.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Pennsylvania - Game 1
Baseball Earns Split At Penn
April 18, 2003 | Baseball
April 18, 2003
Box Score
Philadelphia, Pa. - The Princeton baseball team split a doubleheader earlier today at Penn's Murphy Field, dropping the opening game 8-7 before rebounding with a 6-2 win in game 2. The Tigers are now 16-16 overall and 8-2 in the Ivy League.
The opening game was a seesaw battle that saw the team's swap the lead four times. Princeton went on top in the second when Tim Lahey hit a home run to center that scored Ryan Eldridge, who had reached on a single up the middle. Lahey's home run cleared the 20-foot fence just to the right of the 330 sign. Penn chipped away at the Princeton lead, taking a run off in the second and one in the third to even the game at 2-2.
The Quakers went on top with two runs in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead. Princeton fought back and scored three times in the fifth to reclaim the lead. With one out, Adam Balkan hit his second homer of the season to right field. Mike Chernoff then walked and Steve Young and B.J. Szymanski reached on consecutive errors to load the bases. Jon Miller flied out to center field, which scored Chernoff on the sac fly. Young also advanced to third. After a pitching change, Penn's pitcher Josh Appel seemingly caught Szymanski with a pickoff at first, but while in the rundown, Young was able to steal home and give Princeton the 5-4 lead. Down a run, Penn manufactured a run in the fifth to know the score up again and in the next inning scored twice to take a 7-5 lead. This time Princeton answered back with two more runs in the top of the seventh to even the game at seven apiece. Chernoff led off with a walk and after two outs, Ryan Eldridge singled to left. Miller followed with a single to left that loaded the bases for Andy Salini. Salini then singled along the left field line to scored both Chernoff and Miller and tie things up.
Penn came to bat in the bottom of the seventh and with two outs; Matt Horn homered to right to clinch the Penn win. Three Tiger pitchers saw action. Ross Ohlendorf started and threw four innings. Bill Broome pitched the fifth and sixth and Thomas Pauly pitched the final inning and was credited with the loss.
In game 2, the Tigers spotted Penn an early 1-0 lead, but quickly tied it up and went ahead for good. In the third inning, Princeton scored its first run when Young singled home Balkan. Princeton went ahead one inning later when Balkan scored again, this time on an infield single by Chernoff.
The score remained 2-1 until the seventh inning when the Tigers pushed three runs across the plate. Eric Fitzgerald reached on an infield single and advanced to second when Young was hit by a pitch. Szymanski then came up and hit a hard grounder that skipped over the bag at first base. The ball caromed off the foul wall and Szymanski was able to leg out a triple that scored both runs. Princeton added one more run in the eighth when Lahey hit a mammoth home run to left field. Lahey's ninth long-ball of the season narrowly missed Interstate-76 and it hit the very top of the 50-foot net in left field.
Boehle pitched a complete game for Princeton and improved to 3-1 on the season. He scattered six hits, two runs and struck out nine Quaker batters.
Princeton and Penn meet again tomorrow afternoon at Murphy Field for a doubleheader at noon. The first game will be broadcast live on CN8 and the second game will be tape-delayed for Sunday at 2 p.m.