Princeton Begins 2018 Season At UNCW This Weekend

Friday, March 2

Wilmington, N.C.

4:00 PM

Princeton University

UNC-Wilmington

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

March 01, 2018 | Baseball

UNCW Seahawks
Gametimes	Fri. Mar. 2 - 4:00 p.m. l Brooks Field
	Sat. Mar. 3 - 12:00 p.m. l Brooks Field
	Sat. Mar. 3 - 3:00 p.m. l Brooks Field
	Sun. Mar. 4 - 1:00 p.m. l Brooks Field
Game Coverage	Live Stats - UNC Wilmington Portal (Free)
Twitter	@PUTigers l @UNCWAthletics
All-Time Series	UNCW leads the series, 6-1
Last Meeting	Mar. 14, 2013 - UNCW 4, Princeton 2 (Recap)
Princeton	Roster l Schedule l Stats l @PUTigerBaseball
UNCW	Roster l Schedule l Stats l@UNCWBaseball
Related Links	Princeton No. 6 in Ivy Poll Mike Ford selected by Seattle Mariners in MLB Rule Five Draft Will Venable named Chicago Cubs First Base Coach

PRINCETON, N.J. - The Princeton Tigers will get the 2018 season started this Friday (Mar. 2) against the UNCW Seahawks at Brooks Field. The four-game series features a doubleheader on Saturday (12 p.m.) before wrapping up on Sunday (1 p.m.).

2018 Team:

The Tigers return three All-Ivy players from a year ago including David Harding with a second team All-Ivy honor. Asher Lee Tyson and Jesper Horsted were All-Ivy honorable mention.
Harding led the team with a .318 batting average, snagging 35 hits, 14 runs scored and 19 RBI. He slugged .400 and posted an on-base percentage of .364. The utility player began Ivy League play with hits in four straight contests. He picked up eight RBI in a double dip at Harvard (Apr. 9), leading to Ivy Rookie of the Week accolades (Apr. 11). Other top conference performances include multi-hit outings vs. Penn (Apr. 15-16) and a season-best four hits vs. Columbia (Apr. 21).
Asher Lee-Tyson had a team-high 22 runs scored and was tied for second in hits (33), walks (17) and RBI (19). The shortstop got off to a slow start with an 0-for-15 stretch before collecting consecutive multi-hit games at UNC-Greensboro (Mar. 11-12). Lee-Tyson hit .312 with a team-best 18 runs scored after Mar. 21. He collected an 11-game hitting streak to start Ivy League play (Apr. 2-15), hitting .302 with 18 total bases and eight runs scored during that stretch.
Horsted finished third on the team in hitting (.281). Horsted started conference action with hits in four straight games (Apr. 2-8) before recording multi-hit games at Harvard and at Penn (Apr. 9-15). He completed his season by hitting .352 in the month of April with seven extra-base hits. The multi-sport athlete, who was first team All-Ivy League in football during the fall.
Some other offensive contributors include Ramzi Haddad (.248/.322/.343) and Conor Nolan (.259/.344/.294). The two sophomores combined for 11 extra base hits and 17 RBI in 2017.
Ben Gross had the top ERA last season on the pitching staff, throwing to a 3.93 ERA in nine starts. He struck out 41 hitters in 50 1/3 innings.
James Proctor made nine starts for the Tigers last season, throwing 46 innings while Ryan Smith (3.82 ERA) and Eli Kimbell (14 appearances) were the top two pitchers out of the bullpen.

Road Warriors

Princeton gets 2018 underway on the road at UNCW (Mar. 2-4). The Tigers will be on the road for 14 games until coming home to welcome Harvard to Clarke Field (Mar. 24-25).
The next weekend is a trip to South Carolina (Mar. 9-11), who's two years removed from a NCAA Super Regional. A four-game set at Georgetown (Mar. 16-18) follows with a meeting vs. Richmond (Mar. 19) before a two-game jaunt with Old Dominion (Mar. 20-21).

Princeton Professionals

The Tigers had three alums make the Big League last season in Matt Bowman '14, Danny Barnes and Chris Young '02.
Bowman finished his second year with the St. Louis Cardinals with another sub-4.00 ERA (3.99). He was tied for seventh in all of baseball with 75 appearances, adding three wins, two saves and 46 strikeouts in 58 2/3 innings of work.
Barnes completed his first full season with the Blue Jays, posting a 3.55 ERA in 60 outings of the bullpen. He had 62 strikeouts in 66 innings, earned three victories and finished 13 games for the Blue Jays.
Seven other alums, Ross Ohlendorf '05 (Japan), David Hale '11 (AAA), Jack Murphy (AAA), Mike Ford '14 (AAA), Alec Keller '14 (AA), Cameron Mingo '16 (A) and Danny Hoy '16 (A), played professional baseball last season.
Ford was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the MLB Rule 5 Draft this winter. Ford, originally from the New York Yankees organization, must be kept on the Major League 25-man roster for the entire year or else be offered back to the Yankees.

Scouting UNCW

The Seahawks are 5-2 on the season with victories over Eastern Kentucky, Lehigh, No. 6 North Carolina and Appalachian State. They were selected as the preseason favorite in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
UNCW went 30-29 last season, finishing second in the CAA. The Seahawks last went to the NCAA Tournament in 2016.
Mason Berne leads the Seahawks with a .333 average in 24 at bats along with 16 totals bases.
Alex Royalty has posted a 1.80 ERA in two starts this season.