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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Baseball Returns to Clarke Field for Four Games Against Columbia
April 22, 2011 | Baseball
Both Princeton and Columbia are coming off of league weekends in which they won three of four games. Princeton dropped its first game in a series at Penn, but reeled off three-straight wins to take the series and improve to 9-3 in the Ivy League. Princeton and Penn had been tied at 6-2 going into the weekend but by virtue of taking the series, Princeton now holds a two-game lead in the standings. Columbia hosted Cornell last weekend and won the first three games before the Big Red took the series finale.
Both teams have since fallen in midweek action. Columbia was swept in a doubleheader on Wednesday at home by Manhattan, while the Tigers dropped a single game on Thursday at Monmouth. Princeton is now 15-17 overall with wins in three of its last four games.
Last weekend against Penn the Tigers were outscored and outhit but had the timelier hitting in picking up three wins. Princeton dropped the opening game 12-4 as the Quakers scored seven unearned runs in the contest. Princeton bounced back to take the nightcap 6-5 and then won by scored of 3-2 and 4-2 on the second day. Princeton trailed at some point in all three wins.
John Mishu led all Tigers with a .333 average over the four-game series, while Jonathan York and Matt Bowman also both hit above .300 in the series. Ryan Albert had three hits in seven at-bats as he doubled twice and homered with three RBIs in limited action over three of the games. Following Thursday's game at Monmouth, the Tigers are now batting .266 as a team. Princeton has four batters hitting at .300 or above with York now atop the heap at .319. Mike Ford (.310), Bowman (.300) and Sam Mulroy (.300) are Princeton's next three hitters for average.
On the mound, Princeton's team ERA is down to 5.11, its lowest point since the second game of the season. Princeton has allowed three or less earned runs in seven of its last nine starts and has an Ivy best 2.68 ERA in league games, almost a half-run better than Yale's 3.15 Ivy ERA. Last weekend David Palms picked up two wins out of the bullpen and is now 3-2 with a 5.40 ERA. Mike Ford also got a complete game win and has dropped his ERA to 4.89, which is the lowest it has been all year and is 13 runs better than it was just five starts ago.
Princeton and Columbia start the series on Saturday afternoon. Princeton has either won or split the series in eight of the past 10 seasons. Princeton swept four games from Columbia in 2004 and 2006, the last two times that Princeton won the Ivy title, and most recently took three games in the series in 2009 at home. Last year Columbia won three of four games at home, sweeping the first day and taking the nightcap on the second day.
Columbia is 16-18 overall and 6-6 in the Ivy League. The Lions have dropped their last three games, falling in their finale with Cornell and then getting swept by Manhattan on Wednesday. Before that the Lions had won their previous five, winning at Yale, against Manhattan and taking three from Cornell. Princeton and Columbia both went 2-0 against Harvard and 0-2 against Dartmouth. Princeton swept Brown and Yale, while Columbia was swept at Brown and split at Yale. The teams also have common opponents in Holy Cross, Rutgers and Monmouth. Princeton was 0-2 against Holy Cross, topped Rutgers and fell at Monmouth. Columbia split four games with Holy Cross and lost at both Rutgers and Monmouth.
The Lions enter the weekend hitting .281 as a team with a team ERA of 3.74. Dario Pizzano leads all batters with a .383 average and has 18 extra-base hits. Nick Cox (.368), Alex Godshall (.329) and Jason Banos (.316) give Columbia four hitters above the .300 line. Stefan Olson leads the pitching staff with an Ivy-best 1.25 ERA. He's 2-0 in seven appearances and five starts. All four of Columbia's weekend starters have ERAs in the fours or lower. They are Olson, Dan Bracey (3.60), Pat Lowery (4.20) and Geoff Whitaker (4.64).