(PRINCETON, NJ) – It’s yet another season of “much the same” around the Princeton Black Squirrels Classic Baseball Union club. And there’s no telling how much more the locals can take as the team wallows at the bottom of the Veeck Division in mid-May with a 14-26 record, which also gives them the worst winning percentage in the CBU.

Jack Jarvis

Things took a bad turn right from the start as superstar Jack Jarvis got himself suspended for 13 games on Opening Day for starting a bench-clearing brawl with Gustavo ‘Drummer’ Díaz of the Whitehorse Blue Dogs after Díaz hit Jarvis with a pitch. Jarvis, known for being as delicate as Glass Joe, didn’t take kindly to being plunked because of the injury risk and rushed the mound. The 13-game suspension is a Princeton Black Squirrels record. For the record, Jarvis hasn’t apologized for the incident.

Since he has been back in the familiar orange and black, Jarvis has been his typical self at the plate, hitting .358 with a .977 OPS in 95 at bats. But his clutch production has been down from his usual pace as he has 3 home runs, 10 runs scored, and 14 RBI in his 27 games played. It has been a bit tough going for Jarvis without the protection of Leonard Walker in the lineup. After being recalled from the disabled list in mid-April, Walker lasted all of 6 games before a torn thumb ligament knocked him out for 3-4 more weeks.

The continued injuries to Walker forced Black Squirrels General Manager Jim Fillmore to go out and bring in a free agent first baseman, and Fillmore signed 31-year old left-handed hitting Okura Seki to a one-year, $2.7 million contract. Seki, who spent the last two seasons with the Akron Dandies and has some pop left in his bat, was thought of as decent interim cover especially with the short right field porch at the Princeton Fieldhouse. But Seki has been underwhelming – while he has 5 home runs he only has 8 RBI – and the fact that his 5 home runs leads the team tells you a bit about the troubles the Black Squirrels are having this year.

Walker and promising second baseman Mike Anderson should both be returning from the Disabled List next week as long as everything remains on schedule with their rehab which will be a nice boost to the lineup.

Kip Robinson

An emerging story on the team is that of 27-year old outfielder Kip Robinson. Called into the line of fire last season to cover for various injuries, Robinson has really been impressing with his hustle and gritty play. Despite his solid 2010 year for the club, Princeton management sent him down to AAA to start the 2011 campaign with the Woodbridge Ratdogs. Robinson responded by hitting .366 with 3 home runs, 2 triples, and 11 RBI in 10 games, including going for the cycle against the Windsor Watchdogs on April 15. He made his recall to the CBU-level club an inevitability and he’s now back for the foreseeable future.

Bartolo Ramírez

On the pitching end of things, there is more bad injury news for closer Bartolo Ramírez. Ramírez missed 2 months last season with shoulder inflammation, and 4 months in 2009 with a partially torn labrum. This time he tore a flexor tendon in his elbow and will be lost for the season. All of this at just the age of 24 makes you wonder if the former All Star will ever be back on the mound for the Black Squirrels, or, as with injured teammate Albert Meyer, if perhaps his time in Princeton simply needs to come to a merciful end. There’s only so much the human body can take and forcing these men beyond the limit is not in line with the mission of the Princeton Black Squirrels team charter.

28-year old Iowan José ‘Prowler’ López, who was a workhorse out of the bullpen for Princeton last year with 73 appearances, has taken over the closing duties for the time being and has 4 saves and a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings thrown.

Otherwise it is what you might expect from a young pitching staff – flashes of brilliance marred by stretches of inconsistency. 26-year old Juan Rodríguez, who had 11 innings in Princeton back in 2009 and is basically a rookie this season, is tied for third in the Giamatti League in strikeouts with 53. A strikeout pitcher is exactly what the Black Squirrels’ rotation needs playing in the cozy confines of the Princeton Fieldhouse, and Rodríguez is proving to be just that in his first full season in the CBU.

Dong-hee Chang, the 29-year old right handed South Korean pitcher originally slated to be continuing the transition from reliever to starter this year, has been pressed back into the bullpen with the injuries to Meyer & Ramírez. 25-year old lefty Jesús Viera, who has started 43 games for Princeton over the last two years, has spent the entire 2011 season in the bullpen to some mixed results. The consensus seems to be that Viera is better suited for the bullpen at this point in his career.