Home Opener for Baseball Wednesday Afternoon

The Games: Dartmouth (2-10) vs. Amherst (7-3)
Locations: Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park (2,000), Hanover, N.H.
First pitch: 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 28
Series Record vs. Amherst: Big Green lead, 77-64-1
Live Video via Big Green Insider ($)
Live Audio — (Wayne Young '72 play-by-play, Orli Kleiner '12 analysis)
Live Stats
Complete Game Notes

Home Opener
When Dartmouth hosts Amherst on March 28, it will be the earliest date for Dartmouth's first home game of the season. Last year the Big Green hosted Siena on March 30, the first game played in Hanover during the month of March in the program's history. The colder temperatures didn't seem to bother the bats as Dartmouth won a 16-11 slugfest.

Since 1923, the Big Green are 59-30 in home openers and 16-6 under head coach Bob Whalen, including victories in 10 of their last 11. Dartmouth is also trying to extend the nation's longest home winning streak, which sits at 24 entering this game.

Last Week in Review
•   Playing some tough teams in California, Dartmouth finished its West Coast trip with six straight losses, its longest slide since opening the 2009 campaign with eight straight defeats.
•   Of those six losses, there was a four-game stretch in which the Big Green lost each one by a single run. The last time that had happened came during the 1994 season.
•   Two of those four one-run losses happened in walk-off fashion. First was a 1-0 pitchers' duel that Sacramento State won with four straight singles in the ninth, then a 5-4 defeat at UC Irvine in which the Anteaters stole a Big Green win by scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth.
•   On the bright side, senior Joe Sclafani has righted his ship after a slow start at the plate. In the five games last week, the preseason Ivy League Player of the Year belted the ball at a .412 clip with a pair of three-hit games and three doubles.
•   Sophomore southpaw Mitch Horacek pitched well enough to win in his start at UC Irvine, yielding three runs over seven innings while fanning a career-high seven batters. He left with a 4-3 lead, only to be victimized by the Anteater rally in the bottom of the ninth.
•   Rookie Thomas Olson has been the most reliable reliever to date with a 2.08 ERA on the season and 1.59 ERA in his three appearances last week.
•   It's no surprise the pitching staff ranks once again among the top 15 nationally in fewest walks per nine innings (2.5). Dartmouth led the nation in the statistical category in 2009 and 2010, and was third in 2011.

The Overall Record vs. Amherst
•   Although this is the first meeting on the diamond between these two schools in 26 years, it still ranks as the second-most played non-Ivy League series in Dartmouth's history. In the 142 games to date, the Big Green hold a 77-64-1 lead. Holy Cross has played Dartmouth 143 times.
•   When Dartmouth and Amherst first played, the game was a bit different than what we know today. The Lord Jeffs won that initial meeting, 40-10, back in 1866, the first year of varsity baseball at Dartmouth. The Big Green got some revenge the next two encounters, however, beating Amherst by scores of 30-24 and 47-20. Yes, that is baseball, not football.
•   Most recently, Dartmouth beat the Lord Jeffs on March 17, 1986, by an 8-4 final.

Scouting the Lord Jeffs
•   Amherst began the 2012 season with a 10-game trip in Florida, winning seven games. This contest is its lone game against a Division I program.
•   Offense has not been a problem as the Lord Jeffs boast a .374 team batting average. Two regulars — Brendon Hardin and Kevin Heller — are both hitting over .500, while Heller has eight doubles in just 31 at-bats and a team-high 13 RBIs.
•   Five pitchers have each started two games, posting a 3.08 ERA in those 10 starts. The bullpen, however, has struggled quite a bit with a 12.54 ERA in 18.2 innings of work.
•   Amherst has flashed the leather pretty well thus far with a .964 team fielding percentage and 13 errors in the 10 games.

Probable Starting Pitchers
•   Both teams are expected to send a whole bunch of pitchers to the mound so as to make sure every member of the staff is ready to pitch during the first conference games this weekend.

What's Up Next
The Ivy League season gets under way this weekend as the Big Green first travel to New Jersey for a rematch of last year's Ivy Championship Series with a twinbill against Princeton at noon on Saturday, followed by a doubleheader at Cornell at noon on Sunday.

Rookies Producing
The freshman class as a group have seen quite a bit of time on the diamond, particularly in the lineup. The rookies have 122 at-bats thus far (just one less than the senior class) and are hitting .336 combined with eight doubles and 21 RBIs. Matt Robinson, who has been sidelined recently with an injury, has a .476 average and five two-hit games to his credit in the six contests in which he has appeared. On the mound, freshman Thomas Olson has an ERA (2.08) less than half of anyone else on the staff and the only save in 13 innings of relief.

Losing Streak Silver Lining
While Dartmouth is suffering through a six-game losing streak — its worst in three years — Big Green fans can take heart in the fact that a season-opening eight-game skid did not keep the 2009 squad from claiming the Ivy League crown when all was said and done.

Horacek Humming Along
Sophomore Mitch Horacek followed up his first win of the season with another solid outing, tossing seven innings at UC Irvine while setting a career high in strikeouts for the second straight game with seven. The left-hander did not walk a batter, extending his streak to 14 straight innings without issuing a base on balls.

One-Run Heartbreak
From March 19-23, Dartmouth played four games out West, and lost by a single run in each one. It had been 18 years since the Big Green had lost four straight one-run games.

Schedules

Players Mentioned

Mitch Horacek

Mitch Horacek

Thomas Olson

Joe Sclafani

Footer

Schedules

Completed Event: Baseball versus Cornell on April 27, 2025 , Win , 7, to, 4

Completed Event: Baseball at Merrimack College on April 30, 2025 , Loss , 5, to, 6

Cancelled Event: Baseball versus Stonehill

Completed Event: Baseball versus Yale on May 10, 2025 , Loss , 4, to, 18

Completed Event: Baseball versus Yale on May 11, 2025 , Loss , 0, to, 19

Completed Event: Baseball versus Yale on May 11, 2025 , Loss , 1, to, 10