Bulldogs fall in bid for NCAA berth

WEST HAVEN — John Stuper had every reason to be disappointed on Wednesday afternoon.

Yale, for the second day in a row, wasted remarkable pitching with an inability to get much done at the plate.

Columbia would score the winning run in the bottom of the 15th on Wednesday at Yale Field, a 2-1 victory that cinched an Ivy League Championship Series sweep and sends the Lions to the NCAA tournament.

In 24 innings over two ILCS games the Bulldogs (22-21) scored a total of one run.

It came in the top of the first Wednesday when leadoff batter Teddy Hague singled and scored on Benny Wanger’s sacrifice fly.

Yale couldn’t push another across for the next 14 2⁄3innings.

Yet Stuper, whose 26th season as Yale coach came to an end, wasn’t about to dwell on the negative.

“I’ll be honest with you, the only thing I’m feeling right now is pride,” Stuper said. “We’re thinking about what we accomplished, not what we didn’t accomplish.”

The Bulldogs began the season 4-14 and lost two of their first three Ivy League games only to bounce back and win the regular season championship.

They’re the nation’s best defensive team, a .984 team fielding percentage that ranks ahead of powerhouse programs Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Florida and USC.

They led the Ivy League in team ERA at 2.88, over a full run better than anyone else in the league.

And a year after pulling off two wins at the Corvallis Regional, Yale was sure to be a handful for any opponent at the NCAA tournament.

But over the past two days Columbia (20-27) was a better team.

A day after Harrisen Egly and Ty Wiest combined on a four-hit shutout, four Lion pitchers found themselves in minimal trouble for the final 14 innings of Wednesday’s marathon.

Starter Jordan Chriss, who entered the game with a 6.02 ERA, allowed one run over seven innings.

Wiest tossed six innings of one-hit relief, a masterful performance that took Columbia into the 14th inning.

Yale threatened in the 14th, putting two runners on with one out, but reliever Leo Pollock got Alex Stiegler to line into a double play to end the inning.

“It’s unreal,” Columbia coach Brett Boretti said. “We don’t talk about rising to the occasion; we talk about sinking to our preparation. Those guys came through and I can’t say enough about them.”

Steve Musco / Yale University Yale’s Teddy Hague (7) leads off against Columbia with a single on Wednesday. Columbia won the game and the Ivy League Championship, 2-1, in 15 innings.