Baseball: Tigers will host league championship series

“It’s an unbelievable feeling. We’ve been working toward this all year,” sophomore second baseman Alex Flink said. “Last year, we didn’t do as well as we wanted to. We know we have the talent, and from day one [in the] Ivy League we came out and we got it. You can’t do any better than that.”

In the first game against the last-place Big Red, Princeton did not play like a team that would clinch the division title later that day. Despite putting the leadoff man on base in each of the first four innings, the Tigers could not muster a single run against Cornell starter Jadd Schmeltzer, who lasted all seven innings and struck out five, scattering four hits.

Sophomore starter Matt Bowman struck out eight in his seven innings but allowed two runs in the first frame, which the Tigers never matched. The Tigers came close to scoring in the bottom of the fourth as they managed to get runners on first and third base with one out, but Flink struck out looking and junior left fielder Steve Harrington was caught stealing on the play.

The Tigers’ bats came alive in the second game, as they took a 3-1 lead in the second inning. But just as in Wednesday’s non-league game against Rider, Princeton’s faulty defense caused it to squander a lead.

“I still felt like I was throwing real well, but I made an error and we had a couple defensive lapses,” sophomore starting pitcher Zak Hermans said of the third inning. “I just knew that I had to go back to throwing strikes and making my good pitches. I knew if I could just settle in that I’d be okay.”

With a runner on first and no outs in the third, Bowman — playing shortstop — misplayed a sure double-play ground ball up the middle. The next batter bunted up the first base line, but Hermans couldn’t come up with the ball, so the bases were loaded with no outs. Cornell shortstop Marshall Yanzick then drove in a run with a single, and a wild pitch to the next batter tied the score.

On the following play, junior third baseman Andrew Whitener couldn’t field a ground ball properly, allowing another run.

“The physical mistakes are going to happen. It’s just inevitable. Over the course of the season, you’re going to make errors, you’re going to drop balls, you’re going to make bad throws,” said junior catcher Sam Mulroy, who went three-for-seven in the opening doubleheader. “It’s just something that you have to focus on and work hard to minimize.”

Mulroy blew the game open for the Tigers in the bottom of the seventh. With the score tied, Bowman walked, and sophomore outfielder John Mishu’s ground ball forced an error by Cornell first baseman Frank Hager, advancing Bowman to third. Freshman first baseman Mike Ford then brought home Bowman to take the lead when Yanzick could not come up with his ground ball.

Mulroy then found the gap in left center field with a high line drive, pulling into second base standing up to put Princeton ahead 7-4. He later scored on Harrington’s sacrifice fly.

“I wasn’t trying to do too much — I took a pretty terrible swing earlier in the at-bat — so I was just trying to stay back and get a good swing on the ball,” Mulroy said. “Fortunately, I put it in the gap.”

The Big Red attempted a comeback in the following frame. With runners on first and third and one out, Cornell third baseman Anthony Irigoyen popped a blooper into shallow right field. The ball looked sure to drop, but Flink gave chase and made the leaping catch to record the second out.

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“The ball went up in the air, and I was going back for it,” Flink said. “No one called for it, so I just kept going and left the ground to try to get it, and then I felt it in my glove.”

Cornell scored once in the inning, but the Tigers held on for an 8-5 victory.

In Sunday’s first game, Princeton took advantage of two errors, a wild pitch and run-scoring singles by Harrington and Flink to take a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Cornell pushed one run across in the bottom of the first inning, but it was the only one allowed by Ford, the starting pitcher.

Though the Big Red scored two runs off senior David Palms in the seventh inning to threaten a comeback, freshman A.J. Goetz retired the final two batters to record his third save of the year and lead the Tigers to a 6-3 victory.

In the second game, the two teams carried a 1-1 tie into the eighth inning. Sophomore starter Kevin Link allowed one run in five innings, but Princeton did not take the lead for good until Mishu tripled to center with one out in the top of the eighth. Ford then reached on an error to drive him in. After Mulroy singled to the left, Harrington singled on the first pitch to drive in Ford.

With runners on first and third and two outs, freshman designated hitter Ryan Albert doubled down the right field line, driving in two runs and solidifying a 6-1 victory and home-field advantage for the Tigers.

Princeton will face Dartmouth for a best-of-three series to determine the Ivy League championship starting next Saturday at Clarke Field.