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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Baseball Team Opens NCAA Regional Friday Against Texas
June 01, 2011 | Baseball
LINKS: Tournament Central | Princeton Notes (PDF)
PRINCETON (6/1/11) -- The Princeton baseball team heads to the Lone Star State on Wednesday afternoon for the Austin Regional of the 2011 NCAA Baseball Championship. Princeton will take on Texas, the seventh national seed, in the opening game of the double-elimination regional, which also features Kent State and Texas State.
All games from the regional will be video streamed live on TexasSports.com. A link can be found at the top of this page to the site's Tournament Central.
Princeton was the first team to qualify for the 64-team field when it clinched the Ivy League championship on May 8 with a win in Game 3 of the Ivy League Championship Series over Dartmouth. Princeton went 15-5 in the Ivy League regular season to win the Gehrig Division and earn home field for the championship series over Rolfe Division Champion Dartmouth, which went 14-6 in the regular season.
The Tigers were swept in the doubleheader at Dartmouth in the regular season, but turned the tables on their home field and defeated Dartmouth in three games to regain the Ivy League title for the first time since the 2006 season. Overall it was Princeton's seventh Ivy title and 17th overall league title. Princeton also earned the league's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament and will make its 11th NCAA appearance this weekend in Texas.
The 2011 Tigers sit a game over .500 at 23-22 overall and climbed above .500 late in the season after digging out of an early hole. Princeton was 3-13 after 10-games. Princeton did it with its 15-5 league record and also won several midweek games once the league schedule began in early April.
Princeton went 2-4 against teams in the 2011 NCAA tournament field. The Tigers played a four-game series at Patriot League champion Navy and went 1-3 in the three games. Princeton also suffered a midweek loss at North Carolina, the tournament's third seed, and defeated Big East Champion Seton Hall.
Princeton has never faced any of the three other schools in the Austin Regional. Texas received an at-large berth to the tournament, while Texas State (Southland) and Kent State (MAC) received autobids for winning their conference tournaments. Princeton only shared one common opponent with any of the teams and that was Brown, which played a four-game series at Texas early in the season. Texas won three of the four games, while Princeton defeated Brown twice by sweeping an April doubleheader.
Princeton will be making its 11th NCAA appearance this weekend and is 3-19 in its previous trips. Princeton's last appearance came in the 2006 season at the Fayetteville Regional at Arkansas. Princeton matched up with Oklahoma State in the first game and Arkansas in the second. That second game was a memorable one as Princeton sophomore starter Christian Staehely carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Princeton led 2-0 before the hosts rallied in the last two innings. Princeton has won two regional games under Head Coach Scott Bradley, topping The Citadel in the 2001 Regionals at South Carolina and Virginia at the 2004 Regionals in Charlottesville. That day Ross Ohlendorf topped a Cavaliers lineup that featured future Major Leaguers Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds.
Princeton Game 1 opponent is Texas and the Longhorns bring the nation's best pitching staff into the weekend with a team ERA of 2.21. Princeton however enters with a higher team batting average and has hit more home runs. Sam Stafford will start the opener for Texas and he is 5-2 this season with a 1.70 ERA. He'll match up against Texas-native Zak Hermans, who is 5-1 overall and has a 2.85 ERA.
NCAA Game 1 - Princeton vs. TexasFriday, June 3 - 6:30 p.m. CT • UFCU Disch-Falk Field
RH Zak Hermans (5-1, 2.85 ERA) vs. LH Sam Stafford (5-2, 1.70 ERA)