April 5, 2008

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Overnight rains delayed the start by an hour, but the Yale baseball team finally took the field as the home team for the first time all season on what turned out to be a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Yale Field. Behind solid pitching from Brian Irving, the Bulldogs (10-16-1, 3-2-1 Ivy) posted a 3-2 victory in the first game of their Ivy League doubleheader with Princeton, but the Tigers (11-12, 3-3 Ivy) rebounded for an 8-5 win in the nightcap.

Irving (2-2) was dominant on the mound in game one. He struck out 12 and walked only one in a seven-inning complete game. This is the second time this season Irving has recorded at least 12 strikeouts in a game; he struck out 13 against George Washington on March 2.

Princeton got on the board with an unearned run in the top of the first. The first batter of the game, Derek Beckman was hit by a pitch. Beckman stole second as Dan DeGeorge struck out, and moved to third when Ryan Lavarnway's throw went into center field. He scored on Jack Murphy's RBI single.

The Bulldogs got the run right back when Cox reached on a two-base error, advanced to third on P.J. Gorynski's groundout, and scored when Lavarnway roped a double down the left field line. Yale added two more in the fifth when Andy Megee belted a leadoff triple, then scored on Cox's RBI single. The Bulldogs made it 3-1 when Cox scored on Gorynski's single to left.

Irving gave up another run when DeGeorge and Murphy each doubled in the top of the sixth. After walking Spencer Lucian, he struck out David Hale to get out of the inning. Irving came back out for the seventh and struck out the side. The final six Princeton outs, and seven of the last eight, were strikeouts. Irving had a hand in 17 of the 21 outs and Princeton didn't hit a fly ball to an outfielder the entire game.

Yale had eight hits in the game, with Megee going 2-for-3 at the plate. Cox went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.

Brad Gemberling (0-1) threw six solid innings for the Tigers. He yielded three runs (two earned) and eight hits while striking out five. His only walk was an intentional pass to Lavarnway. DeGeorge and Murphy each had two of Princeton's five hits, while Murphy had both RBIs.

The Bulldogs jumped in front early in game two, plating a single run in the second and one in the third. In the second, Stefan Schropp knocked a leadoff single and scored on Jake Doyle's double off the top of the wall in center field. In the bottom of the third, Gorynski blasted his second career home run off the scoreboard in left center.

After escaping from a bases loaded, one-out situation in the first inning with a double play, Yale starter Brandon Josselyn was cruising along until the top of the fifth, when the bottom third of the Princeton lineup hit three successive singles to open the inning. Leadoff hitter Beckman was up next and sent a chopper towards first. Trying to get the double play, first baseman Chris Sweeney delivered a wild throw that allowed two runs to score. Instead of a runner on third with two outs, the error set up a second and third, nobody out situation. Princeton took advantage and knocked in both runs on groundouts.

In the top of the sixth, Jon Broscious crushed a two-run homer to right center to increase Princeton's lead to 6-2. Yale got one back with an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh, but in his next at-bat, Broscious led off the top of the eighth with a blast to right field. Broscious gave the Tigers another insurance tally with an RBI single in the top of the ninth.

With Yale trailing 8-3, Cox opened the bottom of the ninth with a single to left. Gorynski followed with his second home run of the game, a two-run shot to right field that made it 8-5 with the heart of the Yale order coming up. However, Lavarnway, Schropp and Trygg Larsson-Danforth all went down on strikes and Princeton secured the doubleheader split.

Yale had eight hits in game two. Gorynski went 3-for-5 with two home runs and three RBIs, while Cox was 1-for-4 with two runs scored. He extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the ninth. Josselyn (1-4) took the loss after yielding six runs (four earned) and 10 hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 6.2 innings.

Every batter in the Princeton lineup had at least one hit, as the Tigers belted 13 as a team. Broscious was 4-for-5 with four RBIs and three runs scored, while Hale went 2-for-5 and scored twice. Christian Staehely (3-2) earned the win after giving up two runs and five hits while striking out five and walking three in six innings. Dan Barnes surrendered three runs (two earned) and three hits while striking out five and walking one over the final three innings to pick up his second save. Despite six errors, Princeton allowed just one unearned run.

The Bulldogs continue their 12-game homestand with another conference twinbill on Sunday, when Cornell visits Yale Field for a 12 p.m. doubleheader. Cornell (6-13, 0-4 Ivy) dropped two games at Brown on Saturday, 5-4 and 11-7. Chris Finneran and Corey Pappel will pitch the first game, while Alex Christ and Tony Bertucci are the scheduled hurlers for game two.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity