Gardner Secures Game One Win; Big Green Split at Brown

Saturday, April 24

Providence, R.I.

12:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

19-12, 9-4

Brown

11-25, 8-5

Dartmouth

Brown

Gardner Secures Game One Win; Big Green Split at Brown

4/24/2010 6:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

Game One Box | Game Two Box

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — With Dartmouth down to its final out and trailing by a run, senior Brett Gardner delivered a two-run single to lift the Big Green to a 7-6 victory in the first game of a doubleheader at Brown's Murray Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Bears rebounded in the second game to defeat Dartmouth, 9-5, keeping the two teams tied atop the Rolfe Division standings in the Ivy League. Dartmouth (19-13, 9-5 Ivy) had its eight-game winning streak snapped, while Brown (12-25, 9-5 Ivy) ended a five-game skid.

Holding a 5-3 lead in the seventh and final inning of game one, Brown replaced starter Kevin Carlow with Matthew Kimball (1-4), who issued a lead-off walk to senior Jim Wren. After a fly ball to left was caught for the first out, third baseman Ryan Zrenda bobbled two straight grounders, loading the bases. Senior Ezra Josephson drove in a run with a dribbler to second, which also put the tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position. Gardner then ripped the first pitch to left to give Dartmouth a 6-5 lead, plus took second on the futile throw to the plate. When sophomore Jake Carlson followed with a single, Gardner was able to come around to score a vital insurance run.

Zrenda did his best to atone for his two errors in the top half, belting a lead-off triple off senior starter Robert Young. Junior closer Ryan Smith was summoned from the bullpen, and although pinch hitter Daniel Rosoff brought home the run with a grounder to second, Smith then retired the next two hitters for his Ivy League-leading fifth save.

Young (3-3) won his second consecutive start, allowing six runs, five earned, on nine hits and a pair of walks in six-plus innings while striking out three. Four of the runs came on one pitch when Matt Colantonio blasted a grand slam in the third, giving the Bears a 4-1 lead at the time.

The Big Green scored single runs in the first, fourth and sixth innings off Carlow, with Brooks providing an RBI single in the first, junior Jeff Onstott launching a solo home run (his third of the season) to center in the fourth, and junior Sam Bean hitting a double and coming around to score on a pair of ground balls.

Carlson and freshman Chris O'Dowd each had two of the Big Green's 10 hits in the game, while every starter in the Dartmouth lineup reached base at least once.

Brown jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the second game. Graham Tyler led off with a double, went to third on a fly to right, then scored on a passed ball. He would have scored anyway when Pete Greskoff smacked his league-leading 12th home run of the year.

In the second, the Bears doubled its lead to four in a similar fashion as the first with Josh Feit stroking a lead-off double and Chris Tanabe hitting a two-run homer, his third of the year.

Dartmouth broke through in the fifth against Will Weidig on a two-out, RBI infield single by Carlson. The Big Green threatened to score a few more by loading the bases, but Weidig escaped by inducing a harmless grounder to short for the third out.

In the bottom half, Brown answered right back with four runs, all after two were out. Mike DiBiase sent a ball over the center-field fence for his fifth long ball of the year, and after Colantonio doubled and Greskoff walked, Zrenda came through with an RBI single. Two batters later, Cody Slaughter drove in two more with a single of his own.

Tyler's second double of the game brought Tanabe, who had reached on a bunt single, across the plate with Brown's final run in the eighth.

Like the first game, Dartmouth got its offense going in the final inning, beginning with a two-base error. Josephson pinch hit and singled for a run, then trotted around the bases on junior Jason Brooks' third home run of the season. Weidig was lifted in favor of Heath Mayo, who got the first out, then hit junior Sam Bean with a pitch. After the second out was recorded on strikes, Mayo was pulled and Brad Kottman took the mound, only to give up an RBI double to sophomore Joe Sclafani. But Kottman ended the Big Green's hopes by getting a strike out to end the game.

Weidig (3-3) got the victory, allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits and four walks in eight-plus innings while fanning four.

Senior Ben Murray (3-4) suffered the loss, ending a personal three-game winning streak and giving him his first loss in Ivy play in seven decisions during his career. He yielded eight runs in five innings on 10 hits and a pair of walks.

Carlson was the long Dartmouth hitter with two safeties in the game, as the Big Green managed just eight hits, compared to 15 for Brown.

The two teams, still tied atop the Rolfe Division standings with a two-game edge over Harvard, will conclude the four-game series tomorrow with another doubleheader beginning at noon