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Princeton University Athletics
Baseball to Begin Northern Portion of Schedule at Home Saturday
March 25, 2004 | Baseball
March 25, 2004
Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton baseball team (8-6) open its home season on Saturday when Stony Brook (8-7) visits Clarke Field for a doubleheader. The first pitch of the first game is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. The two teams will complete the weekend on Sunday when they meet each other on Stony Brook's University Field.
The series kicks off on Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. The pitching match up for the first game pits Princeton junior Ross Ohlendorf (2-1; 3.18 ERA) against Stony Brook's Brian Murtaugh (0-0; 3.38 ERA). Saturday's second game will feature Princeton sophomore Erik Stiller (1-1; 1.50 ERA) and Stony Brook's Jon Lewis (2-1; 2.13 ERA). On both Saturday and Sunday, the first game of the doubleheader will be a seven-inning game, while the second game will be nine innings.
On Sunday, the team's play at Stony Brook with the first game also scheduled for 11:30 a.m. In that game, Princeton will start freshman Eric Walz (2-0; 2.50 ERA) against Stony Brook's Ryan Claypool (0-1; 8.31 ERA). And in the series finale, Princeton will send freshman Gavin Fabian (1-1; 2.25 ERA to the mound to face Stony Brook's Kevin Fitzgerald (1-1; 3.70 ERA). Princeton enters the weekend following a split at Virginia Commonwealth at the end of the Tigers' Spring Break trip. Princeton went 5-6 on the trip to make its record 8-6 on the season after completing its 10-day, 11-game Spring Break Road Trip. The Tigers were 3-0 prior to the trip. Last season, Princeton was 4-12 following its spring trip.
Two Tigers were honored by the Ivy League this week as Stiller and Walz received weekly honors. Stiller was named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week and Walz earned league Rookie of the Week honors.
The Tigers potent offense is spurred by two everyday players batting above .400 and two that are batting in the .300s. Junior B.J. Szymanski leads the group with a .417 batting average. He currently has 20 hits, eight for extra-bases, and 15 RBIs. Senior Steve Young is next with a .413 average. He has 19 hits; three triples and has scored 13 runs. Junior Adam Balkan is currently hitting .362 with a team-high 21 hits. He has 10 RBIs and has scored a team-high 14 runs. Next comes sophomore Andrew Salini. His .346 batting average is bolstered by 18 hits, four doubles, 10 RBIS and 11 runs scored.
Princeton and Stony Brook have never faced each other prior to this season. The Seawolves will become the third America East team that Princeton will face. The other two were Vermont and Delaware. Princeton has played UVM four times, playing to a 2-2 record, winning a game in 1991 and going 1-2 against Vermont in 2003. Princeton played Delaware twice before the Blue Hens left America East to join the Colonial Athletic Conference in 2001. Princeton was 1-3 in those games and has a 3-5 all-time record against the conference.
Stony Brook has an 8-7 record and enters the weekend off a win on Wednesday afternoon at New York Tech. The Sea Wolves have had an up-and-down season. After opening with a win over Appalachian State, the Sea Wolves fell to Winthrop and Akron. Louisiana-Lafayette then took a three-game series from them before they turned the table and took three from High Point. Then Stony Brook took a mid-week game from Hofstra before winning two-of-three at West Virginia two weekends ago. The Sea Wolves had three games snowed out last weekend but played twice this week, falling to Marist on Tuesday and downing NYIT on Wednesday.
On Monday, Princeton climbed two spots to 12th in the CollegeBaseballInsider.com Northeast Coaches Poll. The Tigers jumped those spots after the two wins at Virginia Commonwealth, which was ranked fifth in the regional poll. Other Princeton opponents that appear in the poll are Rutgers, Cornell and Stony Brook, all of which are in the others receiving votes category.
Draft Update... Thursday, Baseball America released its midseason college draft update. In the update, Baseball America ranked the Top 50 draft eligible college players and two Tigers found themselves in the Top 20. B.J. Szymanski was the third-highest ranked position player at No. 11 overall while Ross Ohlendorf was ranked No. 17 overall. Both players rose in the rankings from the preseason, when Ohlendorf was at No. 40 and Szymanski was unranked.