NEW YORK — With an explosion of runs, scoring 24 over the two games, Columbia Baseball (9-13, 3-2 IVY) swept Princeton (2-18, 0-5 IVY), winning 7-6 (10 inn.) and 16-1 in an Ivy League Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium that had a comeback win and great pitching across 18 innings.
The Lions, for the second time this season, mounted an Ivy League comeback, winning on a 10th inning walk-off from
Cole Hage to complete the late three-run comeback to win the first game. And in the second game, a solid start from
Andy Leon (2-0), coupled with an offensive onslaught from the Columbia bats, put the broom in the Lions' hands as they finished off the doubleheader sweep to lock up a winning Ivy League weekend.
"Princeton's starting pitcher was solid in the first game, but we took advantage of getting into their bullpen to get ourselves back into that game," said head coach
Brett Boretti. "It was great to work the comeback and get things into extras where we got the win.
"I thought Sean [Higgins] had a great start in that first game, and we did some good things defensively behind him. And then we got good pitching from Saajan [May] and after we tied it up
Griffin Palfrey did a great job to give us a shot to win it.
"Andy [Leon] gave us a great four innings in the second game to give us a shot to get the bats going. And along with four innings from
Derek Yoo, we put ourselves in position to win the second game while not having to use a ton of guys out of the bullpen."
Columbia's offensive outburst in the second game nearly overshadowed the pitching the Lions got in both games, with Leon's winning line sitting at 4.0 IP 3 H 0 R 3 K and Palfery's line finishing up at 2.0 IP 0 R 4 K as he came in to get the win in relief. The Lions' pitching balanced out Columbia's explosive day at the plate as the momentum from the first game comeback carried into the second game for Columbia's two-game sweep on the day.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME ONE): Higgins started, and while Princeton got to him early with a trio of runs over the first two innings, the Lions Friday starter settled in to toss 5 innings of work giving up four earned runs while striking out a career-high eight batters.
The Lions did get on the board early in the first game, scoring in the second thanks to a one-out single to right from
Anton Lazits, who after stealing second, was brought home by
EJ Kreutzmann who smacked a two-out RBI single to left, but after three innings the Tigers held a 3-1 lead.
Princeton added a run in the fifth and led 4-1 heading into the seventh. After the stretch, the Lions came out and began to chip away at Princeton's lead, and a Lazits leadoff walk got things going.
Seth Dardar, pinch hitting for
Joshua Solomon, got hit by a pitch to move Lazits over and set up Columbia with two runners on.
Kreutzmann then delivered his second RBI base hit of the day, singling past the second basemen to advance the runners and score Lazits from second. A bunt single from
Austin Mowrey scored Dardar tne the Lions were within a run, 4-3.
Princeton added two more runs in the top of the eighth, on a two-run home run, making it 6-3 as things rolled into the bottom half of the eighth. But the Lions were not finished, and after
Weston Eberly led off with a walk and Lazits smacked a double to center, up stepped
Skye Selinsky.
On a 1-1 count, Selinsky crushed a three-run game-tying home run into left center and after the blast the score was tied up at 6-6. Neither team would score in the ninth and into extras the first game would go, with the Lions looking to finish off another Ivy League comeback.
Working his second inning, Palfrey got through the top of the 10th, striking out a pair of Tigers in the process, putting the Lions in position to walk things off. In the bottom the 10th, with two outs,
Jack Cooper doubled to right field to put the winning run in scoring position.
After a Mowrey intentional walk, Hage stepped up to the plate. After taking a first strike and three balls, the count sat at 3-1 and Hage took advantage, singling to right center to score
John San Jule, who had pinch run for Cooper, and complete the walk-off comeback win, 7-6, and give Columbia a win in the first game of the doubleheader.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME TWO): From the start, Columbia rolled into the second game with the end of the first fresh in their minds, and after Leon opened the first two innings allowing only one base runner, the Lions began to roar. It started in the second, with a Selinsky double to center field, and he was quickly knocked in by
Hayden Schott's RBI double to left center.
Mowrey's single up the middle advanced Schott to third and he would score on the Hage sacrifice fly, putting the score at 2-0. A big two-run blast, the second of three on the day for Columbia, from
Andy Blake scored Mowrey and put Columbia up 4-0 after two innings.
The Lions would tag on four more unanswered runs over the next two innings, scoring all four additional runs in the fourth. Within those scored runs was a Coach Boretti special, with
Tyler MacGregor on first, having already knocked in a run with a single, and Blake on third, the Lions sent MacGregor and Blake.
The aggressive base running put Princeton in tight spot and the hesitation from the Tiger defense resulted in a double steal, with Blake scoring. After Eberly doubled in MacGregor from second, the Lions lead 8-0 after four innings.
Princeton did get on a board with a solo home run in the fifth, but the Lions had an answer for that home run off the bat of Hage, who in the bottom of the fifth, smashed a three-run blast to center field to cement Columbia's lead at 11-1.
Four Columbia RBI singles and a sacrifice fly over the next four innings would put the finishing touches on Columbia's dominating 16-1 win over Princeton, with Yoo and
Justin Tucker wrapping up the pitching for Columbia to complete the Saturday doubleheader sweep.
GAME NOTES: Columbia's 10 doubles is a school record, as of 2007 (GM2) … The Lions had five stolen bases in the second game, tying a season high … This was Columbia's first win in extra innings since a 10th inning victory over Yale in 2019 … Columbia's 16 runs are a season-high and the most runs scored in a game since scoring 20 runs vs. Penn in 2018 … The Lions' 20 hits in the second game are the most since recording 24 hits vs. Dartmouth in 2019 … Hage had six RBIs in the second game, the most by a Lion since Julian Bury knocked in six against Dartmouth in 2019.
UP NEXT: Columbia looks for the weekend sweep over Princeton when they return to action on Sunday, Apr. 3 with a 1 p.m. start time at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
FOLLOWING THE LIONS: Stay up to date on all things Columbia Baseball by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsBaseball), Instagram (@culionsbaseball) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).
