Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Harvard (Game 1)
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Players Mentioned
Princeton Splits League Doubleheader at Harvard
April 07, 2007 | Baseball
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Princeton baseball team split a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon against Harvard at O'Donnell Field. Princeton took the opener 6-4 and dropped the nightcap 6-3. Dan DeGeorge had seven hits in the doubleheader, while Steven Miller struck out 11 in the Game 1 win.
Game 1
Princeton opened the day with a 6-4 extra-innings win in what was the scheduled seven-inning game. Junior Spencer Lucian drove in three runs in the game, while sophomore DeGeorge had hits in all four of his trips to the plate. Miller pitched a complete game for Princeton and struck out 11 Harvard batters.
Princeton built its way to a 3-0 lead scoring single runs in the first, third and fifth innings. In the first, after freshman Greg Van Horn began the game with a leadoff double, he came home on a Lucian single. Two innings later, senior Aaron Prince led off the third inning with a double and came around to score on a groundout and senior Sal Iacono's sac fly. Princeton made it 3-0 when sophomore Dan DeGeorge came around to score when Lucian reached on an error.
Harvard came back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut Princeton's lead to a run. The Crimson were close to tying the score but had the tying run thrown out at the plate as Van Horn hit the cutoff man DeGeorge, who fired a strike to freshman catch Jack Murphy, who tagged Matt Kramer out at the plate. In the inning, a leadoff walk and two singles loaded the bases with an out. Miller got the second out of the inning with a strikeout, but the next batter doubled to plate two runs, with the third out coming at home plate.
Princeton added a run in the top of the seventh inning to gain a two-run advantage. Lucian began the inning with a double to right center and went to third when senior Sal Iacono singled through the left side, extending his hitting streak to 19 games. With two on, Murphy picked up his first hit of the game by singling to right field to plate Lucian. That hit chased Harvard starter Max Perlman from the game.
But Harvard answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to even things at 4-4 and force extra innings. Back-to-back singles to start the inning put two on base and the runners went to second and third on a sac bunt. The second out of the inning was a strikeout, but a misplayed fly ball hit by Vance to left field allowed the two runners to score and even up the game and force extra innings.
The Tigers answered right back in the top of the eighth by taking advantage of a Crimson error. DeGeorge led off the inning with his fourth single of the game. That brought up Van Horn who laid down a bunt looking to move DeGeorge to second, but Harvard pitcher Jake Bruton threw the ball away, allowing DeGeorge to score the go-ahead run and Van Horn to reach third. Lucian then drove him in with a sac fly for his third RBI of the game. Miller then set down Harvard's three, four and five hitters in order to seal the win.
Miller pitched eight innings and struck out 11 while allowing four runs, two earned, on seven hits. He moved to 1-3 overall. Perlman pitched six-plus innings for Harvard and gave up four runs on 12 Tiger hits. Bruton surrendered two unearned runs in an inning to take the loss.
Game 2
While Princeton was able to overcome errors in the first game, it was unable to do so in the nightcap as six Tigers errors led to five unearned runs in a 6-3 Harvard win. DeGeorge and Iacono each had two hits in the game, giving DeGeorge six hits for the day and extending Iacono's hitting streak to 20 games, three games short of tying the Ivy League record.
Harvard jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning when back-to-back doubles plated two runs. The first was unearned as it was scored by a runner who reached on an error. Harvard added an unearned run in the fourth before Princeton scored its run in the top of the fifth inning. Sophomore Adrian Turnham reached on a single, then scored on DeGeorge double.
Harvard then bumped its lead to 6-1 in the sixth with three runs. A single, a walk and a fielder's choice put two on with two outs when an error allowed a run to score. The next batter was Vance who doubled to plate two more runs, but was thrown out trying to make it a triple.
Princeton cut the lead to 6-3 in the final inning, but Harvard was able to hold off the Tigers for the win. Freshman Brian Berkowitz singled and freshman David Hale walked to begin the inning. Another hit from DeGeorge loaded the bases with a Prince walk pushing a run across the plate. Another walk, this one to Iacono, pushed across the second run.
Junior Christian Staehely took the loss for Princeton. He pitched six innings allowing six runs on seven hits. Five of those runs were unearned though. Freshman Langford Stuber pitched two innings of scoreless relief. Harvard's Shawn Haviland earned the win allowing three runs on eight hits.
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Princeton now stands at 7-14 overall and 3-3 in the Ivy League. Princeton resumes its weekend tomorrow afternoon at Clarke Field against Dartmouth, which was swept by Cornell on Saturday.