From the Cheap Seats: 

Baseball captures Ivy crown
Pitching holds Dartmouth at bay

May 6, 2000-The baseball team engineered a two-game sweep of Rolfe Division champion Dartmouth to earn its first Ivy League title since 1996. As Ivy champions, the Tigers are now assured of an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

In game one of the series, Princeton ace Chris Young '02 took the mound and did not disappoint. Young pitched a complete-game four-hitter and struck out seven to lead the Tigers to a 5-2 win.

Buster Small '00 opened the scoring with a leadoff home run in the second inning. Mickey Martin '01 then belted a double and later scored on a ground out by Ryan Achterberg '02.

Young carried the 2-0 lead into the fourth inning, but Dartmouth plated two on two hits and a costly Princeton error.

In the eighth inning, with the game tied at two, shortstop Pat Boran '02 lofted an RBI single to left field that scored Tim Phillips '01 with the game-winning run. Princeton added two insurance runs, but Young did not need them as he put Dartmouth down in order in the ninth inning to close out the game.

In game two, Jason Quintana '00 out-dueled Dartmouth ace Conner Brooks (8-1, 1.92 earned run average) to complete the sweep and clinch the Ivy title.

After two scoreless innings, Princeton broke through and scored two runs on a double into the right field corner by first baseman Andrew Hanson '01. The Tigers added two more in the bottom of the fourth inning. With runners on first and second, Sean McNally executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position. Achterberg then punched a single over the drawn-in infield scoring Casey Hildreth '01 and Martin to give Princeton a 4-0 lead.

Dartmouth clawed back with single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings that made the score 4-3. But the Princeton bullpen slammed the door on the Big Green. After one and one-third scoreless innings from Tom Rowland '02, Tiger stopper David Boehle '03 entered the game with the tying run on second base and quelled the Dartmouth threat.

In the ninth, Boehle walked the leadoff batter. Dartmouth then sacrificed the runner to second base, but that was as close as they would get. After a fly out to center field, Boehle struck out Michael Levy to seal the championship.

By Matt Golden '94
(golden2@erols.com)