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Tiger Baseball Outslugs Dartmouth In Winning Ivy Championship Series
By Bill Alden
As Princeton University baseball coach Scott Bradley looked ahead to his club's Ivy League Championship Series showdown at Dartmouth, he maintained the formula for success was basic.
"We have to play solid and we just have to hit," said Bradley, whose club has been plagued by streaky play this spring. "If we don't, we're done. It's that simple."
The Tigers followed Bradley's prescription in rousing fashion as they rolled to a 14-3 win last Saturday over Dartmouth in the opener of the best-of-three series and then clinched the title by prevailing in a 5-4 extra inning thriller.
By defeating the Big Green, Princeton won its second straight Ivy crown and fourth in five years. It will find out its NCAA assignment in early June with regional play to start on June 6.
The Tigers, who entered the weekend with a 25-18 overall record (12-8 in Ivy play) and a team batting average of better than .300, wasted no time in showing Dartmouth how powerful their attack can be when it is clicking on all cylinders.
Princeton pounded out 16 hits in the opener with Andrew Salini leading the way by going 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs. Will Venable and Adam Balkan each added three hits while Ryan Reich and Tim Lahey both smashed homers.
Princeton built a 6-3 lead going into the ninth and then put the game out of reach as they put together an eight-run rally in the top of the inning.
Ace pitcher Ross Ohlendorf got the win on the mound as he struck out nine and scattered eight hits in seven innings of work.
In game two, Princeton gave a glimpse of its future as freshmen infielder Aaron Prince and frosh hurlers Gavin Fabian and Eric Walz played key roles in helping Princeton overcome the Big Green.
Prince, a little-used infielder, entered the game as a pinch-runner in the ninth and scored the game-tying run. An inning later, Prince came to the plate with the bases loaded and delivered a line-drive single to plate the winning run.
Fabian got the start and put in eight solid innings, striking out three and giving up only one earned run. He gave way to classmate Walz, who pitched 1.2 scoreless innings before stopper Brian Kappel came on to get the win.
Princeton's offense was again a force as it produced 15 hits, paced by Venable, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Balkan, Salini, and B.J. Szymanski each contributed two hits to the Tigers' cause.
The Tigers, who have no scheduled games before the NCAAs, can only hope that their bats don't get cold so they can follow Bradley's formula when they face the elite of the college game.
