Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Columbia (Game 2)
Baseball Splits Doubleheader With Columbia
April 24, 2005 | Baseball
April 24, 2005
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Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton baseball team split an Ivy League and Gehrig Division doubleheader Sunday afternoon against Columbia winning 8-1 and falling 2-1. Both starting pitchers, junior Erik Stiller and sophomore Eric Walz gace the Tigers' great outings, but Columbia's ninth-inning comeback in the second game spoiled what could have been a Princeton sweep.
Princeton (14-21, 8-8 Ivy) is now a game back of Cornell (9-7 Ivy) in the Gehrig Division standings. The two teams will meet next weekend in a home-and-home series as Princeton will have to take three of four games for the Gehrig Division championship.
Princeton scored runs in each of the first four innings of Game 1 to give Stiller a cushion that he rode to his sixth win of the season. He allowed a run on four hits and struck out eight.
The Tigers went up 1-0 in the first inning. A leadoff walk to sophomore Aaron Prince and a single by junior Andrew Salini moved Prince to third and he scored on senior Adam Balkan's sac fly. In the second, Princeton also scored following a leadoff walk. Senior Paul Ackerman drew the free pass and went to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a single by junior Stephen Wendell. The Tigers broke the game open with four runs in the third. Senior Will Venable and Salini singled to put runners on the corners. A third single by Balkan scored Venable. After an out, Ackerman doubled to left field and a pair of errors on the play allowed Salini, Venable and Ackerman to all score on the play. An error was made by the left fielder in fielding the ball and the shortstop on his throw towards home.
Princeton scored twice more in the fourth as Prince walked and Venable hit his seventh home run of the season to right field.
Columbia (7-30, 5-15 Ivy) added its run on Andrew Ward's solo homer in the sixth inning.
In Game 2, both starting pitchers put on a show, as the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the eighth. Walz faced the minimum nuber of batters through the first five innings and recorded nine of his first 15 outs on strikeouts. He struck out the side in the second, fourth and fifth innings. For the game, he allowed two hits and a run, which was unearned, while striking out 10 batters in eight and a third innings. Columbia's Brendan Quinn pitched a complete game and allowed a run on seven hits.
After seven scoreless innings, Princeton went up 1-0 in the eighth. Wendell led off with a single through the left side and went to second on a wild pitch. He scored when Prince placed a double down the left field line for the Tigers to go up 1-0. Columbia came up in the top of the ninth and Ray Waters reached second on a two-base error by Prince. He went to third on a sac bunt, which signaled the end of the day for Walz. Senior closer Brian Kappel came on and surrendered a triple to Ward to knot the game up. Ward then scored on a wild pitch,
Princeton has a mid-week game at St. John's Tuesday night before hosting Cornell on Friday.