Columbia
Princeton
Baseball Wins Pair of Thrillers to Take Princeton Series
4/24/2016 8:00:00 PM | Baseball
| Line Score | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Princeton | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| Columbia | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| Pitching | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Simpson (W, 2-3) | 4.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Egly (S, 3) | 3.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Individual Leaders | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | HR | |
| Savage | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kanemaru | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
NEW YORK – With their backs against the wall, needing a pair of victories to stay mathematically alive in the Gehrig Division race, the Columbia baseball team did what they normally do. Win.
The Lions scratched out a pair of one-run victories over first place Princeton, taking game one 5-4 and an 8-7 thriller in the nightcap. Columbia trailed by four runs before taking the lead in the seventh inning and wound up walking off for the victory on an infield hit by Will Savage.
Columbia (13-23, 7-9) is now 11-3 in “elimination games” since 2013 and are 8-0 at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium in that span. The Lions trail Princeton (19-17, 10-6) by three games and are two games behind second place Penn (18-19, 9-7) with a home-and-home series set for next weekend. The Lions and Quakers open their four-game set in Philadelphia on Friday, April 29 with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
In the opener, Columbia posted just six hits, but drew eight walks to put the pressure on Princeton.
Savage began the bottom of the first with a single and stole second base. Robb Paller followed with a walk and Randell Kanemaru singled to right-center field. Nick Hernandez made a strong throw home that beat Savage to the plate, but the junior was able to slide under tag to open the scoring.
Nick Maguire drew the second of four walks in the inning to set up a sac fly from Kyle Bartelman. With the bases loaded and two outs, Lane Robinette tripled to rightfield to clear the bases and make it 4-0.
The Tigers threatened in the second when Josh Simpson issued three walks to load the bases. With two outs, Simpson induced a grounder to Nick Maguire at first to get out of the jam unscathed.
Randell Kanemaru tacked on what proved to be an important insurance run in the bottom of the frame, launching his fourth dinger of the season into the batting cages in leftfield to extend the cushion to five.
Princeton scored once in the fourth, on a Danny Hoy solo shot, and added another in the fifth to pull within 5-2. The Tigers put runners on the corners with two away to bring Cody Phillips to the plate. Phillips beat out a throw from third to score Joseph Flynn.
Columbia stranded two in the bottom of the fourth and loaded the bases in the fifth with nobody out. The Tigers' reliever escaped the jam with two strikeouts sandwiched between an infield pop-up.
Harrisen Egly worked the fifth and sixth innings, allowing just one base runner, and recorded the first two outs of the seventh before getting into trouble. Billy Arendt and Hoy recorded back-to-back doubles to make it a two-run ball-game. Hernandez and Zack Belski followed with base-hits, putting the tying run on third.
However, Egly buckled down and fanned Flynn swinging to earn his third save of the season and eighth of his career, breaking the Columbia all-time record that was shared between him and his teammate Adam Cline
| Line Score | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Princeton | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 1 |
| Columbia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 1 |
| Pitching | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Crispi | 3.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Robinson | 1.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Marks | 0,1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Barr | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Martin | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gannaway | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Thanopoulos (W, 3-5) | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Individual Leaders | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | HR | |
| Boyher | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Paller | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Maguire | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Down 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Lions put the first two runners on base via hit batter and a single by Logan Boyher. A double play looked to put a damper on the rally, but an error by the Tigers' first baseman allowed Bartelman to come in and kept the inning alive.
A walk to Savage put two on for Paller, who drove the first pitch he saw off the wall in center, to pull Columbia within 6-5.
George Martin worked a perfect seventh inning before the Lions bats erupted again in the bottom of the stanza.
Nick Maguire and Boyher were issued free passes, putting the go-ahead run on base, and Robinette came up with his second clutch hit of the day. The sophomore found a gap in right-center, bringing in both runners and giving Columbia a 7-6 advantage.
The score remained that way until the top of the ninth. George Thanopoulos came on to try and close things out, but Jesper Horsted chopped a ball over the mound for an infield single to start off the frame. The next two batters grounded out, advancing Horsted to third, and Hernandez snuck a double down the leftfield line to even the score. Thanopoulos intentionally walked Belski to set up a force play, but did not need it as he fanned Flynn to retire the side.
Princeton's Danny Thomson could not find the zone in the bottom of the ninth, walking Bartelman and Boyher. Robinette tried to sacrifice the runners, but his bunt was fielded by Thomson who was able to get the force play at third for the first out. Pinch-hitter Mark Patrick Flynn was then walked on four pitches to load the bases for Savage.
The Tigers brought in an extra infielder to get a force play at the plate and Savage found himself in an 0-2 hole before hitting a slow-roller down the first base line. Thomson raced to get to the ball, but slipped could not get any elevation on his toss to the catcher allowing Boyher to slide in safely and give Columbia the victory.
Kanemaru opened the scoring with a solo-homer in the bottom of the first over the chain-linked fence in centerfield. Princeton tied the score in the third with a Horsted RBI single up the middle.
The Tigers scored five runs off of three Lions' relievers from the fourth through sixth innings before the dramatics ensued.
