Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Lehigh
Princeton Scores Three in the Ninth to Edge Lehigh 6-5
May 27, 2006 | Baseball
May 27, 2006
Box Score
PRINCETON - The Ivy League champion Princeton baseball team rallied from behind to pull off a 6-5 win on Saturday afternoon against Lehigh in walk-off fashion. Princeton jumped to an early 3-0 lead, but found itself trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth before stringing together five-straight hits to come from behind and win. Junior Sal Iacono had the game-winning single while senior Zach Wendkos led the team with three hits.
With one out in the ninth, Princeton used five-straight hits to claim the win. Sophomore Dan Degeorge, who had already extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single earlier in the game, started the rally with an 0-2 single through the left side. Junior Aaron Prince nearly tied the game on the next pitch with a shot to right field. Instead, the ball hit the wall for a double and brought the Tigers within one run as DeGeorge scored from first.
A single by senior Andrew Salini pushed Prince to third and he scored on an-RBI single to left by Wendkos. That left Salini on second and Wendkos at first for Iacono. And with the count at 2-2, Iacono hit a high fly ball to the right center that fell in between the center and right fielder for a single and allowed Salini to score the winning run.
Princeton went up 3-0 in the third inning as senior Stephen Wendell delivered a bases-loaded single to score two runs. DeGeorge hit an infield single to start things and he scored on a Salini double. Back-to-back walks to sophomore Micah Kaplan and Iacono loaded the bases for Wendell, and his single to center put Princeton ahead 3-0. With the three-run lead, Princeton sophomore starting pitcher Christian Staehely cruised through five innings, allowing just one base runner on a single in the fifth inning. He struck out three and walked no batters as he lowered his team-best ERA to 2.30.
Lehigh took the lead thanks to two errors and two hits. Matt McBride reached on an error and immediately scored on Andrew Smith's double to right center. Nick Bet then beat out a throw for an infield single to put two on base. Mike Sandonato then sac bunted but wound up safe on a fielding error that allowed a run to score. After a walk, another run score on a fielder's choice as the inning ended with Lehigh now leading the game 4-3. The Mountain Hawks made it 5-3 an inning later when Joe Ercolano scored on a McBride single.
Sophomore Steven Miller took the win for Princeton as he pitched around a leadoff double in the ninth inning. He struck out two. Lehigh reliever Greg Mortka took the loss.
Princeton moves to 19-23-1 with the win while Patriot League champion Lehigh falls to 27-26. The two teams play again tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. The game will take place at Lehigh.