When you mention comeback seasons in college baseball this year, high on the list have to be Princeton and The College of New Jersey.
When you mention comeback seasons in college baseball this year, high on the list have to be Princeton and The College of New Jersey.
Princeton, which won just seven games last season, claimed the Ivy League championship over the weekend and now awaits NCAA Tournament seeding on Memorial Day.
TCNJ, 18-18 a year ago, won 30 games this season and opens play in the Division III tournament Wednesday as an at-large entrant.
Neither coach is surprised.
"I tried to tell everybody that would listen, and it was hard to get people to listen to me, that last year was not a bad year,'' Princeton coach Scott Bradley said. "Having a losing record doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad year. Not once did the kids get discouraged. Not once did I have kids where they came to practice with a bad attitude, or where the pitchers blamed the hitters or the hitters blamed the pitchers.''
TCNJ, 30-10, lost eight seniors from last year's team but had the nucleus to get where it had not been in seven years - its last NCAA tournament bid was in 2009.
"It was just a matter of putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, and everything we were thinking was going to happen happened,'' coach Dean Glus said about the Lions. "If we do the things we're capable of doing, it's going to be a good tournament for us.
"I'm not gonna say we're going to win it, but we have the ability and potential to be a force to be reckoned with in this region. When we execute, we can beat anybody in the country.''
They were scheduled to open against Ohio Wesleyan (27-14) on the Western Pennsylvania campus of Washington and Jefferson College. There are eight teams in the Mideast Regional, a double-elimination format.
The pieces fell together immediately as TCNJ won 13 of its first 14 games. It would finish with a team batting average of .325, an ERA of 3.47 and a fielding percentage of .960.
The lineup features senior Patrick Roberts (.392, team-high six home runs), senior Garen Turner (.344, 21 extra base hits), and sophomore John Rizzi, who leads the nation in stolen bases. C.J. Gearhart, a junior catcher from Robbinsville, came on to start 29 games and hit .300.
TCNJ Coach Dean Glus with his team this season. Senior Steve Volpe led the staff with a 7-1 record (2.97 ERA).
"He's the bulldog,'' Glus said. "He's that guy who makes everyone else better on the staff.''
Sophomores Joe Cirillo and Brandon Zachary combined to go 13-4, with Zachary being voted Co-Pitcher of the Year in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Robbinsville High grad Michael Fisher posted a 2.65 ERA in middle relief with a 3-1 record.
An improved defense also played a key role in the team's improvement, a season that for Glus ended with at least 20 wins for the seventh time in his nine years as head coach.
This is TCNJ's 20th NCAA tournament, which includes two appearances in the World Series (1991, 2002).
Princeton won its seventh Ivy title under Bradley, who will complete his 19th season as head coach. It's the first trip to the NCAAs in five years. The 24-19 record is the 11th time Bradley's teams have won at least 20 games.
After losing the opener of the Ivy's best-of-three playoff against Yale, the Tigers rallied to win the last two, including a two-run rally in the last inning of the last game for a 2-1 victory and the automatic bid.
Bradley's son had given him a book called, "Resilience,'' written by Navy Seal Eric Greitens. Bradley had the team read it before the season.
"It was about teamwork, and the single most important trait you can have in life. It held true for this team.''
The Ivy League season began in similar fashion with the Tigers opening with one-run wins against Dartmouth. The regular season, always with a challenging non-league schedule, began 6-10. But a win over (35-18) Seton Hall sent them into league play, where the Tigers won their first four.
Three touted freshmen missed the entire season due to injuries. But aside from a leadoff hitter who walked on from football and a freshman DH, the team was, Bradley said, "Basically the same cast of characters.''
Seniors Danny Hoy and Billy Arendt led the way, along with Jesper Horsted (.326) and Nick Hernandez (team-high 32 RBI). Junior Chad Powers (6-3, 2.07) - "I think he should be Ivy League Pitcher of the Year,'' Bradley offered - and senior Cam Mingo (6-3, 3.81) led the way on the mound.
"This team was very resilient,'' Bradley said. "So the theme of the year was that book we read. We had a lot of really good players who really care for each other and wanted to change what happened the year before. And they did.''
Follow NJ.com on Twitter @njdotcom. Find NJ.com on Facebook.