Baseball swept as Tigers clinch

Penn lost the second game in the bottom of the ninth inning. PRINCETON, N.J. -- All day long yesterday, the Penn baseball team looked like it was on the verge of losing any chance at the Lou Gehrig Division title. After a brief glimmer of hope, the Quakers (17-18, 7-9 Ivy League) finally succumbed, and the Princeton Tigers(19-14, 12-4) captured the Gehrig crown with a doubleheader sweep. Needing a win to stay alive, the Quakers trailed 4-1 after six in the nightcap, and Tigers sophomore Tom Rowland was cruising. But Penn struck for four runs in the seventh to turn the tables and make it seem that they might force Princeton to wait until next weekend to clinch. The Quakers, however, failed to push home an insurance run in the top of the ninth, and in the bottom of the inning, Penn starter Andrew McCreery finally ran out of gas. McCreery, who pitched brilliantly to keep the Quakers in the game while they were trailing, hit Princeton catcher Casey Hildreth with a pitch with one out to start the rally. It was the fourth time that Hildreth had been plunked in the game, and McCreery's sixth hit batsman. The bases filled on a seeing-eye single and a walk before McCreery walked No. 9 hitter Jay Mitchell in the tying run. Penn coach Bob Seddon then went to the bullpen for Paul Grumet, but he gave up a long single to outfielder Jon Watterson to end the game and Penn's title hopes. "If we had won this one, then maybe we could have hoped for Cornell to pull something [and beat Princeton next weekend]," Penn first baseman Ron Rolph said. The only thing that was hard to take about the first game was Princeton ace Chris Young's pitching. The sophomore was simply dominant as the Tigers romped, 7-1. Fortunately for the Quakers, the opening game was only seven innings long. Young went the distance, allowing just one run on three hits with a career-high-tying 10 strikeouts. "I wasn't as sharp as I normally am today," Young said. "Trying to work my fastball, I couldn't seem to locate it." Young's ERA did jump from 0.90 to 1.00 with the Penn run, but he spent the day utterly dominating a Penn lineup that came to Clarke Field sporting a .321 team average. The Princeton sophomore struck out at least one batter in every inning and fanned every starter for the Penn except for Rolph and McCreery. With about 25 professional scouts looking on, Young only got into trouble once all afternoon. He walked designated hitter James Mullen to lead off the fourth inning. After a passed ball sent Mullen to second, Young looked like he might escape, retiring Glen Ambrosius and Jeff Gregorio. But Ron Rolph poked a single into right field to break up the shutout as Mullen hustled home from second. But by that point, the game was already all but out of reach. Penn starter Mark Lacerenza spotted the Tigers five runs in his 2 2/3 innings of work. The southpaw gave up three in the second and a two-run homer to right fielder Max Krance in the third before being pulled in favor of Brian Burket. Penn did not have to go to the bullpen so soon in the second game. Although McCreery was wild, plunking five in the first five innings, he pitched well enough to keep his team in it. "He's either throwing the ball on the corner or at your head," Tigers coach Scott Bradley said. "He was wild, but he threw strikes when he had to." But the Quakers didn't exactly have their hitting shoes on early in the second game either, as they only had two hits off of Rowland until the rally in the seventh inning. In the first six innings, only Chris May's double, a Mullen fly to left and an Ambrosius fly to right made it out of the infield for Penn. Rowland was as stifling as Young, although the scouts were long gone. But in the seventh inning, the Princeton southpaw ran out of gas. Rolph drew a leadoff walk and was driven home with one out on a triple by May. Ralph Vasami doubled him home and scored after a bunt single from Nick Italiano and a single by Mullen between third and short. Ambrosius capped the four-run rally with a single to right that brought in Italiano. But Penn lost the lead in the ninth and will have to wait for another day to beat the Tigers.

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