Pitcher’s strong outing comes in Tiger sweep
By: Justin Feil
Eric Walz may have pitched better at points this season, but never has he had a more meaningful result for the Princeton University baseball team.
Walz went a career-long 10 innings, allowed just five hits and struck out five as the Tigers beat Columbia, 6-3, in 11 innings Saturday.
"I’d have to say it’s the most effective I’ve been," said the junior right-hander. "I wouldn’t say it’s the best I looked. It ended up the best. I got a ‘W’ for the team. I guess you could say it’s the best for that factor."
The win gave Princeton a sweep of Columbia that day and helped propel it to a sweep of the Lions for the weekend as the Tigers also won both ends of Sunday’s doubleheader. After a midweek win over Seton Hall pushed their winning streak to six straight, the Tigers hope to keep it going when it hosts the University of Pennsylvania in back-to-back noon doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday.
"Every game we’re playing for our right to play in the championships series," said Walz, who was named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week for his outing against Columbia. "We have to come out with the same competitive push every game. It really is a 12-game playoff. We have 12 games to get to the championship. If we don’t win these series, we don’t have a chance.
"It’s tough to know we put ourselves in this position. It’s also an exciting experience for us. It will helps us in long run to know we can win these series. You’re going to have to later."
Princeton’s sweep of Columbia pushed their Ivy League record to 5-7, one game ahead in the Gehrig Division of Cornell, which is 4-8. Penn is 5-11 and Columbia is 4-12. The Tigers are 10-19-1 overall.
"We’ve been trying to keep from getting that 20th loss," Walz said. "This weekend, we’re trying not to ever hit that 20 mark. (The Seton Hall win) got some guys some at bats and it got some pitchers some innings. I can’t say it’s a bad thing for us. It gave us a little more preparation."
What the Tigers really could use is a few more players. Princeton has faced more adversity this season than it is used to, and come up just short in a number of games. They have lost 13 games by three runs or fewer.
"We just want to keep winning games," said PU head coach Scott Bradley. "The thing with our team this year compared to in the past is we’re very, very thin. We had a number of pitchers who have had not only season- but career-threatening injuries. We have seven healthy pitchers. We had 10 healthy position players last weekend. We don’t have a whole lot of moves to make.
"It’s been a rough years in terms of that. Everything is coming around. Starting pitching is the whole key."
With a thin staff, games like Walz’s performance are crucial to the Tigers chances. But expecting anyone to go 10 innings is rather unreasonable. Walz was only able to do so because he kept his pitch count just barely over 100. He threw three more pitches in 10 innings than did Erik Stiller in a seven-inning shutout that started the Saturday doubleheader.
"Getting around the eighth or ninth, I didn’t think Coach was going to leave me in," Walz said. "I figured I was around a higher pitch count. But I wasn’t getting hit that hard. I had some crucial double plays that kept me in the game and kept my pitch count down. I haven’t ever thrown 10 innings before."
Walz got no bigger double play than in his final inning, the bottom of the 10th. The Tigers threw out the winning run at the plate then doubled off the batter as he tried to advance to second to end the inning. Princeton scored six runs the next inning to earn the win.
"I knew eventually my hitters were going to come through," Walz said. "I got saved by them. Whenever they had that crazy relay from center field, that was huge. I couldn’t have asked for any more help from them. That was a big momentum shift."
So too was sweeping the entire weekend. Now the Tigers are focused on winning the Gehrig Division title that eluded them last year for the first time in 10 years. Princeton now has that opportunity despite having starting 0-7 in Ivy play before beating Yale and then taking four from the Lions.
"It was encouraging we still had a shot," Walz said. "We’re all pretty shocked that we had a shot. We all know we’ve had a pretty miserable season. We have lost a lot of close games, which has been heartbreaking. To turn around and win the last Yale game, to put together everything finally. It was uplifting for us to have something to still play for."
The Princeton pitching staff took the lead last weekend. Besides shutouts from Stiller and Walz, Michael Zaret and Reid Payton delivered a shutout to open Sunday’s sweep and Christian Staehely and Steven Miller combined to allow just two runs to finish off the weekend.
"What has really developed," Bradley said, "is a really strong competitive bond among the four starters. They’re basically trying to top each other. Stiller starts it off with the first game of every weekend. Then it’s like, I’m going to one-up him. They’re really feeding off each other. It’s a key. With the four of them, it’s not like any of them is better than another. It’s not like there’s any drop-off.
"The first weekend of the year, when we played Harvard and Dartmouth, we were in a stretch we were not scoring any runs. We’re starting to swing the bats. We starting to score some runs. It gave us a little confidence. We’ve got some swagger back."
Walz worked on becoming a more complete pitcher in the offseason. He looked at Stiller’s effectiveness with a change-up and tried to add it to a repertoire that included a lively fastball and a sharp slider.
"The change-up is not my highlight," Walz said. "I was able to throw it for strikes last weekend. It makes my fastball a little more effective. At least it makes the batter thing about it. It’s not as effective as Stiller’s or Christian’s."
Walz has also benefited from focusing purely on baseball. A former receiver for the PU football team, Walz suffered an injury that forced him to consider giving up football for good. It’s allowed him to put more time and energy into baseball year-round.
"I’ve always loved baseball," he said. "I can’t say I like one thing more than another. But baseball is what I have now and I’d like to have in my future. I think I made the right decision."
After his most effective outing of the season kept boosted the Princeton baseball team to a huge weekend, the Tigers would have to agree.

