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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Baseball Team Heads West For Series at Santa Clara
March 25, 2010 | Baseball
The Tigers enter the weekend 4-10 overall following a 4-6 record during their Spring Break trip to North Carolina and Maryland. Princeton won three of the final five games of the trip and saw its starting rotation take form as all five potential starters put together good outings during the stretch.
The stretch began with a 5-3 win at North Carolina A&T in which Dan Barnes allowed just one earned run in seven innings of work. A day later David Palms lowered his team-best ERA to 0.47 with eight and two-thirds innings of work in a win at Navy. Palms came within an error of a complete-game shutout and wound up surrendering two unearned runs and currently has the fourth-best ERA in the nation.
Princeton dropped both games of a doubleheader at Navy on Saturday, but saw each starter put forth a solid effort. Matt Bowman gave up three runs in five innings, five days after pitching seven no-hit innings of relief to get a win at UNC Greensboro, and Langford Stuber surrendered four runs in six and two-thirds. Princeton won the final game of the series on Sunday. Zak Hermans turned in a quality start, allowing three runs in six and two-thirds innings and held Navy scoreless until the seventh inning, and Princeton rallied in the ninth for the 4-3 win.
Offensively, the Tigers have three batters hitting above .300, led by Noel Gonzales-Luna, who is batting .367 with 11 hits in 30 at-bats. Brian Berkowitz (.319) and Sam Mulroy (.315) round out the trio. Mulroy's 17 hits leads the team while Berkowitz is tops with six extra-base hits (five doubles and a home run). Jon Broscious, Brandon Englert and John Mishu all are tied for the team-lead with eight RBIs. Gonzales-Luna, Englert and Matt Connor all batted north of .400 in the four-game series at Navy.
This season marks the first time since the 2005 campaign that Princeton will have a weekend series in between its Spring Break trip and the first week of the Ivy season. Princeton will play its first-ever series against Santa Clara and its first games in California since a Spring Break trip in 1992. Princeton also traveled to the San Jose area that year, facing San Jose State, Arizona, Bradley, Pacific, Iona and Portland State all in the Spartan Classic at San Jose State. Last season Santa Clara hosted both Ivy League opponents Cornell and Dartmouth at home and took three games from each.
Santa Clara is 8-10 overall and recently dropped three of four games in a series at San Diego State, winning the finale behind a complete game performance from Chris Mendoza after dropping the first three games of the series. The Broncos are 5-4 on their home field.
This Weekend's Match-Ups
Friday: Dan Barnes, R (1-0, 2.03) vs. Nate Garcia (1-4, 7.76)
Saturday Game 1: David Palms, L (1-1, 0.47) vs. Alex Rivers (1-3, 5.50)
Saturday Game 2: Langford Stuber, L (0-1, 10.43) vs. Jon Hughes (2-1, 7.76 ERA)
Sunday: Zak Hermans, R (0-1, 10.66) vs. Chris Mendoza (1-0, 4.32)