The baseball team earned its second shutout victory of the season with a 12-0 win over Princeton Sunday, after dropping two contests of a three-game series to the Tigers Saturday. With this weekend’s results, Brown (7-15, 3-6 Ivy) moves to seventh place in conference standings.
“Saturday, we faced two pretty good arms,” said Head Coach Grant Achilles. “We just obviously didn’t do enough offensively. We struck out 23 times in two games, (which) is not a recipe for offense by any stretch. (Sunday), we talked about coming out and not letting our circumstances dictate how we feel, but letting how we feel dictate our play.”
Brown 4, Princeton 7
In the series opener, the Bears were resilient against the Tigers (7-13, 4-2) and stayed competitive to keep the game close. In the top of the sixth, Princeton jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Brown responded in the bottom of the inning to tie the score. Second baseman Joe Lomuscio ’21 posted an RBI double, and designated hitter Calvin Farris ’20 knocked in two runs on a single for the equalizer.
The two Ivy League rivals entered the ninth tied at four, but the Tigers exploded for a three-run inning to down the Bears. Bruno notched seven hits compared to Princeton’s 11 and recorded one error.
Brown 3, Princeton 4
Later in the afternoon, Brown was again narrowly defeated by Princeton. Similarly to the previous game, the Tigers jumped out to another 4-1 advantage and earned a three-run lead in the top of the seventh frame. The Bears were able to put three men on base in the next half-inning, and Lomuscio and shortstop Willy Homza ’19 each recorded RBIs on sacrifice flies to bring the Bears to within one.
Brown could not complete the comeback in the final two innings, as Princeton’s effective relief pitching silenced the Bears’ bats. Bruno finished the game with seven hits, and starting pitcher Will Tomlinson ’20 struck out seven batters over 5.1 innings.
Brown 12, Princeton 0
The following day, Bruno came out of the dugout hot and did not cool down all afternoon. The Bears knocked in three runs in the bottom of the second to start the offensive barrage. Right fielder Hunter Carey ’18 recorded an RBI on a fielder’s choice sending third baseman Cameron Deere ’20 running across home plate. Homza then plated Farris to cross home with a powerful RBI double to widen the lead. Lomuscio capped off an impressive series and notched an RBI single into the center field gap for the third time in as many games.
“We’ve shown at times throughout the course of this spring that we’ve really been able to hit and play solid offense,” Achilles said.
In the bottom of the fifth, second baseman Rich Ciufo ’20, catcher Parke Phillips ’20 and starting pitcher Garett Delano ’20 loaded the bases with no outs. Deere then rocketed a grand slam into deep center field that sent the Brown dugout into a frenzy and gave the Bears an 8-0 lead.
“We needed a momentum swing right there,” Deere said. “We had been in that situation before and hadn’t gotten that big hit, and it has led to us ending up on the wrong side of the scoreboard later on.”
Moments later, Carey launched another home run to deep right field to bring home first baseman Mark Sluys ’19 and extend Bruno’s lead to ten runs.
Defensively, the Bears were sharp all day. In the top of the sixth, the Tigers had runners on first and third with one out, but Brown executed a perfect double play to preserve the shutout. Delano stifled Princeton’s offense throughout the contest and pitched six shutout innings with no errors to earn four strikeouts and help secure the victory.
“We’ve lost a lot in a row, so it feels good to execute pitches and give my team a chance to win,” Delano said. “Pitching with a lead sometimes gets tough because you don’t execute as you would in a tight ballgame. But it definitely felt good. We had twelve runs today, so it definitely took the pressure off.”
Sluys launched another home run in the seventh, and Phillips sent Lomuscio home with an RBI in the eighth to deliver Brown’s final two runs of the game.
“Our guys really came out and played well today,” Achilles said. “We were able to put together a good offensive day with some defense and a great start by (Delano).”
The Bears will host interstate rival the University of Rhode Island Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. before playing another three-game series against Columbia this weekend at Murray Stadium.
