Green Narrowly Defeated by #22 Ohio State; Best Northwestern

Tuesday, March 23

Winter Haven, Fla.

10:00 a.m.

Dartmouth College

4-4

Ohio State

13-5

Dartmouth

Ohio State

Green Narrowly Defeated by #22 Ohio State; Best Northwestern

3/23/2010 6:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

OSU Box | Northwestern Box

WINTER PARK, Fla. — Trailing 7-0 in the ninth, Dartmouth chipped away for six runs and had the tying run at third base before #22 Ohio State (13-5) could subdue the Big Green bats to hold on for a 7-6 victory on Tuesday morning at Chain of Lakes Park. Dartmouth (5-4) rebounded in its second game of the day to defeat Northwestern (5-14), 5-1, as sophomore Cole Sulser allowed just one run over seven innings of work.

Sulser (2-0) was stellar in his first start of the 2010 season, giving up just the one run on six hits and a pair of walks while striking out six Wildcats. The only inning in which a Northwestern player advanced even as far as third came in the fourth when the Wildcats scored their lone run of the afternoon.

Sophomore Jake Carlson had three hits to lead the 11-hit Big Green attach, while freshman Zack Bellenger had a double and two RBIs.

Bellenger's two-run double in the second gave Dartmouth the early advantage it would never surrender, scoring senior Jim Wren and junior Jeff Onstott. Sophomore David Turnbull delivered an RBI single to give the Big Green a 3-0 lead after two innings.

Northwestern's run in the fourth came after it loaded the bases with one out and Chris Kontos produced an RBI single. But Sulser escaped further damage with a strikeout and a harmless grounder to second.

Junior Jason Brooks and Turnbull singled with one out in the bottom half of the fourth to put runners on the corners. Wildcat starter David Jensen (0-2) got the second out on strikes, but Carlson came through with a clutch single to score Brooks to make it a 4-1 game.

Dartmouth got an unearned run in the fifth to complete the scoring. Freshman Chris O'Dowd walked to lead off the inning, then went to third with one out when the right fielder could not corral Wren's long fly ball for a two-base error. Onstott scored O'Dowd with a chopper to the third baseman, whose only play was at first.

Sulser was lifted after seven innings in favor of sophomore Max Langford, who allowed just a one-out double in the eighth. Closing out the ninth was junior Ryan Smith who set the side down in order on three fly balls.

Against Ohio State, the ninth started innocently enough when Wren flew out to left. But Onstott singled and Turnbull walked to start the rally. The Buckeyes called upon Eric Shinn from the bullpen, who promptly uncorked a wild pitch. Shinn got the second out when Brooks lofted a sacrifice fly to right, ending the shutout bid.

The Big Green were not finished, however, as junior Brandon Parks singled home Turnbull to make it 7-2. Junior Sam Bean reached on an error, and Carlson walked to load the bases. Two runs came home when freshman Ennis Coble beat out an infield hit and moved up on a futile throw that was wild. After sophomore Joe Sclafani singled for his third hit of the game to bring Dartmouth within two at 7-5, Ohio State summoned closer Theron Minium to the mound. Wren greeted Minium with a base hit to the hole at shortstop on the first pitch to score Coble, and Sclafani hustled to third when the throw got away. With the tying run just 90 feet away, Minium finally put out the uprising by getting Onstott on a called third strike, earning his second save of the season.

Ohio State had built most its substantial lead with six runs in the second inning. Big Green starter Robert Young (1-1) retired the first two batters he faced in the fateful frame, but the Buckeyes strung together seven straight hits to plate six runs. Brad Hallberg and Brian DeLucia singled before Tyler Engle, Chris Griffin and Zach Hurley all produced RBI singles. Cory Kovanda provided the big blow of the inning with a three-run blast to right on the first pitch of the at-bat. After Dan Burkhart doubled, Young got the elusive third out on strikes.

A fifth-inning Buckeye run seemed like unnecessary insurance at the time, but proved to be the winning run. Burkhart, Michael Stephens and Ryan Dew all singled to load the bases with nobody out before Hallberg hit a fly to right to score Burkhart. Young avoided further damage by inducing a double-play grounder to short to end the inning.

Drew Rucinski (3-0) earned the victory with six shutout innings, allowing five hits and a walk while fanning five.

Young (1-1) suffered the loss, valiantly tossing seven innings while surrendering seven runs on 15 hits but without a walk. The senior left-hander struck out a pair of Buckeyes as well.

Dartmouth will play two seven-inning games against Illinois tomorrow, with the first pitch scheduled for 9:30 a.m.