Columbia University
Princeton
Lions Hit The Road For Three Games at Princeton
4/5/2019 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
Columbia will play its first Ivy League road games when they begin a three-game series at Clarke Field.
LEADING OFF
COLUMBIA'S STATUS
The Lions are tied with Harvard and Yale atop the Ivy League standings at 4-2 after winning a wild series against Dartmouth last season. Columbia won the opener, 23-9, before falling 23-1 in the second game of the doubleheader Saturday. In the finale, the Lions earned an 11-1 triumph in the rubber match.
On Wednesday, Columbia fell to St. John's, 22-7, to snap a seven-game winning streak against the Red Storm.
PRINCETON'S STATUS
The Tigers avoided a sweep at Harvard last weekend, taking a 16-9 victory in the finale after dropping the first two contests, 12-0 and 5-3. Princeton also fell in its midweek contest at Monmouth, 11-6.
Jake Boone paces the squad, hitting .333 with six doubles, 14 runs and 10 RBI. Max West checks in at .322 and a team-high 14 RBI.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Columbia is 101-128-3 all-time against Princeton. Last year, the Tigers took the series at Robertson Field. Three Lion pitchers combined to shutout Princeton, 2-0, in the opener. However, the Tigers won the last two games by scores of 10-5 and 7-6.
NEWS/NOTES
CHANDLER BING
Senior Chandler Bengtson is in a three-way tie for Columbia's all-time home run record with Dario Pizzano and Gene Larkin. Bengtson hit four dingers last week against Manhattan and Dartmouth to bring his total to 25 on his way to being named at Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week and Ivy League Player of the Week. Four of those home runs have been of the grand slam variety, which is believed to be a program record. Bengtson belted an Ivy League-leading 10 dingers in 2018 en route to first team All-Ivy League honors. The Fresno, California, native returned to the lineup on March 20 at Miami after missing eight games due to injury.
MILESTONE AHEAD
Head coach Brett Boretti needs two more victories to get to 400 for his career. Boretti spent four years at Franklin & Marshall before joining Columbia in 2006. His 286 wins with the Lions are third all-time and is 11 away from moving into second place.
AJ DiTRIPLO
Junior AJ DiFillipo has four triples on the year, which put him second in the Ivy League and No. 12 in the nation. He has six four his career, one shy of entering the top-10 in Columbia history. The Peabody, Massachusetts product lads the team with 17 RBI.
HEY JULES
Prior to Wednesday's midweek contest (NCAA stats have not been updated since Apr. 3), Julian Bury is the seventh toughest batter to strike out in the nation, averaging just one punchout per 17.4 at-bats. The junior gained a spot on the Ivy League Weekly Honor Roll on March 10 after hitting .429 (6-for-14) with two doubles and two RBI at Oklahoma. Bury was appearing in his first games since the 2018 ILCS after suffering an injury during practice that forced him to miss the NCAA Gainesville Regional. Bury was the 2017 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American.
