Baseball: Walks, walk-off doom Tigers at Rutgers

The game dragged to the three-hour mark as several pitchers from each team had trouble locating their pitches. Six Princeton (9-11) throwers combined for 13 walks and three more hit batters, but the visitors still had a chance to win the game, partly due to 10 bases on balls issued by five Scarlet Knights (14-12).

“It’s just one of those games ... We’ve definitely seen better from all the pitchers that threw today,” senior center fielder Sam Mulroy said.

Rutgers starter Slater McCue was the first hurler to lose control. The right-hander walked junior shortstop Matt Bowman on four pitches to open the game; two batters later, Mulroy blasted a towering fly ball beyond the left-field fence for his seventh homer of the season, giving Princeton a quick 2-0 lead.

McCue got out of the first inning without further damage despite issuing another walk, but he would not be as lucky in the second. Facing the bottom of the order, the righty put the first three Princeton batters on base; all three eventually scored, giving the visitors a 5-0 lead.

Freshman starter Danny Thomson, who had no problems in the first inning, inherited McCue’s wildness in the second. Thomson walked the first three batters on a total of 14 pitches and, two singles later, the hosts had cut the margin to one run.

After junior left fielder Steve Harrington led off the following frame with a double to the gap, Rutgers reliever Charlie Lasky became the third pitcher to issue three straight walks, forcing in a run with a free pass to junior second baseman Alex Flink. Two batters later, Lasky walked in another run with four pitches to Bowman, but reliever Willie Beard induced a double play to put out the fire.

Beard was the most effective reliever of the evening, walking only one batter and allowing two runs in four-and-two-thirds innings. Meanwhile, the Tigers’ control issues did not go away, as sophomore A.J. Goetz — usually a reliable closer — walked the only three batters he faced. Sophomore lefty Michael Fagan nearly escaped the bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning, but he walked in a run before a two-out single plated two more, pulling the Knights within one run again.

The hosts got that run in the fifth inning, when shortstop Pat Sweeney scored on a two-out wild pitch. Princeton’s wildness led to Rutgers’ first lead of the game in the following frame, when third baseman Patrick Kivlehan walked, stole second and scored from 180 feet away on a wild pitch. First baseman Bill Hoermann ripped a line drive over the left-field fence later in the inning, giving Rutgers an 11-8 lead.

The Tigers crawled back, taking advantage of Beard’s only walk to score a run in the seventh inning. Bowman led off the eighth with a single and junior right fielder John Mishu followed with his only hit of the day, a triple to the center-field wall. The next batter, Mulroy, turned on an inside pitch and drove it down the left-field line for a single, plating Mishu for his fourth RBI of the day and tying the game.

“I’ve worked pretty closely with all three of the coaches on my swing,” said Mulroy, who also doubled and scored in the fourth inning. “Right now, I feel pretty comfortable up there.”

The scoreboard did not budge in the bottom of the eighth, as Foote completed his second scoreless inning. But the Tigers could not break the tie in the top of the ninth, setting the stage for Favatello’s walk-off blast.

Bowman led the Tigers’ productive offense with three hits and two walks, reaching safely in all five of his plate appearances. Flink collected two walks and two hits, both singles, and smacked a hard line drive in his other at-bat.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

High-scoring games with the Scarlet Knights are not unusual for Princeton, as the winner in each of the last four annual meetings has scored at least 10 runs. Though the afternoon ended in disappointment, the Tigers can find solace in the fact that their league record was not tarnished.

“If we’re going to put 16 guys on base, better to do it here than up at Brown or Yale this weekend,” Mulroy said.