This weekend, the baseball team (10-11, 5-1 Ivy) swept Princeton (7-16, 2-4 Ivy) in a three-game Ivy League series at home with dominant scorelines of 4-0, 14-1 and 4-0. The three wins propelled Bruno to a 5-1 Ivy League record –– the team’s best start to in-conference play since 2009.
After a frustrating 6-0 loss to Stonehill (9-14, 7-2 NEC) last week, Bruno came into their matchup with Princeton looking to bounce back.
Saturday’s doubleheader opened with Princeton at the plate, marking the beginning of a long afternoon for the Tigers against Bruno pitcher Peter Dubie ’26.
While Princeton was able to put runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings, Dubie shut the door each time. Dubie’s supremacy on the mound was highlighted by a back-to-back strikeout with bases loaded in the third inning, allowing Brown to preserve the 0-0 tally.
The game remained deadlocked until the sixth inning, when Brown’s offense finally broke through.
With a runner in position, Alex Benevento ’28 delivered a double into the right-center gap. A Princeton outfielder lunged for the ball but could not come up with it, letting it roll all the way to the fence as Mark Henshon ’26 crossed the plate to secure the contest’s first run.
“We talk a lot as a team about competing for everyone else in the dugout over yourself and trying to find any way that you can contribute to help the team win,” Benevento wrote in an email to The Herald. “I’m just happy that I was able to play any part in helping the team succeed.”
Moments later, DJ Dillehay ’26 launched a soaring two-run home run over the right-field wall to give the Bears a 3-0 lead.
Despite Princeton’s attempts to stop Brown’s offensive onslaught, the Bruno train kept rolling. In the eighth inning, Matt Luigs ’29 laid down a bunt single, stole second base and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Benevento to push the lead to 4-0 Bears.
Princeton’s offense never found a foothold. Brown cruised to the 4-0 win, fueled by a combined 18 strikeouts between Dubie and Christian Keel ’26. Dubie’s 15 strikeouts marked the most strikeouts by a Brown pitcher in a single game since 2008 and set a new single-game strikeout record at Brown’s Attanasio Family Field, which opened in 2017.
“Baseball in general is a game played over a long season,” wrote Benevento. “Unwavering team energy, showing up everyday with the same will to win and staying even-keeled regardless of result or position are things that we value as a program.”
With no time to celebrate, all eyes looked to the second game of the Saturday doubleheader. Unfortunately for the visiting Tigers, the Bears kept their foot on the gas.
Last week’s Ivy League Rookie of the Week Drew Nelson ’29 took the mound and put on a show. Throughout his eight innings, he allowed just one unearned run on four hits, walking one and striking out five on a whopping 95 pitches. In his last 15 innings — starting during a Mar. 21 game against Yale — Nelson has not allowed an earned run.
“Overall, in the last 15 innings I have thrown more strikes that are in the bottom of the zone, which has led to weak contact,” Nelson wrote in an email to the Herald.
Bruno’s offense was also hard at work, scoring two runs in each of the first four innings.
In the first inning, Dillehay ripped a two-run double down the left field line to open the scoring. The Bears’ next runs came in the following inning when Jack Edmunds ’28 reached home on a Henshon single. Next, a wildly off-target pitch by Princeton opened the door for Luigs to steal home base and make it 4-0 Bruno.
After Bruno sent two more hitters home in the second inning, the Tigers charted their only run of the game in the top of the third after a Bruno error.
Mika Petersen ’26 struck back in the bottom of the inning, belting his first home run of the season. One inning later, Logan Meusy ’26 drove in two more runs after an error turned a single into a double.
Brown blew the game open with a dominant five-run fifth inning, during which six straight batters reached base.
Bruno’s impending victory was apparent by the eighth inning, but the Bears nonetheless added one more run. Edmunds drilled a home run over the left-field wall to close out the 14-1 win.
With a chance to complete the sweep the next day, Brown leaned on yet another strong pitching performance to send the Tigers packing.
This time it was Dylan Reid ’26 who took Brown’s mound. Despite running into trouble early in the second inning after walking two Tigers, he responded with a key strikeout to end the threat.
After a shaky start, Reid found his rhythm. The senior retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced over the remainder of the contest to keep Brown in control.
The game remained scoreless until the third inning, when Benevento crushed a three-run homer over left field to give Bruno a 3-0 lead.
Brown extended the gap in the fifth inning. Luigs drew a walk, stole second base and eventually scored after a Princeton shortstop committed an error. The 4-0 scoreline remained through the game’s conclusion, sealing the weekend sweep.
The Bears will look to keep their winning streak alive when they return to non-conference action against Bryant on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at home.
“Looking towards the remainder of Ivy League play, we will continue to pitch at the bottom of the zone and throw secondary pitches for strikes,” wrote Nelson. “Minimizing free passes will be crucial in keeping our momentum going.”
Harry Guo is a senior staff writer and on the vertical video and design teams. He is from Andover, Massachusetts, and plans on concentrating in Business Economics and International and Public Affairs. In his free time, he enjoys writing poetry and playing poker.
