DRAMA KINGS: Princeton University baseball players celebrate after they edged Dartmouth 2-1 in the opening game of a doubleheader on a walk-off double by senior Billy Arendt last Saturday in its Ivy League opener. The Tigers won the nightcap 9-8 on a walk-off single by Joseph Flynn in the 10th inning, overcoming an 8-6 deficit. On Sunday, Princeton kept rolling, sweeping Harvard, 4-1 and 14-5, as junior outfielder Nick Hernandez had six RBIs on the day. The Tigers, now 11-10 overall and 4-0 Ivy, will look to extend their five-game winning streak when they host Monmouth on April 6 and then resume Ivy play with doubleheaders at Yale on April 9 and at Brown on April 10. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

On one hand, Nick Hernandez would like to forget his sophomore season with the Princeton University baseball team.

The Tigers plummeted to a 7-32 overall and 4-16 Ivy League record last spring while Hernandez hit .250 with just one homer and 9 RBIs in 34 games.

“Last year left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth,” said junior outfielder Hernandez, a 6’2, 205-pound native of Miami, Fla.

“I have said this before and I know a couple of guys have agreed with me, last year was probably the first time that I would say I just wasn’t having a lot of fun, losing like that.”

But last year’s struggles have focused Hernandez and his teammates coming into 2016.

“I think guys came back to school with a purpose and really working hard from day one to just never let that happen again,” said Hernandez. “It has carried on to the spring so far.”

The Tigers showed a sense of purpose last weekend as they started Ivy League play last Saturday by sweeping visiting Dartmouth, 2-1 and 9-8 in 10 innings. Princeton won both games with walk-off hits as Billy Arendt hit a game-winning double in the opener and Joseph Flynn stroked a long single to plate the winning runs in the nightcap.

“It was awesome, it was just team effort all-around with pitching, defense and offensively, guys needed to step up and they did,” said Hernandez, reflecting on the dramatic victories over the Big Green. “It was an awesome way to start it off.”

On Sunday, Princeton stepped up again, topping Harvard, 4-1 and 14-5. In the opener, a run-scoring single by Hernandez and a two-run homer by Zack Belski in the bottom of the first inning set the tone for the day.

“We kept it rolling and we were feeling good from yesterday,” said Hernandez. “It was a little cold out today. We came out and didn’t let it affect us and played our game.”

Hernandez emerged as the star of the second game, hitting a two-run single to give Princeton a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third and then connecting for a bases-loaded double an inning later to put the Tigers up 7-2, giving him a career single-game best of five RBIs.

“I was just trying to do a job for the guys, I was just trying to get a ball in play,” said Hernandez, who had six RBIs on the day and is now hitting .316 with team highs in hits (25) and RBIs (16).

“Luckily, I was able to get up in some big situations and some guys were able to get on base. I was doing a job and trying everything in my power to make things happen and help the team win.”

In reflecting on the team’s promising start as it posted its fifth straight win and improved to 11-10 overall and 4-0 Ivy, Hernandez pointed to Princeton’s resilience.

“We have been doing it all year, where we have been put in some tough spots and get punched in the face and come back and really just respond back,” said Hernandez, noting that senior Andrew Christie responded in a big way in the nightcap, hitting a grand slam homer in the bottom of the sixth, drawing the cheers of his father, Governor Chris Christie, who was on hand at Clarke Field.

“We don’t let it affect us and keep going back to our fundamentals and what we do best. The pitching was phenomenal again and that has been carrying us all year.”

Princeton head coach Scott Bradley likes the production he is getting in the middle of the order from Hernandez and Zach Belski, who had their RBIs in the twinbill on Sunday.

“It is great; we expect it,” said Bradley. “You are talking about two guys that have been in the middle of our lineup for the better part of three years and they have shown flashes of being really good. Now they are starting to put things together.”

The Princeton bats warmed up collectively over the last week. “I think winning the Seton Hall midweek game (7-4 on March 30) against a good team helped get us going,” noted Bradley.

“We have pitched and played great defense all year but we haven’t swung the bats at all. We started to swing the bats a little bit, which is a good thing that gets confidence going. Danny Baer had a big home run against Seton Hall to get us in the game. It carries over, big hits are contagious. We got a couple of big hits yesterday and it led to today, where we just swung the bats and had some things going.”

Bradley has been getting a lot of good things from his starting rotation of Chad Powers, Luke Strieber, Cameron Mingo, and Keelan Smithers.

“Our pitching is terrific, we tell people all the time when we go into a weekend, there is really no difference in who goes out there,” said Bradley.

“We don’t have a one, two, three, four; we have four starting pitchers. It is not like a lot of teams look that say we need to win the first day. Keelan Smithers can throw a dominant game just as easily as Luke Strieber can, so the balance of our starting rotation can make us dangerous.”

Getting some timely hitting to go with the superb pitching, Bradley feels the Tigers could enjoy some big weekends over the next month or so.

“Just winning games is great, we always say we like to shake hands,” said Bradley.

“We won so few games last year, we lost a number of close ball games. It was just one of those years with injuries, nothing went right. We were so banged up; we were so thin, so hurt.”

Being healthy and getting some freshman reinforcements to shake things up has made a big difference for the Tigers.

“We have bodies this year, we brought in a good freshman class, and the competition got going,” said Bradley.

“We can run a lot of different guys out there and the guys know that if I don’t play well, there is somebody right behind me so I think that really helps. Last year, guys knew that they were going to play whether they played well or not. This year, that is not the case.”

In Hernandez’s view, the Tigers are primed to keep playing well the rest of the spring. “This year everyone is playing for the team at a whole new level, everyone is just selling out for the team and forgetting about their numbers,” said Hernandez. “Guys are just trying to do everything they can to help the team win, it has carried around the whole team.”