Dartmouth Completes Florida Trip with 5-3 Win

Saturday, March 26

Winter Haven, Fla.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

9-4

Grinnell

2-8

Grinnell

Dartmouth

Dartmouth Completes Florida Trip with 5-3 Win

3/26/2011 3:39:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Senior Jason Brooks came through with three hits and three RBIs to lead Dartmouth to a 5-3 victory over Grinnell on Saturday afternoon at Chain of Lakes Park. The Big Green (9-4) have won five straight games and finished their 10-game trip to Florida by winning eight of the contests. The Division III Pioneers dropped to 2-8 on the year.

Two of Brooks' three hits went for doubles, and all three drove in a run. Junior David Turnbull also had three hits on the day for Dartmouth with a double and a triple while scoring two of the five runs.

Earning the win on the mound was junior Cole Sulser (1-0), who tossed four innings of one-run relief with seven strikeouts. Freshman Mike Dodakian faced the minimum in the eighth before senior Ryan Smith hurled a scoreless ninth for his first save of the year and the 25th of his career, which extends his Dartmouth and Ivy League records.

Grinnell took an early 1-0 lead in the first with an unearned run off sophomore southpaw Michael Johnson. Drew Davis opened the game by drawing a walk, then was safe at second when Johnson threw wildly trying to force him on a comebacker. But when Davis did not get a good jump on a steal attempt of third, he was caught in a rundown for the first out. After a foul pop, Mike Nodzenski ripped an RBI double to the gap in left-center.

In the third, Davis tripled with one out and beat the throw to the plate on a grounder to first to put the Pioneers up, 2-0.

Dartmouth went to work in the third as Turnbull laced a lead-off double into the left-field corner and went to third on a wild pitch. Junior Joe Sclafani walked before sophomore Ennis Coble hit a chopper to first to advance both runners and cut the deficit in half. With two gone, Brooks dropped a single in front of the center fielder to tie the game at two.

Sulser took the mound to start the fourth and retired the first nine batters he faced, six on strikes. The Big Green bats, meanwhile, put two more runs on the board in the fifth frame to take the lead. Again Turnbull was the spark, this time ripping a triple to right-center and scoring on a Sclafani sacrifice fly. A two-out error kept the inning alive, and Brooks capitalized with a booming RBI double to center for a 4-2 lead.

Grinnell finally reached base against Sulser in the seventh when Greg Suryn stroked a double inside the right-field line. Following a sacrifice bunt, Mike Bogard singled to get Grinnell within a run again at 4-3. Sulser punched out a Pioneer for the second out, but Kainoa Inafuku and Davis each singled to load the bases. The rally died, however, when Sulser got a routine grounder to second to end the inning and preserve the lead.

In the bottom half of the seventh, the Big Green got that run back with some two-out lightning. Coble legged out an infield hit and went to third on a single by sophomore Chris O'Dowd, which extended his hitting streak to 20 games. Brooks then hit a flare that the center fielder, shortstop and second baseman all converged on but could not catch. With no one covering second base, Brooks took the extra base for a double, scoring Coble.

The Pioneers had at least one runner reach on errors in both the eighth and ninth, but on both occasions, Dodakian and Smith were able to induce double plays to end the innings.

Suffering the loss for Grinnell was Ben Pope (0-2), who was the Midwest Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2010. The right-hander surrendered five runs, four earned, on 10 hits and a walk while striking out two. Davis and Bogard each had two hits for the Pioneers, which collected seven as a team.

Dartmouth returns to Hanover for its home opener on Wednesday when it hosts Siena at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park at 3 p.m. Fans can watch the video stream of the contest by subscribing to Big Green Insider on the official web site of Dartmouth athletics, DartmouthSports.com, or listen to the broadcast for free on the site. Wayne Young '72 and Orli Kleiner '12 will report on all the action live.