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Princeton University Athletics
Baseball Visits Penn for Gehrig Division Opener
April 15, 2005 | Baseball
April 15, 2005
Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton baseball team opens the Gehrig Division season with a set of doubleheaders at Penn's Murphy Field on Saturday and Sunday. The series will feature the division's first and second place teams as Ivy League divisional play kicks off this weekend. The Tigers enter the series having won 23 of their last 28 games with the Quakers including a 10-2 record in their last 12 meetings at Penn.
Princeton (11-15, 5-3 Ivy) enters the weekend off a 10-0 midweek win over Seton Hall at home. The win was Princeton's second this season over a Big East opponent. Penn (9-18, 5-7 Ivy) also enters off a midweek win. The Quakers topped St. Joseph's 14-3 Wednesday afternoon at Murphy Field.
Princeton has won two of the last three games it has played after dropping the previous three. The Tigers split their Ivy League doubleheader at Harvard on Sunday, handing the Crimson its first Ivy League loss of the season. Penn had lost seven straight prior to its win on Wednesday. The Quakers were swept at home by Harvard, dropped a non-league game to La Salle and were swept by both Brown and Yale last weekend on the road.
The Tigers are now 5-3 in the Ivy League and have a two-game lead (four in the loss column) on Penn (5-7) in the Gehrig Division standings. Cornell (1-5) and Columbia (1-11) round out the division. In the race for home field advantage in the Ivy League Championship Series, Harvard, at 7-1, has a one-game edge on Dartmouth and a two game lead on the Tigers, Brown and Yale.
Princeton has won every Gehrig Division title since 1996. Penn (1994 and 1995) and Columbia (1993) are the only two schools to win the division since the format was adopted in 1993.
Since the division format began in 1993, Princeton is 32-16 all-time against Penn and the Tigers are 23-5 against the Quakers since Scott Bradley became Princeton's head coach in 1998. Last season Princeton swept both Saturday games, while Penn came back to sweep the Sunday games. Penn and Princeton have faced five common opponents this season; one non-league team and four Ivy League teams. In non-league action, Penn lost twice to Monmouth while the Tigers dropped one. In league play, Penn swept Dartmouth and was swept by Brown, Harvard and Yale, while Princeton swept Brown and Yale, split at Harvard, and was swept by Dartmouth.
A Glance at the All-Time Series
Series Began: 1879, 21-8 Princeton win
Series Record: Princeton leads 131-85-3
In Princeton: Princeton leads 74-33-2
In Philadelphia: Princeton leads 57-52-1
Last Season: 2-2 (Princeton 21-11, Princeton 14-1, Penn 8-3, Penn 9-7)
Last Princeton Win: April 24, 2004 (14-1 at Princeton)
Last Penn Win: April 25, 2004 (9-7 at Princeton)
Coach Bradley vs. Penn: 23-5
Coach Seddon vs. Princeton: 37-51
Streak: Penn has won two straight
A Look at the Weekend's Pitching Probables
Saturday, April 16
Game 1 • Saturday at 12 p.m.
Christian Staehely (0-2, 5.68 ERA) vs. Josh Appell (1-4, 6.14 ERA)
Game 2 • 30 minutes following the completion of Game 1
Gavin Fabian (2-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. Brian Cirri (2-3, 4.64 ERA)
Sunday, April 17
Game 1 • Saturday at 12 p.m.
Erik Stiller (4-1, 2.29 ERA) vs. Bill Kirk (2-2, 5.10 ERA)
Game 2 • 30 minutes following the completion of Game 1
Eric Walz (0-2, 7.39 ERA) vs. Nick Francona (0-1, 6.00 ERA)
Looking Forward
Princeton returns to Clarke Field following its weekend at Penn for five-consecutive home games. The Tigers host Monmouth Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., before a four-game set with Columbia over the weekend. Gametracker will be available for all five games of the homestand.