Baseball: Youth movement fuels unlikely turnaround

“The seniors made it clear that what happened last year was embarrassing, and it wasn’t going to happen again,” said sophomore outfielder John Mishu, who finished the season batting .291 with 28 RBIs.

The Tigers were coming off a last-place finish and had not won a division or league championship since 2006. So when senior relief pitcher David Palms told The Daily Princetonian that he guaranteed an Ivy League championship before the season began, some of his teammates were skeptical.

Despite the losses, the season indeed had a few bright spots. After dropping its first two games of the season at Louisiana State University, Princeton got off to a seven-run lead in the third game. LSU cut Princeton’s lead to one run, but with two outs and the bases loaded in his first career save situation, Palms struck out pinch hitter Jackson Slaid on a 3-2 pitch to seal the win.

Palms said that this victory over what was then the No. 7 team in the country gave the Tigers confidence.

“Everyone picked us to finish last,” he said. “We just went into it with a different mental attitude. It started off with LSU, a team we shouldn’t have beat. We came from that knowing that we are talented and we do have the right tools to make it work.”

Bradley said that the young team was able to “evolve” over the preseason into true Ivy League contenders. With a pitching rotation and starting lineup consisting mostly of freshmen and sophomores, it took the coaching staff some time to figure out how they best worked together. The decision to give the younger players more opportunities paid off, as the Tigers saw huge contributions from freshmen and sophomores throughout the league season.

Freshman pitcher and first baseman Mike Ford, who ranked second on the team with 30 RBIs and a 3.98 ERA, was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and second-team All-Ivy. Freshman third baseman Jonathan York finished second on the team with a .317 batting average. Freshman relief pitcher A.J. Goetz also proved critical in preserving key games for Princeton down the stretch, recording three saves while posting a 1.33 ERA and limiting opponents to a .191 batting average.

“Freshmen are able to make a huge impact on the team,” Palms said. “Coming into this year, seeing all the pure talent that we had in our sophomore class and freshman class, the attitude of the whole team shifted this year.”

The Tigers’ turnaround began during the first weekend of Ivy League play, when they swept home doubleheaders against Brown and Yale, outscoring both opponents by a combined 32-10. Despite dropping a road doubleheader against two-time defending champion Dartmouth — both games of which many Tigers said they should have won — Princeton swept Harvard to mark a solid opening to the league season.

“That was the time when our kids looked at each other and said, ‘This could be a good year. We’re off to a good start. We can keep ourselves in this race right up to the end,’ ” Bradley said.

The series against the three Gehrig Division opponents were repetitive but strong. After dropping the opening games to Penn, Columbia and Cornell, the Tigers swept the final three games of each weekend. Their consistency was partly a result of superb starting pitching, especially from sophomore right-hander Zak Hermans.

“I don’t know how Zak Hermans didn’t get [Ivy League] Pitcher of the Year,” Palms said. “He was a stud all year long for us.”

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Hermans went 5-1 on the year and led all starters with a 2.85 ERA and 52 strikeouts, and the Tigers won each of his five Ivy League starts. Princeton also received strong starts from Ford, sophomore Matt Bowman and sophomore Kevin Link.

“Our pitching was amazing,” Mishu said. “Every pitcher gave us a quality start, and our bullpen was big this year.”

Princeton clinched the Gehrig Division championship and home field advantage in the Ivy League Championship series with its victories over Cornell. Winning the advantage was key against Red Rolfe Division champion Dartmouth, which had won its previous 24 games in Hanover, N.H.

The Tigers took early leads in the first two games, and though they seemed poised to clinch the title in a sweep, Dartmouth’s late-inning comeback in the second game spoiled the afternoon for Princeton. But powered by junior catcher Sam Mulroy — who was named first-team All-Ivy after leading the Tigers with a .324 batting average, seven home runs and 39 RBIs — the Tigers led throughout the finale and won the Ivy League Championship. Mulroy had five RBIs and scored four runs in the Tigers’ two victories.

With the title, Princeton earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, becoming the first team in the nation to secure a slot. The Tigers drew the No. 4 seed in the Austin Regional and played host Texas in the opening round.

Princeton was eliminated in two games but made both contests competitive, losing 5-3 to the No. 7 Longhorns and 3-1 to Texas State.