it has a much more talented offensive front.

Princeton has played exceptionally well for most of the season, and its losses have had more to do with slow starts than anything else. The Tigers have developed the unfortunate habit of starting out games slowly, forcing them to catch up by the second and third innings. Though they have proven more than capable of doing so, it has cost them on occasion.

The Tigers will need to focus on stronger fielding this weekend to avoid dropping games unnecessarily. Though they have been the victims of slow starts, they also often fall behind by allowing their opponents to score too easily. They usually manage to catch up, but tightening their defense would be a big step forward for them.

The Tigers currently have a four-game lead in the Lou Gehrig Division. Every team in the Ivy League, including Princeton, has exactly four games remaining in their Ivy seasons, so the Tigers are guaranteed at least a playoff game for the division even if they fail to capture it outright.

One win this weekend is all the Tigers need to secure the division title and, given their recent performance, they should have no trouble doing so. The bigger challenge for the Tigers is to win home field advantage in the Ivy League Championships.

Both Dartmouth and Yale have 10-6 records in the Ivy League and are vying for the Red Rolfe Division title. Each of them has four games left to play against Harvard and Brown, respectively, so either or both of them could overtake the Tigers in the race to the top of the league standings.

Dartmouth, the two-time defending champions in the Ivy League, would be a particularly challenging opponent in the championship game, so home field advantage will be extremely important. Of Princeton’s four Ivy losses so far, two of them came against Dartmouth, and the Big Green is the only team against whom the Tigers have not yet won a game. On the other hand, the Tigers posted dominant performances against Yale early in the season, so they may hope that Yale manages to come out on top of the Rolfe Division.

Whatever happens, the Tigers can use this weekend to clean up their game in preparation for the championship series. The most important thing for the Tigers now is to make sure they are ready to face both Dartmouth and Yale.