Completed Event: Baseball versus Cornell on April 27, 2025 , Win , 7, to, 4
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Ivy Championship Series This Weekend
5/6/2011 9:30:00 AM | Baseball
The Games: Dartmouth (29-10, 14-6) at Princeton (21-21, 15-5)
Location: Clarke Field (1,000), Princeton, N.J.
First pitch on Saturday: Doubleheader at noon
First pitch on Sunday (if necessary): 1 p.m.
Series Record vs. Princeton: Tigers lead, 89-81
Live Video (free) — Wayne Young '72 and Dave Collins (broadcasters)
Live Stats (with video)
Ivy League Baseball Championship Media Center
Complete Game Notes
Princeton Statistics
Dartmouth Baseball in the news:
Profile on Sam Bean in the Boston Globe
Profile on Ryan Smith on NCAA.com
Profile on Jake Pruner in the Valley News
Dartmouth's win streaks on WCAX.com
Eyes on the Three-peat
The two-time defending Ivy League champions finished the conference slate by sweeping four-game series against Brown and Harvard to storm past Yale for its fourth consecutive Rolfe Division title. The Big Green were tied with the Bulldogs in the standings heading into the final weekend, but Yale dropped three of four to Brown while Dartmouth was completing its first sweep of the Crimson in 16 years.
Now Dartmouth has the opportunity to win its third straight conference crown in the Ivy Championship Series against an old nemesis, Princeton. This is the fourth time these two programs will square off in the ICS; the Tigers won each of the first three encounters in 2000, '01 and '04.
Princeton posted the league's best record, therefore earning the right to host this best-of-three series. Although the Tigers have held the upper hand in the ICS against the Big Green, Dartmouth has won 12 of the 14 meetings since Princeton last bested the Green for the championship.
Since the divisional format was formed in 1993, only Harvard has won three straight titles (1997-99).
Last Week in Review
• Dartmouth stretched its home win streak to 24 — the longest in the nation — with a doubleheader sweep of Harvard, 4-1 and 6-0. The second victory clinched the Rolfe Division title.
• Seniors Sam Bean and Jeff Onstott each homered in the first game of the twinbill on Senior Day, with Bean belting the first of his career.
• Junior Joe Sclafani broke a 73-year-old school record by swatting his eighth triple of the year.
• With the hope of hosting the Ivy Championship Series, the Big Green swept another twinbill from the Crimson at Harvard on Sunday, 3-1 and 10-8. But Princeton won its doubleheader at Cornell to earn the right to host by finishing the season with the Ivy League's best conference record (15-5).
• Sophomore catcher Chris O'Dowd was chosen as the Ivy Player of the Week after hitting .444 (8-for-18) while throwing out five base stealers.
• Junior Kyle Hendricks picked up his third Ivy Pitcher of the Week honor of the season for his complete-game victory on Sunday at Harvard.
• Dartmouth played a tune-up game on Tuesday at Hartford, beating the Hawks, 13-11, to extend its win streak to 11, also the longest in the nation.
Earlier This Year vs. the Tigers
The Big Green swept a twinbill from Princeton at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park. It took 10 inning to subdue the Tigers in the opener, 4-3, before Dartmouth won the nightcap, 5-2. Tied at two after the regulation seven innings, Princeton touched Big Green starter Kyle Hendricks for a run in the eighth with three consecutive two-out singles. But Dartmouth got the run back in the bottom half thanks in part to an error. After the Green escaped a first-and-third, no-out situation in the top of the 10th, senior Jeff Onstott provided the winning hit with the bases loaded. In the second game, Dartmouth scored three in the first on RBI singles by Jason Brooks, Ennis Coble and David Turnbull, and got six innings of one-run ball from freshman lefty Mitch Horacek, who struck out a season-high five batters. Two insurance runs in the seventh put the game out of reach, and Ryan Smith got the last two outs for the save.
The Overall Record vs. Princeton
• The Tigers have the advantage in the all-time series, going 89-81 against Dartmouth.
• Over the last seven seasons, the Big Green have won 12 of the 14 meetings.
• Dartmouth has a winning record at Clarke Field, which debuted in the expansion year of 1961, having gone 24-23 at the venue
• Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen has a 20-29 record against the Tigers.
• The two teams first met on the diamond in 1880 with Princeton winning both contests, 2-0 and 9-4. The Tigers won 17 of the first 18 games.
Probable Starting Pitchers
• As he has all season, LHP Kyle Hunter (5-2, 2.83) will start the series off on the mound for the Big Green. The southpaw has pitched at least six innings in each of his last seven starts, and allowed one or fewer earned runs in four of his eight trips to the mound. Game two will feature one of two junior RHPs — Cole Sulser (4-1, 2.59) or Kyle Hendricks (4-3, 2.17). Sulser started the second game of each Ivy series until last week, when he was held back with some lingering tightness. Coach Whalen may hold Sulser for a shorter stint as a weapon out of the bullpen. Hendricks is second in the league in ERA and three times has been named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week.
• Although Princeton generally starts its weekend by throwing RHP Matt Bowman (2-7, 5.05), I'm pretty certain they'll send ace LHP Zak Hermans (5-1, 3.07) in game one (Bowman pitched two innings on Tuesday). Since losing to Holy Cross back on March 12, he has won five straight decisions and went 4-0 with a 3.22 ERA in league play. For game two, Big Green fans can expect to see likely Ivy Rookie of the Year Mike Ford (4-3, 4.23) who earned each of his four wins in conference play, with his only no-decision coming at Dartmouth. As for a potential game three, the likely culprit will be RHP Kevin Link (0-1, 1.93), is coming off a solid start at Cornell.
Scouting Report on the Tigers
• In each of its three series against Gehrig Division teams, Princeton lost the first game and won the next three. So a victory in the first game is hardly an indicator of the outcome of the series.
• While Princeton ranks fifth in the Ivy League in overall team batting, scoring and ERA, in league games it is first in ERA at 3.03 (Dartmouth is second at 3.66) and third in scoring at 5.0 runs per game (Dartmouth is fourth at 4.95).
• The Tigers feature a pair of two-way players in Matt Bowman and Mike Ford. Bowman starts at shortstop when he isn't starting a weekend game on the mound, and leads the team with a .318 average at the plate with 37 runs scored. Ford, another weekend starter, also plays first and is hitting .296 with 28 RBIs and a team-high 21 walks.
• Catcher Sam Mulroy is the biggest power and speed threat with six of Princeton's 14 home runs and a team-leading 13 stolen bases.
• For the entire season, the pitching staff has an ERA of 5.91. No less than 20 players have thrown to at least one batter for Harvard this year.
• The starting rotation has been discussed in the above note, while the bullpen relies mostly on four pitchers — A.J. Goetz, Matt Grabowski and Ryan Makis from the right side, and David Palms from the left. Goetz is the closer with a 1.27 ERA in 21.1 innings while striking out 23.
• The team defense has been a bit shaky at times with a .952 fielding percentage overall and .961 in the league, both of which rank sixth. The Tigers have turned the fewest double plays in the league (18), but have thrown out about 30 percent of would-be base stealers.
What's Up Next
Should Dartmouth win the Ivy Championship Series, a third straight berth for the NCAA Regionals would be on tap. The Big Green would likely try to schedule a few more games before the regional, seeing how it is more than three weeks after the end of the ICS. If Princeton wins the series, Dartmouth's season would come to a close with one of the best winning percentages in the program's history.
Games Available Online
Fans that want to watch the action of Saturday's doubleheader from the comfort of their own homes can do so through the official web site of the Ivy League — IvyLeagueSports.com — for free! Each of the games will be streamed via Live Sports Video with Dartmouth's own Wayne Young '72 and Dave Collins describing all the action. Check the Ivy League web site for further details.
Four Straight Rolfe Titles
Dartmouth finished the regular season with a three-game lead in the Rolfe Division to win its fourth consecutive division crown, matching Harvard for the longest streak within this division. Only Princeton has won more divisional titles since the league was split in 1993, winning the Gehrig Division nine straight times (1996-2004).
Three Straight Crowns a Rarity
Dartmouth is attempting to win its third straight Ivy championship, something that has been done just five times In the history of the EIBL/Ivy League. Yale pulled off the feat first from 1955-57, then Harvard managed to win four in a row from 1971-74. From 1988-90, Penn won the league, and Yale followed shortly thereafter with titles in 1992-94. The last team — and only team in the Ivy divisional era — to win three straight titles was Harvard from 1997-99.
Nation's Longest Win Streak
With a convincing 13-1 win at Hartford on May 3, Dartmouth has won 11 consecutive games, tied for the longest winning streak in the country with Eastern Michigan. By the time the first pitch is thrown on Saturday, the Eagles may have surpassed the Big Green with a scheduled game against Northern Illinois on Friday night. Alcorn State is right behind with a 10-gamer, but the Braves play Friday at Arizona. This 11-game streak is the sixth longest in Big Green history, and ninth of at least 10 games. The longest is 21 games set by the 1970 team that advanced to the College World Series.
Hail the Senior Class!
The senior baseball players have won more games than any other class in the history of Dartmouth baseball, and it's not even close. The octet picked up their 100th win on April 24 in the second victory over Brown, and currently owns a 108-64 record for a .628 winning percentage. The most wins by any class previously had been 91 by the Class of 2000, a mark that was surpassed back on April 6 at Quinnipiac after a 16-8 triumph.
Home Win Streak at 24
Here's a mark that may have to be put on the shelf until next year. Dartmouth won each of its 14 home games this year, extending its home winning streak to 24 games, nearly double the next longest run in the country (13 by Toledo). Should the Green win the ICS, they could schedule another game or two at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park, but there are no guarantees of that. Since the stadium was added and FieldTurf was installed before the 2009 season, Dartmouth is 42-5 (.894) at the facility. No Division I team in the country can boast a better winning percentage at home over the last three years.
Ivy Leaders
With a 4-for-5 afternoon at Hartford on May 3, Ennis Coble once again tops the Ivy League in batting average at .372. The sophomore also leads the loop with 40 RBIs and a .449 on-base average. Junior Joe Sclafani is atop the conference lists in hits (58), triples (8) and runs (44), the last of which Chris O'Dowd is tied. While pitchers are littered among the top five in nearly every category, only Kyle Hendricks sits at the top of any of them with 11 strikeouts per nine innings. In addition, the Big Green lead the league in batting, scoring, hits, doubles, triples, RBIs and sacrifice flies, not to mention ERA, victories, runs allowed, walks issued and complete games on the mound.
Players Mentioned
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