“It’s a great day for baseball. Let’s play two.” — Ernie Banks
We made the quick 30 minute drive to Yale for the second time this year, to see the Princeton Tigers live for the first time in an Ivy League double header. We arrived for Game 1 at the start of the 6th inning, with Yale ahead 11-0. It was Senior Day, with a slightly larger crowd than I’ve seen previously – mainly parents and alumni. It was decently warm, around 70F, but the intense wind and intermittent cloud coverage made it slightly uncomfortable at times.
We sat front row, 3rd base side as we normally do at Yale Field, and Eli was chatting up players as they walked between the club house and dugout. After Game 1 ended, Eli talked to both head coaches and was able to get their dugout cards.
After a short break, Game 2 began. Yale freshman Jack Ohman – son of former MLB pitcher Will Ohman – took the mound, boasting an absurd Division I leading 0.67 ERA through 9 starts. After he retired the first batter of the game, there was some apparent controversy with his glove, highlighted by either a Princeton coach or umpire. We couldn’t figure out what was going on, but he was visibly upset as was coach Brian Hamm. It took some time for another player to retrieve a backup glove, and the game continued. Unfortunately, the next batter hit a home run, but he quickly got back on track and retired the next 9 consecutive batters. He pitched 6.2 innings, striking out 9 batters and giving up 2 ER, keeping his ERA sub 1.0.
It will be exciting to see how he progresses through college ball – hopefully he stays at Yale so we can see more live.
Yale won Game 2 with a score of 9-2, and parents poured on to the field to be with their kids. Eli was able to get the Princeton dugout card again, as well as Yale’s batting order card. He also got a ball signed by Jack on the field. He did plenty of foul ball chasing as normal, and left with 3 Ivy balls.
