Brooks' Two Triples Leads Baseball to 5-3 Victory

Wednesday, April 21

Hanover, N.H.

3:30 p.m.

Dartmouth College

18-12

Saint Anselm

10-23

St. Anselm

Dartmouth

Brooks' Two Triples Leads Baseball to 5-3 Victory

4/21/2010 6:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. — Junior Jason Brooks tied a Dartmouth record by hitting two triples against Saint Anselm on Wednesday afternoon, the second of which drove in the deciding two runs, as the Big Green clipped the Hawks at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park, 5-3. Dartmouth has won seven straight to improve to 18-12 on the season, while Saint Anselm fell to 10-23.

Brooks is the 18th player in Big Green history to accomplish the feat, the last being sophomore Joe Sclafani, who coincidentally stroked a pair of three-baggers last year against Saint Anselm. Both Brooks and junior catcher Brandon Parks had two hits to account for the eight collected by the Dartmouth offense.

The Big Green scored first in the fourth inning without the aid of a hit. Matt Stone had held Dartmouth scoreless through three innings before being replaced in the fourth by James Farrington, who immediately walked Sclafani on four pitches. After a fly out, Sclafani stole both second and third base, then beat the throw home on junior Jeff Onstott's fly down the left-field line.

Brooks led off the fifth with his first triple of the game on a shot into the right-center gap. Parks sent him plateward with a solid single through the right side for a 2-0 edge.

The Hawks, which hadn't had a runner advance past first base since the firth inning, got one of those runs back in the sixth. Eric Baca doubled off Big Green freshman Michael Johnson, then moved to third on a grounder to second. Junior Dan Ternowchek came on to pitch, but hit Rett Ostafin to put runners on the corners. Baca could not score on a shallow fly to center for the second out, but he and Ostafin pulled off a double steal to score the first Saint Anselm run.

Control problems cost Farrington in the sixth, although freshman Chris O'Dowd was caught stealing after drawing a lead-off walk. But Sclafani walked again and senior Jim Wren boomed a double to right-center to send Sclafani to third. Farrington then balked home a run before walking Onstott, who promptly stole second. Farrington got the second out on strikes, but Brooks blasted his second triple, this time to left-center, to drive in two runs and make the score 5-1.

In the seventh, Dartmouth sophomore reliever Max Langford recorded two quick outs before Saint Anselm began to rally. Four straight singles led to two runs with Baca and Robert Kelly picking up an RBI apiece to cut the four-run deficit in half. After a walk to Ostafin loaded the bases, junior Colin Britton made his first appearance on the mound of the year. Britton preserved the Dartmouth lead by inducing a weak pop to short.

Junior closer Ryan Smith came on to pitch the ninth for the save, but it wasn't easy. Richie Manzi and John DiBenedetto each singled to put the tying runs on base with nobody out. Onstott made a sliding stop of Kelly's ground toward the hole between first and second before getting up and throwing Kelly out at first with the runners moving into scoring position. Smith got a strikeout when he needed it, setting Ostafin down on three pitches, before intentionally walking pinch hitter Matt Sucharewicz — and Saint Anselm's leading hitting — to load the bases. The strategy worked as Smith got a called third strike to end the game for his Ivy League-leading fourth save of the year.

Johnson (1-1) earned his first collegiate victory, yielding just one run in 5.1 innings on five hits and walk while striking out a season-high six batters.

Baca had three hits with a double and two stolen bases to lead the Hawks offense, while Farrington (0-2) took the loss after surrendering all five runs on four hits and four walks in his three innings of relief.

Dartmouth heads to Providence, R.I., this weekend for a four-game showdown against Brown. Both teams are tied for the Rolfe Division lead in the Ivy League with 8-4 marks. The doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday begin at noon. Saint Anselm plays a Northeast-10 Conference game tomorrow at home against Southern New Hampshire at 3:30 p.m.