Lions increase division lead to three games

With timely hitting and effective pitching, the Columbia baseball team posted three victories over Princeton this weekend. For the third week in a row, the team took three out of four games, which pushed its lead in the Gehrig Division to a convincing three games.

Coming into the weekend, the Lions were a better club than Princeton in every way. But in order to earn a chance at the title, the team had to prove its ability to beat Gehrig Division opponents in head-to-head matchups.

Saturday’s first game immediately tested this notion when the Tigers jumped out to an early two-run lead in the third inning. After two consecutive hits to start the inning—leading to one run—and a fielding error, Princeton earned a second run off of a sacrifice fly.

The Lions made two quick outs to start their half of the third inning, but four straight batters reached base before the end of the inning to plate three runs. The big blow came on a clutch two-RBI double by catcher Dean Forthun that turned out to be the winning hit.

From then on, the Princeton bats were silenced by the stellar pitching performance of Pat Lowery. Columbia added four more runs in the fourth inning—on back-to-back-to-back home runs by Dario Pizzano, Alex Ferrera, and Jason Banos—to take the pressure off the pitcher. Lowery allowed just four hits for one earned run while striking out six to improve his record to 3-2 on the season.

Princeton woke up to start game two by scoring three runs in the first three innings, taking a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth. Columbia starter Tim Giel allowed a two-run homer following a costly error by Nick Crucet, putting Columbia’s chances at winning in jeopardy.

But the Columbia bats once again took their time to get going. The Lions opened their scoring in the fourth inning and would plate all six of their runs in the middle three frames.

Coming again after two quick outs, Alexander Aurrichio doubled in hit-batsman Forthun for the first Columbia run. Nick Ferraresi then chopped a ball through the left half of the infield on the first pitch to plate Aurrichio.

The Lions added three more runs the next inning, when Crucet took advantage of a throwing error to reach base. Jon Eisen knocked in two with a two-strike single before coming around to score on a sacrifice fly by Aurrichio. Columbia added a sixth run in the sixth inning when Billy Rumpke singled on the first-pitch throw by Princeton reliever Kevin Link.

After Giel left for Columbia five innings in, the Lions benefited from Geoff Whitaker’s one-hit, four-inning relief performance. Whitaker overpowered the Tigers, striking out six of the 13 batters he faced en route to earning his second save of the season.

After Saturday’s sweep, Columbia charged onto Robertson Field again on Sunday for two more games against Princeton.

In the first game, the Lions drew first blood when Eisen stole second and then scored from third off a wild pitch and an errant throw from the Tiger catcher. But the Tigers roughed up pitcher Dan Bracey for six runs in the next two innings to gain a 6-1 advantage.

The game was not out of reach for Columbia’s high-octane offense, and Bracey settled down in his final three innings of work, but the Lions simply could not figure out Princeton starter Zak Hermans, who allowed just three runs on eight hits on his way to throwing a complete, seven-inning game. Hermans threw 88 pitches while facing 30 batters. The Tigers put the game out of reach when they lit up Columbia reliever Harrison Slutsky for three runs in the final inning. The Light Blue dropped the contest by a score of 9-3.

Columbia’s powerhouse offense, which was bridled all weekend, finally broke through in game four with a six-run second inning. In that inning, Columbia also proved its ability to play small ball in lieu of power hitting.

The Lions stole four bases and drew three walks while taking advantage of two Princeton errors. The one big hit of the inning came when Jason Banos ripped the first pitch he saw to the right-center gap to knock in two teammates. Columbia would add another run on a two-out triple by Billy Rumpke the next inning.

From then on, solid pitching coupled with a weak Princeton offense gave Columbia its third victory in four attempts. Stefan Olson earned his first Ivy League win, allowing just two runs in six inning of work, equaling a quality start. Reliever Eric Williams threw two one-hit ball innings to keep the Tigers off the board.

The Lions ended the weekend with a 9-3 record in Ivy League play, good enough for first place in their division and a virtual tie with Brown—which is in action today—for the league-leading record. The Lions also continued their dominance at home, where they have lost just twice this season.

Columbia faces Manhattan for a mid-week battle on Wednesday before facing Cornell on the road this weekend in another Gehrig Division matchup.