In baseball, it has long been said that a team’s performance in one-run games is based just as much on luck as on skill. By that standard, Princeton baseball (7–22 overall, 4–5 Ivy League) was quite unlucky this weekend.
Facing the Penn Quakers (13–12, 7–2) in an away series in Philadelphia, the Tigers were swept in an excruciatingly close fashion. No game was decided by more than two runs, and Penn only scored four more runs than Princeton across the whole series. Going 0–3 with a negative-four run differential is particularly brutal.
“Losing close games is difficult of course,” Head Coach Scott Bradley told The Daily Princetonian. “Our lack of depth hurts because we just don’t have many options when it comes to pinch hitters and pinch runners.”
Pitching Shines, Bats Falter in Game One
In the first game of Friday’s doubleheader, the Tigers sent senior pitcher Andrew D’Alessio out to the mound. After a rough out-of conference slate, D’Alessio has shined during Ivy play, with a pair of quality starts in his first two games. His positive performance continued on Friday, surrendering just one run across five strong innings of work.
“I didn’t have my best stuff this week but I was able to make some big pitches and manage the game,” D’Alessio told the ‘Prince.’ “I had my sinker working well so I was able to rely on that to induce some weak contact and early outs when I needed them.”
On the other side of the ball, the bats were stymied by Penn’s Noah Millikan. The offense went dormant, mustering just three hits against Millikan and Penn’s bullpen across the game. The Tigers only run came when junior second baseman Jake Koonin smashed a home run to center field in the top of the first.
After tying the game off D’Alessio in the fourth, the Quakers went ahead for good in the seventh on a double off junior Tiger reliever Justin Kim. Kim limited the damage, but the 2–1 lead was enough for Penn to secure the win.
Late Comeback Falls Short in Game Two
In the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, first-year utility Nick Shenefelt took the mound for the Tigers. Shenefelt plays the field most days, but also doubles as a pitcher who can go multiple innings per outing.
His start on Friday was somewhat rocky, giving up two earned runs (of his three total) over two-plus innings of work. In between Shenefelt’s second and third innings, Princeton’s lineup gave the fans a rare treat.
In the top of the third inning, Jake Koonin led off. Much like in the first half of the doubleheader, Koonin hunted a fastball and got one right down the pipe. He responded by hitting a no-doubt home run that cleared the left-center field wall with room to spare. Knowing he got all of it, Koonin walked out of the box and down the first-base line, admiring the ball.
“[Both home runs] were pretty similar in terms of my approach, just hunting first-pitch fastballs,” Koonin told the ‘Prince.’ “I saw a pitch I liked and wanted to damage early on in the at bat and it just so happened to work out twice this weekend.”
Not to be outdone, junior catcher Jake Bold stepped up next and tried to outdo his teammate, both in the length of the home run and the length of time spent watching it. In the blink of an eye, the Tigers went back-to-back on two huge plays.
“We hadn’t done that in our career so it was definitely a cool moment and it changed the momentum of the game,” said Koonin of the back-to-back jacks. “Hopefully we can do it a couple more times in our career.”
Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last for the Tigers. Shenefelt’s troubles started in the next inning, and sophomore reliever Elliott Eaton was unable to bail him out. Penn led 7–3 by the fifth inning, and a late Tiger rally in the eighth inning wasn’t enough to flip the lead. The last three Tiger batters struck out in the ninth, and the game ended 7–5.
Extra-Inning Thriller Goes Awry
In Saturday’s game, the Tigers had their best chance to win. Though first-year pitcher Liam Kinneen coughed up four runs in five innings, the Tigers led into the ninth inning thanks to a solid offensive performance. Up 6–4 in the sixth, the coaching staff pulled Kineen for senior pitcher Jacob Faulkner. Faulkner, initially presumed to be unavailable, was able to pitch well for his first three innings of work.
“Jacob Faulkner was sick all week and we were not sure if he was going to pitch at all,” Bradley told the ‘Prince.’ “Four innings was a little more than we wanted him to pitch on Saturday so he should be stronger this week.”
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Faulkner ran into trouble early, surrendering back-to-back doubles, bringing the score to 6–5 with the winning runner in scoring position. The next batter singled, tying the game at six apiece.
Extra innings were not kind to the Tigers, who didn’t record a hit in the three innings of play and struck out in order in the 12th.
In the bottom of the 12th inning, Penn loaded the bases off Justin Kim before driving home the walk-off run on a single to right field.
In a weekend filled with so many chances for the Tigers, they went home empty-handed.
“The message to the team was that little things matter in close games,” Bradley told the ‘Prince’ after the series. “[We] need to stay together and only worry about our games.”
Next weekend, the Tigers are shipping up to Boston for a three-game set with the Harvard Crimson (4–20, 2–7 Ivy). Now fifth in the Ivies, Princeton will need to beat up on the Crimson in order to make the tournament in May.
Joe Uglialoro is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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