Bulldogs, Bears to visit Baker for start of baseball’s Ancient Eight competition

After Wednesday’s matchup against Monmouth was rained out, the Lions executed a complete victory over Saint Peter’s on Thursday.

For Columbia, it was a game of firsts. The 9-0 victory is the Lions’ first shutout of the year, and the team’s first since it blanked Princeton on April 12 of last year. The victory also pushed Columbia’s current winning streak to five games, a feat the team has not accomplished since a late season run took them to the Ivy League championship in 2008.

The Lions’ offense remained hot and every starter had at least one hit, except for center fielder Billy Rumpke, who walked to get on base. Columbia roughed up the Peacocks’ starting pitcher, Jeremy Ives, for eight earned runs in just 2.1 innings.

Freshman Nick Ferraresi opened the score with a homer to deep center field in the second inning. The next seven runs came in the third inning with one out, when Columbia sent 12 men to the plate. The Lions cracked three doubles in a row off the bats of Alex Godshall, Jon Eisen, and Dean Forthun before Bobby O’Brien delivered a huge two-run triple to break the game open on an 0-2 count.

But the most comforting part of the victory was the domination by the Columbia pitching staff. Seven Columbia pitchers scattered just four hits and struck out 12 batters. Apparently solving some control problems, the Lions walked just one Saint Peter’s batter and did not bean any, either.

Roger Aquino was the fortunate pitcher on the mound in the third inning when the Lions’ offense put up a seven spot, and the junior improved to 3-1 on the season.

With an off day today, Columbia couldn’t ask for much more than a five-game win streak to lead them into the Ivy League season. Columbia plays host to Yale and Brown this weekend for the first four games of the conference season.

Although the Lions are undefeated at home this season, they will face serious challenges from their Ivy League foes on Saturday and Sunday. Yale arrives in New York with an 11-6-1 record this year. So far this season, the Bulldogs have knocked off foes including Army, Rhode Island, and Indiana. Yale also tied with Bowling Green and nearly beat Miami of Ohio at the RussMatt Invitational in Florida.

The story is not the same for Brown, which has lost its last six games en route to a 2-13 record entering Ivy League play. Brown’s only wins came against Pepperdine and Holy Cross, and the Bears will travel to Penn before arriving at Robertson Field on Sunday. Columbia should sweep Brown in the doubleheader, but the experience that each team gained in pre-season, nonconference play cannot be quantified.

Columbia’s offense has put up steady numbers, but the Lions are hitting just .287 as a team, compared to Yale’s .327. The games will most likely come down to pitching and defense, as they always do.

Head coach Brett Boretti has utilized six starting pitchers this season, who are a combined 3-8. The team ERA is still hovering near the mark of seven runs per game, and there are still four Lions with ERAs in double digits. The good news comes from the bullpen, where Derek Squires, Zach Epstein, and Clay Bartlett have performed well as of late.

Squires threw two shutout innings yesterday, and Bartlett—who led the team with 20 appearances as a key to Columbia’s 2008 championship—was back in form, tossing an eight-pitch inning. Bartlett and his colleagues in the bullpen will determine in part the success of the team this year.

While Columbia hasn’t allowed an opponent to score more than five runs since losing 22-21 on March 24, the Bulldogs’ bats, along with the added pressure of conference play, will determine if the pitching staff’s troubles are indeed over.

Columbia hosts Yale for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Robertson Field. Sunday’s games will start at noon, also at Robertson Field.