PRINCETON, N.J.—A game that had begun shrouded in mystery—from the identity of Princeton’s game three starter to whether the rain would hold up long enough to squeeze the Ivy League Championship game in—wound up being as unambiguous as Thomas Pauly versus Frank Herrmann with two on and two out in the ninth. For the seldom-used Herrmann, a freshman and Harvard Coach Joe Walsh’s last pinch-hitting option on a thinning bench, and Pauly, arguably the conference’s most dominant pitcher, the moment was a collision of implausibility and perfect clarity.

“We were looking for a dream come true up there,” Walsh said after the game.

A dream did come true, but it wasn’t Herrmann’s or Harvard’s. Herrmann struck out swinging, sending Princeton’s players into a frenzied pile in the infield as they celebrated winning the Ivy League Championship Series two games to one on a 5-2 victory in Game Three at Princeton’s Clarke Field yesterday.

A day after the bat of freshman third baseman Josh Klimkiewicz had opened the door to another extended run for the Red Rolfe Division champions, Pauly slammed it shut. Although not as dominant as he has been for most of the season, Pauly hurled a complete game four-hitter and settled in after the Crimson (20-23, 12-11 Ivy) touched him up for two early runs.

Harvard’s season ends one victory shy of back-to-back Ivy League Championships, while Princeton (27-21, 17-6) has now won three of the past four. The Tigers gained a measure of revenge for last season’s ousting in the championship series, the latest in a rivalry that has seen Princeton and Harvard play for the title six of the last eight years.

“It’s tough,” said senior Kenon Ronz, who started Saturday’s first game and is one of eight departing seniors. “It’s tough to know that baseball for me is near an end.” He paused. “At an end, maybe.”

Meanwhile, the rest of a fairly young team was left to watch the pile near the mound and think about the future.

“As a coach, you start to think about next year as soon as you get on the bus,” Walsh said. “We’ve got some cornerstones in place, and it’s good that they’ve gotten some championship game experience.”

Princeton 5, Harvard 2

Despite the dominant Pauly on the mound and a raucous Princeton crowd in attendance, a bad hop on a grounder to first was what did the Crimson in.

With runners on second and third and two outs, freshman Mike Dukovich was unable to field a ball off the bat of B.J. Szymanski that took an odd bounce off him into right field. Freshman second baseman Zak Farkes deftly recovered and threw the ball to first, where pitcher Mike Morgalis had rushed to cover the play.

Morgalis hustled to first to get the out, falling backwards with his feet on the bag as Szymanski charged through, but an umpire called Szymanski safe. Morgalis, still on the ground, turned and threw to home plate after a moment’s hesitation, but both runs had scored.

Sophomore catcher Schuyler Mann threw Szymanski out at second to end the inning, but a 3-2 game had swelled into a 5-2 Princeton cushion. Pauly (7-1) would not let it get any closer.

For the Crimson players, who had seen countless botched plays in the infield cost them runs earlier in the season, it stung to watch the game slip away on an out they thought they had.

“I think the umpire missed a call there,” Walsh said. “Morgalis thought he’d beaten him. I kept saying that with all of these bad hops and bounces we got that the baseball gods would have to turn it the other way eventually, but they didn’t.”

Pauly gave the Crimson small chances the rest of the way with an uncharacteristic seven walks, including free passes for freshman Lance Salsgiver and Dukovich in the top of the ninth that set up the Herrmann at-bat. But just as in that inning, Pauly always had an answer. He finished with 10 strikeouts.

“We were coming together when we had those couple hits in a row,” Salsgiver said. “I thought we’d keep hitting him. But he came back really strong and basically threw seven perfect innings after that.”

Morgalis (3-4) was very effective in the early going, keeping the Tigers hitless the first two innings as the Crimson built a 2-0 lead. Salsgiver beat out an infield grounder that Tigers’ second baseman Steve Young briefly bobbled to get on base, and junior Bryan Hale brought him home on a double that right fielder Andy Salini jogged beneath but seemed to misjudge. Hale scored when Dukovich singled to shallow center on a 1-2 count in the next at-bat.

But Princeton got those runs back in the third inning when an Eric Fitzgerald grounder squirted through Ian Wallace’s hands, and back-to-back bloop singles brought the run home. A deep sacrifice fly off the bat of Princeton’s Ryan Eldridge tied it shortly thereafter.

By the time the big fourth inning was over, Walsh had pulled Morgalis in favor of Salsgiver, who moved in from right to pitch the first 2.2 innings of his collegiate career. Walsh said that he got worried after the Tiger lineup had seen Morgalis three times through.

The Salsgiver hunch worked—he, senior Ryan Tsujikawa and captain Barry Wahlberg combined to allow only two hits the rest of the way—but Pauly surrendered only one hit in the final seven innings.

“I thought Lance put in a good effort today,” Walsh said. “I thought everybody did.”

Harvard 4, Princeton 3

Klimkiewicz prolonged Harvard’s season with two swings of the bat on Saturday. In a desperation game in which Harvard could muster only five hits, Klimkiewicz made his two count.

Klimkiewicz knocked in all four of the Crimson’s runs on a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the first and a 400-foot home run to center field in the third.

The double came after Klimkiewicz had worked a seven-pitch at-bat out of Princeton’s Ross Ohlendorf (4-2), who is regarded as one of the conference’s better pitching prospects. With Salsgiver and senior catcher Brian Lentz on second and third after a double steal, Klimkiewicz laced Ohlendorf’s eighth pitch to right to give Harvard a 2-1 lead.

The home run came after Princeton had tied it on an RBI infield single by Szymanski. With Salsgiver 90 feet away after stealing second and third, Mann hit a fielder’s choice to Mike Chernoff at short, and Chernoff was able to gun Salsgiver down at the plate.

But in the next at-bat, Klimkiewicz jolted an Ohlendorf offering into the evergreens beyond the 395 sign in center.

“Ohlendorf’s a good pitcher who’s had a lot of people talking,” Walsh said. “We did a good job putting pressure on him.”

Freshman Matt Brunnig (3-4) threw 6.1 innings for the win, allowing three runs. Wahlberg came in for the remainder of the game and collected his fourth save.

Princeton 5, Harvard 2

Ronz (3-3) had matched Princeton’s Ryan Quillian (6-4) pitch for pitch through five innings, but got into early trouble in the sixth when he gave up a leadoff single to third baseman Jon Miller and a walk to Eldridge. Two batters later, Salini singled solidly to give the Tigers the lead.

What good Princeton hitting had started, poor infielding made worse. With runners on second and third, Tigers designated hitter Ryan Reich hit a hard grounder to third base that Klimkiewicz failed to scoop up. Klimkiewicz recovered and tried to salvage the out at first, but his off-balance throw scooted past Dukovich’s outstretched glove and into no-man’s land. A run scored on the play and Princeton had second and third with one out.

Both runs would come home when Fitzgerald hit a screaming line drive to center past Hale, who made a valiant effort at the catch but tripped when the ball fell just past him. Fitzgerald pulled in with a triple, and Princeton led 5-1.

With Pauly coming into the game with two men on in the next inning, that was more than Princeton would need. Pauly got Farkes to ground out to second to end the seventh and, after allowing a rare run in the eighth on a Mann RBI single up the middle, closed out the game for his sixth save.

Mann drove in the Crimson’s only other run in the sixth on a double to right field that scored Farkes. Farkes had doubled to open the inning, and a Salsgiver groundout pushed him to third with one out. But Lentz lined Quillian’s next pitch right into the shortstop’s glove, limiting the amount of damage Harvard could do before Princeton’s big inning.

Ronz was pulled in favor of Madhu Satyanarayana with one out in the eighth after Reich hit a one-out double all the way to the center field wall.

“I don’t want to make any excuses,” Ronz said when asked about possible fatigue. “I pitched well enough to get people out.”

Satyanarayana gave up one hit but no further runs were scored.

—Staff writer Martin S. Bell can be reached at msbell@fas.harvard.edu.