HEATING UP: Princeton University pitcher Zak Hermans fires a pitch in action last spring. Senior star Hermans has pitched well in the early stages of the season, going 0-1 with a 2.35 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 15.1 innings. Princeton, now 1-10, is on its annual spring break trip and is slated to play at Elon on March 20, at UNC-Greensboro on March 21, and then head to Navy for a four-game set from March 22-24. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Although the Princeton University baseball team dropped three of four games at Stetson earlier this month in its second weekend of action this season, Scott Bradley drew a lot of positives from the his squad’s effort.

“The starting pitching was phenomenal, it was fantastic,” said Princeton head coach Bradley, referring to his rotation of senior Zak Hermans, senior Kevin Link, junior Michael Fagan, and junior Mike Ford, a former Hun School standout.

“I wanted each pitcher to go 90 pitches. Hermans didn’t give up a run until the sixth in the first game. Link threw seven shutout innings. Fagan had five shutout innings. Ford gave up two unearned runs in five innings.”

Bradley saw progress offensively as the Tigers were outscored at Stetson by 17-15 (losing a pair of 7-6 decisions and splitting a doubleheader with each game ending at 2-1), a marked improvement on its first weekend of the season which saw it get outscored 40-9 by Maryland in losing four games to the Terps.

“We saw some good at-bats,” said Bradley. “Mike Ford hit a two-run homer. Peter Owens is off to a good start; he is fast and can get on base. Stevie Harrington is coming off of squash and he is showing signs of getting it going.”

With Princeton squandering leads in each of its defeats to Stetson, Bradley acknowledged that his bullpen needs to be sharper.

“We are still trying to figure that out,” said Bradley, referring to his relief corps.

“Nick Donatiello threw three and a third innings on Friday so I knew I couldn’t use him again; Sunday’s game would have been his. A.J. Goetz had pitched well. He hit a bump in the road but he had pitched three good innings. We have some freshmen, Luke Strieber, Cam Mingo, Chris Bodurian who could help. Tyler Foote gave us some good innings.”

While Princeton did break through with its first win of the season at Stetson, Bradley was disappointed to see his team fail to come away with another victory or two on the trip.

“In the first game we had a 1-run lead in the ninth and a 2-run lead in the 11th,” recalled Bradley.

“We split a pair of 2-1 games on Sunday. In the last game, we had a three-run lead in the ninth. No doubt we should have had a second win or even three. We have to learn from that.”

With Princeton heading south for its annual spring break trip, Bradley knows his team has to get healthier to be competitive.

“The most important person for us right now is our trainer,” said Bradley, whose team went 0-3 against Georgetown last weekend to move to 1-10 and will play at Elon on March 20, at UNC-Greensboro on March 21 and then head to Navy for a four-game set from March 22-24.

“We are a little banged up, nothing major. Alec Keller didn’t play last weekend, he has a shoulder problem, he should be ready to go on the trip. Danny Hoy is one of our talented freshman and has been bothered by tendinitis, so we had him at DH but not in the field. Blake Thomsen has a chance to start at shortstop but has not played yet.”

For Bradley, the trip will be a dress rehearsal for Ivy League play, which features weekends with back-to-back doubleheaders.

“Starting with Georgetown, everything is going to be geared to how we want to play on weekends,” said Bradley, “We need to start putting things together and winning series. If a starting pitcher is feeling good, we may let him go for a complete game.”