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Princeton University Athletics
Baseball Meets Rider in Final ILCS Tune Up
May 02, 2006 | Baseball
May 2, 2006
PRINCETON - The Princeton baseball team travels down the road to Rider on Wednesday afternoon for its final game before the Ivy League Championship Series begins this Saturday at Harvard. Princeton comes into the game off a four-game sweep of Cornell and has won its last three games against Rider.
With the sweep of Friday's doubleheader at Cornell, Princeton clinched its 10th division title in 11 seasons and avenged last season when Cornell took the Gehrig Division from Princeton. The Tigers entered the series only needing a split, but instead took all four games and climbed to 11-9 in the Ivy League this season.
On Friday at Cornell, senior Erik Stiller started things off for the Tigers by throwing a three-hitter and striking out 11 to shut out Cornell. The Princeton bats outslugged Cornell in the nightcap as five ninth-inning runs snapped a 7-7 tie and Princeton won 12-8. Two days later, the Tigers won the opener 4-3 in dramatic fashion when sophomore Spencer Lucian led off the ninth inning with a walk-off homer, and Lucian provided the Tigers with an early lead in the second game as Princeton ran away for a 12-2 win. Sophomore Christian Staehely pitched five shutout innings in the win.
In the meantime in the Rolfe Division, Harvard entered the weekend needing a split against Dartmouth to win the division. The Crimson took Game 1, but lost the next two games, setting up a winner-take-all fourth and decisive game. Harvard jumped to a big lead early, only to have Dartmouth knot the game at 9-9 in the seventh, but five runs in the eighth and nine in the ninth led to a 23-9 win for the Crimson.
Before meeting Harvard for the league championship the Tigers have one final non-conference game scheduled for tomorrow at Rider. The Broncs are currently the top team in the MAAC with a 20-23 overall a record and a 14-4 conference mark. Rider enters the weekend having won its last three games, all coming in league play last weekend against Saint Peter's. Princeton and Rider share three common opponents this season. Rider lost to Rutgers, while Princeton tied the Scarlet Knights. Princeton and Rider both defeated Seton Hall. Rider lost three games to Monmouth, while Princeton dropped one. Princeton has won its last three games against Rider, winning 10-2 in 2003, 15-1 in 2004 and 5-1 last season. A year ago, junior Sal Iacono had three hits, a home run and drove in two in the Tigers' win. Senior Matthew Becker also had three hits in the win.