Wren's Pinch Single Sends Big Green to 7-6 Win

Wednesday, April 15

Worcester, Mass.

4:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

16-10

Holy Cross

14-21

Dartmouth

Holy Cross

Wren's Pinch Single Sends Big Green to 7-6 Win

4/15/2009 8:30:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

WORCESTER, Mass. ? Junior Jim Wren (Granbury, Texas) delivered a pinch-hit, two-out RBI single in the eighth to send visiting Dartmouth to a 7-6 victory on the road at Holy Cross (14-21) on Wednesday afternoon. Sophomore reliever Ryan Smith (Greenlawn, N.Y.) picked up the win for the Big Green (16-10) ? winners of 15 of their last 16 games ? by tossing the final 2.1 innings without allowing a run.

With the score tied at six, senior Ray Allen (Longwood, Fla.) reached base on an error by the third baseman to start the eighth inning.. Senior Johnathon Santopadre (Vacaville, Calif.) moved Allen into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, but Chris Blanchard got the second out on strikes. That left the task to the pinch-hitter Wren who, after a wild pitch sent Allen to third, ripped the single that brought home the winning run.

Smith (1-0), who had come on in the seventh and escaped a two-out, two-on jam, did not let a runner get past first in the eighth and ninth to earn his first victory. He did walk a batter with one out in the eighth, ending his streak of 19.2 innings to start the season without issuing a walk.

Dartmouth jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second with just one hit against starter Matt Croglio. Freshman David Turnbull (St. Louis, Mo.) walked with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a balk. Two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week Joe Sclafani (Palm City, Fla.) also drew a walk, and the second wild pitch of the inning allowed Turnbull to score the first run. Freshman Jake Carlson (Woodlands, Texas) ripped an RBI triple down the left-field line, then scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior Brett Gardner (Bellevue, Wash.).

In the fifth, Croglio got the first two outs without incident, but could not get the third. Sclafani singled and Carlson walked, ending Croglio's day on the mound. Reliever Ryan George came in and promptly threw a wild pitch, then walked Gardner to load the bases. In came Brian Shapiro to face sophomore Jason Brooks (Westlake Village, Calif.), who stroked a two-run double to left. Another wild pitch gave Dartmouth a 6-0 lead.

Meanwhile, freshman Max Langford (Fairfax, Va.) was putting zeroes on the scoreboard against the Crusaders. He pitched four innings and surrendered just two hits, but did walk four, and struck out three.

In the bottom of the fifth, Langford was lifted in favor of junior Zach Cheaney (Houston, Texas), making his first appearance in nearly two years due to an injury. But it was not Cheaney's day as he failed to record an out. He hit the first batter he faced in Chris Blanchard, then walked Brendan McCrea. Matt Perry followed with an RBI double, and Eric Oxford walked to load the bases. Jake Gorman unloaded them with his fifth home run of the season for a grand slam to make it a 6-5 game.

But the inning was not over yet. Freshman Marco Mariscal (El Cajon, Calif.) came on to pitch, and after striking out his first batter, gave up three straight singles, the third by Chris Sintetos that tied the score. Although he walked Blanchard, loading the bases, Mariscal induced McCrea to ground into a double play to escape the inning with the game still tied.

Blanchard (1-3) was stuck with the loss despite the fact he did not allow an earned run in four innings of relief. He did allowed one unearned run on three hits and a pair of walks while whiffing three.

Carlson picked up two of Dartmouth's six hits while he and Sclafani both scored twice.

For the Crusaders, Matt Perry had three of their eight safeties while Gorman drove in four of their six runs with his grand slam.

Dartmouth, 11-1 in the Ivy League, returns to conference play this weekend at Yale (11-16, 5-7 Ivy) for a four-game series. The two squads play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at noon. Holy Cross also will play a pair of noon doubleheaders on the road this weekend at Patriot League foe Lafayette.