RIGHT START: Princeton University starting pitcher Zak ­Hermans delivers a pitch in action earlier this spring. Junior righthander Hermans is off to a 2-1 start this season for the Tigers with 19 strikeouts in 15 innings. The Tigers, who moved to 4-6 after taking two of three games at Richmond last weekend, play at UNC-Greensboro on March 21 before heading to Navy for a four-game set between March 23-25. (Photo by Stephen Goldsmith)

Scott Bradley knew that his Princeton University baseball team faced a major challenge earlier this month when it played a three-game set at two-time defending national champion and second-ranked South Carolina.

The Gamecocks brought a 10-1 record into the weekend and were among the nation’s leaders in team ERA. Princeton, for its part, had played just four games, going 2-2 in a season-opening set at Florida Atlantic.

“When you play a team like South Carolina, you know they are going to throw so many bodies at you,” said Bradley.

“They are able to match up righty-righty and lefty-lefty. They can throw a submarine guy at you or a fireballer. Our guys needed 100 at-bats to be ready for that.”

While the Tigers may have been a bit overmatched, they were definitely ready to battle. Princeton pushed the Gamecocks in each of the games, falling 2-1, 6-1, and 3-1.

In the opener on March 9, junior pitcher Zak Hermans was sparkling, yielding just one run in five innings of work. The Tigers fell behind 2-0 but rallied in the ninth to pick up a run on a Mike Ford RBI ground out before losing 2-1.

A day later, Princeton fell 6-1 as the Gamecocks scored five runs between the fifth and eighth innings to pull away.

In the finale, Sam Mulroy and Alec Keller each went 2-for-4 with Matt Bowman giving up three runs in seven innings of work.

“I felt that our pitching and defense was terrific,” asserted Bradley in reflecting on the weekend.

“Zak Hermans has been great. Mike Ford and Matt Bowman are also throwing well. Kevin Link, A.J. Goetz, and Ryan Mavis didn’t get a lot of work out of the bullpen because the starters threw so well. We made a couple of errors late in the second game and they pulled away. But other than that, we have been playing really well defensively.”

Offensively, the Tigers have been relying on veterans Mulroy and Bowman with sophomore Keller showing progress.

“Mulroy and Bowman have been swinging the bat well,” added Bradley. “Keller has been terrific, he has had a couple of hits in each game.”

Princeton’s bats came alive last weekend as the Tigers beat Richmond 21-14 on Saturday and 15-9 a day later to improve to 4-6.

Coming off an inspiring 2011 season that saw Princeton win the Ivy League title after being in the cellar of the Gehrig Division the previous spring, Princeton won’t be able to fly under the radar this spring.

“It is a young team,” noted Bradley. “I told them that nothing was expected last year so things were easier. The key now is to see whether they can play with a bull’s eye on their back.”

Bradley is happy to see that his players are meeting expectations when it comes to their daily approach to business.

“Our work ethic and the way we have been going about things has been great,” maintained Bradley.

“We are going to have a lot of close, low scoring games. Last year, we were able to get the big hit or make the big play. We got a lot of two-out hits. You don’t know if that is going to happen again this year.”

With Princeton having taken two of three from Richmond to begin its annual Southern swing, Bradley will be looking for more progress as the Tigers play at UNC-Greensboro on March 21 before heading to Navy for a four-game set between March 23-25.

“I want to see the hitters make adjustments,” said Bradley. “We need to keep pitching well and play good defense.”