Eleven the Magic Number in Win Over UMBC

Thursday, March 24

Winter Haven, Fla.

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-4

UMBC

3-11

UMBC

Dartmouth

3/24/2011 5:02:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — For the second time in three games, the Dartmouth Big Green baseball team tallied 11 runs in an inning, backing the 11-strikeout performance of junior Kyle Hendricks in a 17-2 victory over UMBC on Thursday afternoon at Chain O' Lakes Park. Junior Joe Sclafani had a career-high five hits as Dartmouth (7-4) pounded 18 hits off of four Retriever pitchers.

UMBC (3-11) suffered its fourth straight loss — three to Dartmouth — but did snap the Big Green's streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run at 28.2 with a pair of runs in the ninth.

Hendricks (2-1) dominated the Retrievers, needing just 86 pitches to navigate his way through eight innings on the mound. He allowed just three singles and a walk, facing just four over the minimum. His performance comes on the heels of his outing against Army last Friday in which he whiffed a career-high 15 batters, earning numerous honors including the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week and the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week. Hendricks has not allowed a run in his last 12.2 innings.

With a 6-0 lead after retiring the side in order in the eighth and his pitch count so low, Hendricks was poised to finish off what would have been his third career shutout. But Dartmouth kept getting on base in the bottom half, scoring run after run and lengthening Hendricks' wait in the dugout. By the time the inning came to a close, the Big Green owned a 17-0 lead.

“Kyle was very impressive today,” stated Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen after the game. “His performance was reminiscent of his division-clinching shutout against Harvard last year and the Ivy Championship clincher two years ago against Cornell. He threw three pitches for strikes, locating each one effectively, and was absolutely dominant with his fastball. But with that long stretch in the dugout while we were batting in the eighth, there was no need to risk him stiffening up and forcing the ninth inning.”

Most Runs, Inning, Under Bob Whalen
Date	Opponent	Runs	Inning
March 21, 2011	vs. UMBC	11	1st
March 24, 2011	vs. UMBC	11	8th
April 28, 1990	at Columbia	10	5th
March 24, 1995	at Concordia-Irvine	10	5th
April 12, 2003	at Cornell	10	2nd

UMBC brought in reliever Matt Siggins to pitch the eighth, and Sclafani greeted him with a triple to the gap in right-center. After senior Sam Bean walked, sophomore Chris O'Dowd delivered his third hit of the afternoon for the first run of the inning. A pair of one-out walks forced home Bean and ending Siggins' afternoon. Again the Big Green welcomed a reliever to the mound by smacking a triple, this time with junior Jake Carlson doing the honors to clear the bases, making it an 11-0 game.

A hit batter and grounder to short put runners on second and third with two down when Sclafani poked a single through the infield for his second hit of the inning and the sixth run of the frame. Bean ripped an RBI double before O'Dowd reached on an error, allowing another run to score. Two batters later, senior Jeff Onstott pulled a double down the right-field line to score two more, and sophomore Ennis Coble capped the inning with an RBI single.

Dartmouth also scored 11 runs in the first inning in the first game of the series against UMBC en route to a 13-4 triumph. This 11-run frame is just the fifth time the Big Green have put double digits on the board in one inning during Whalen's tenure, this being his 22nd season. Until Monday, Whalen's teams had never scored 11 runs in one inning.

“A lot of our runs have come in bunches so far this season,” Whalen commented, ”and today was no different. It really gives our guys confidence at the plate and allows them to relax and keep things simple when hitting.”

Hendricks needed to be sharp as Dartmouth had just a 3-0 lead entering the bottom half of the seventh. But as yesterday, freshman Dustin Selzer doubled the lead with a three-run homer, giving the Big Green the breathing room for which they were looking.

Dartmouth put the first run of the game on the board in the first when Sclafani and Bean hit back-to-back doubles. In the fourth, the Green tacked on two more against starter Mike Mitchell (0-2) on run-scoring singles off the bats of Carlson and junior David Turnbull.

The Retrievers tallied two runs in the ninth with one coming home on a passed ball, the other on an RBI single by D.J. Ream.

Every starter had at least one hit for Dartmouth, including Sclafani with his five knocks and O'Dowd with his three to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. The top three hitters in the lineup — Sclafani, Bean and O'Dowd — all scored three times while Carlson drove in four runs with a pair of hits. Coble reached base five times with a single and four walks.

Dartmouth will go for the four-game sweep against UMBC on Friday at Chain O' Lakes Park in Winter Haven at noon.