Tigers sweep Harvard for sixth baseball crown in 11 years
By: Justin Feil
The first time that the Princeton University baseball team played Harvard this season, it was swept by the Crimson.
Back then, though, the Tigers were swept away by a lot of clubs.
Princeton got out the brooms itself to win the Ivy League Championship with 9-3 and 8-2 wins over Harvard in the best-of-three series Saturday in Cambridge, Mass.
"I really sort of felt we were coming in with a different team," said Erik Stiller, a senior and the winning pitcher in Game One. "I felt my stuff had gotten better with my command and strength. Our hitting has come around, and we’ve had really good pitching and defense. I felt like it was a lot different circumstance than the first time we played. There was definitely some redemption.
"The past couple weeks, we’ve had good pitching, good defense and timely hitting. That’s what wins championships. Those three came together at the right time and contributed confidence coming into this weekend."
The sweep of Harvard gave the Tigers their sixth Ivy championship and automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals in the last 11 years. Harvard has won the other five in that span. Princeton has won three of the last four, but this one was unique in the past decade, maybe even longer.
"This is completely different," said PU head coach Scott Bradley. "No team I’ve coached went through a stretch like we did this year. I’ve never been on a team that had an 18-game stretch where we went 1-16-1. It says a lot for this team. People were talking about this being as bad a year as Princeton has had and they turned it into an Ivy championship season."
Added Stiller: "That stretch was as unbelievable a stretch as you could be a part of. It seemed like everything was working against us. To turn it around and have the pinnacle of our season be an Ivy championship, it does make it sweeter. I think we all learned something about sticking it out. It was tough in that stretch. But it definitely makes it a lot sweeter."
Princeton will have off nearly four weeks, unless they can schedule a matchup in the meantime, before playing in the NCAAs. It’s almost a shame because the Tigers have now won 14 of their last 18 games, including a sweep of a Harvard team that had been dominant in Ivy play.
"I thought it was big to come out and get a win in the first game," Stiller said. "We have such a strong bullpen and pitching. I knew if we got through the first game, the advantage would be in our favor. I thought it was really important to set the tone. I tried to go deep so we didn’t have to use the ‘pen much."
Stiller did his job. A 4-1 loser in the regular season to the Crimson despite striking out eight, he struck out six and walked just one in a complete-game performance Saturday to open the Ivy series. Stiller was helped by some early run support as Zach Wendkos’ two-run home run in the first inning gave Princeton a 2-0 lead. Sal Iacono also hit a two-run homer in the third inning to extend the lead to 5-0. And just when Harvard cut it to 5-3, the Tigers responded a four-run eighth inning highlighted by Wendkos’ two-run double.
"That was huge," Stiller said. "Even getting two runs in the first inning was huge. It helped being able to pitch ahead."
That cushion enabled the Tigers to stick with Stiller. He’s been their Game One pitcher in every Ivy regular-season series, and he performed well in his first appearance in and Ivy Championship though he’d been on two previous teams to win them.
"It was funny," Stiller said. "I was our Game Three guy sophomore year and we swept. Freshman year, I didn’t pitch either. Being there, we knew how good it feels to come away with a win and a championship. Our excitement trickled down to the freshmen and sophomores who hadn’t been there."
It was one of those sophomores, Christian Staehely who was the winning pitcher in the clinching 8-2 win in Game Two. The Tigers came back from a 1-0 deficit with seven runs in the sixth inning, Wendkos and Iacono had back-to-back doubles and Stephen Wendell had a two-run single. The Ivy League leader in ERA, Staehely allowed just two runs in 6Ð. Eric Walz came on in relief and retired the final eight batters of the game.
"Our pitching was superb," Bradley said. "Their first four are really talented. We held them to literally a couple hits."
Harvard’s first four batters went a combined 3-for-33 in the series. They had trouble solving Stiller, a veteran, and Staehely, who was in his first Ivy series.
"Erik’s very skilled," Bradley said. "He’s been a terrific pitcher for us. With he and Staehely, they both have three pitches that they will throw at any point in the count. And Zach Wendkos does a good job calling pitches. Harvard never got a read on what they’d throw. They moved it around and they never figured it out."
Stiller said, "Personally, I just tried to keep the ball down. When I faced them the first time, as was the case with the first half of the season, I was leaving the ball up. They’re a good hitting team and they weren’t striking out a lot. They were making contact. My focus this time was to keep the ball down and that worked out well. Christian did the same thing. He keeps guys off balance. I felt they were never able to get in a groove."
The same looked true of the Tigers early this season. No matter what they tried, they couldn’t find a groove and just couldn’t find a way to win. They’ve come all the way back from that to return to the NCAA Regionals, a third trip for the seniors like Stiller.
"I pitched against Virginia in the third game two years ago," Stiller recalled. "I didn’t have a great game, but it was a great experience and this will definitely be sweeter. The team has really come together. I’m excited to get together for a fun time. We’ll see if we can squeeze out a win wherever we go."
The Tigers are the first team to secure an NCAA bid. They are a familiar entry from the Ivy League, but took a path this year they had never followed before. They fought back for an Ivy crown from some early season struggles. They won’t hide the fact of how much that says about this Tigers team.
"Not one bit," Bradley said. "I’m kind of looking forward to people asking us about it."

