.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Baseball Visits Monmouth Thursday Afternoon
April 07, 2005 | Baseball
April 7, 2005
Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton baseball team heads towards the shore to play Monmouth this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Princeton has won five straight games and will look to make it six later today. The Tigers have won their least four meetings with Monmouth.
Princeton improved to 9-11 overall and 4-0 in the Ivy League thanks to its five-game win streak. The Tigers opened the season with nine consecutive losses, but have gone 9-2 since gaining their first win of the year at Old Dominion.
Strong pitching and good hitting aided Princeton's recent win streak. The Tigers began the week with a 3-2 non-league win over Rutgers and continued it with league sweeps of Yale and Brown. The Tiger pitching staff had a 2.86 ERA during the week and was led by junior Erik Stiller who struck out 11 in posting his second consecutive shutout. Freshman Steven Miller did not allow an earned run in six-and-a-third innings of work and sophomore Gavin Fabian and seniors Brian Kappel and Worth Lumry both added solid inning for Princeton.
Offensively, the Tigers batted .347 on the week as seven batters hit above. 300. The group was led by senior Adam Balkan who batted .429 with a triple and two RBIs. Junior Ryan Eldridge hit .400 with a pair of homers and senior Will Venable also hit .400, hitting a walk-off home run in the first game against Yale. Junior Stephen Wendell led the Tigers in RBIs, with nine over the five games, as he had two doubles and a home run.
Thursday, April 7, 3:30 p.m.
Princeton at Monmouth
Wills Sweney (0-2, 9.82 ERA) vs. Brett Conner (0-2, 6.60 ERA)
Monmouth Field (West Long Branch, N.J.)
Monmouth (7-14, 2-3 NEC) enters today's game having dropped four straight games. Today's game marks the sixth-straight day that Monmouth has played because of weather related postponements.
Princeton and Monmouth have had only one common opponent thus far this season and it was Rutgers. Princeton pulled out a 3-2 win versus the Scarlet Knights while Monmouth dropped a 9-8 decision to Rutgers. When Monmouth and Princeton meet for the second time this season, Penn and Seton Hall will also be common opponents.
Princeton leads the all-time series against Monmouth 16-6 and has won the last four meetings. Last season the Tigers topped Monmouth 12-5 in a game played at Clarke Field. The Hawks took a 5-0 lead in that game after two innings, but Princeton scored runs in its final four trips to plate to pull out the win. The Tigers hit five home runs in that game, including homers by sophomore Sal Iacono, Balkan and Venable.
Moving Forward
Princeton continues its Ivy League season on Saturday and Sunday on the road at Dartmouth (5-9, 2-2 Ivy) and Harvard (11-7, 4-0 Ivy).