Baseball Season Gets Under Way at Top-Ranked Virginia

Complete Game Notes | Live Stats

Season Opener
•    Dartmouth begins its 138th season of varsity baseball by taking on Wright State before going up against top-ranked Virginia twice, two teams that played in the NCAA postseason last year.
•    Head coach Bob Whalen enters his 21st season with an overall record of 376-395-1, including last year's 25-17 mark. He needs just eight victories to pass Jeff Tesreau (1919-46) as the Big Green's all-time winningest coach.
•    Since Whalen took the reins in 1990, the Big Green have played the Raiders three times, losing all three in Florida. The only other meeting came in 1988, a 12-8 Dartmouth victory in Texas.
•    Although the Green have played Virginia a total of 15 times, going 5-10 in the process, the two teams have not played each other in 60 years.
•    Dartmouth is 10-10 in the first game of the season under Whalen, having lost to Duke in last year's opener, 1-0.
•    Last year the Big Green won the Rolfe Division with a 16-4 mark, then went on to defeat Cornell in the best-of-three Ivy Championship Series held at Dartmouth's Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park.
•    The Big Green participated in their first NCAA Regional in 22 years, losing at #7 North Carolina, 5-2, then to Kansas, 16-0.
•    Dartmouth featured the most potent offense in the Ivy League last year, averaging 7.6 runs per game. As a team, the Big Green hit .308 with a school-record 44 home runs.
•    The Big Green also set a school record in the field by turning 49 double plays, not to mention just the second triple play in the program's history.
•    Of the nine All-Ivy performers for Dartmouth in 2009, five return this season — first-teamers Joe Sclafani (SS) and Jim Wren (OF), and second-teamers Kyle Hendricks (P), Ryan Smith (RP) and Jeff Onstott (2B).
•    The 2009 Ivy Player of the Year, Dartmouth right fielder Nick Santomauro, signed with New York Mets after being drafted in the 10th round.
•    Dartmouth features two players on the roster that were drafted out of high school — sophomore pitcher Kyle Hendricks (39th round) and freshman catcher Chris O'Dowd (40th round).

Scouting Wright State (2-5)
•    The Raiders, were swept last weekend at #15 Clemson, losing a pair of close games, 4-3 and 8-6, before dropping the third game, 12-6.
•    Despite the overall record, the Wright State pitching staff has performed well with a solid 4.65 ERA. The four starters have combined for a sparkling 3.05 ERA.
•    The offense has struggled a bit with a pedestrian .272 average and just one home run entering the weekend.
•    First baseman Jake Hibberd (.429 BA) and right fielder Tristan Moore (.696 slugging) have been the most productive hitters for the Raiders. Moore has two of the team's three triples and the lone long ball.

Scouting #1 Virginia (6-1)
•    The Cavaliers return their entire starting lineup and just about all their key pitchers from a team that played in the College World Series in 2010.
•    Virginia began the season by defeating #11 East Carolina two of three and just swept Rhode Island three games by a combined score of 43-7.
•    Of the six players who have started every game, four are hitting at least .387 with Steven Proscia batting .400 with two homers and 13 RBIs.
•    As a team, the Cavaliers are hitting .366 with a .556 slugging percentage and have stolen 10 bases.
•    Danny Hultzen (2-0, 1.38 ERA, 16 K in 13.0 IP) leads a pitching staff that boasts a 3.92 ERA.

Probable Starting Pitchers
•    Opening the season against Wright State will be senior captain LHP Robert Young (5-4, 4.63 in 2009), who gets the nod to start the season for the second straight year. Slated to face top-ranked Virginia are senior RHP Ben Murray (6-1, 5.27) and sophomore RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-3, 4.84).
•    The Raiders will likely counter with senior RHP Alex Kaminsky (0-1, 3.18 in 2010) who has struck out nine batters in 11.1 innings.
•    For the Cavaliers, RHP Robert Morey (1-1, 3.97) is set to take the mound on Saturday, while the final game will be either RHP Cody Winiarski (1-0, 7.27) or another pitcher to be named.

Schedules