Ninth-Inning Rally For Naught in 6-5 Loss at Pepperdine

Wednesday, March 18

Malibu, Calif.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

1-7

Pepperdine

10-12

Dartmouth

Pepperdine

Ninth-Inning Rally For Naught in 6-5 Loss at Pepperdine

3/18/2015 11:09:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

MALIBU, Calif. — Dartmouth scored twice in the top of the ninth to tie the score at five, but Pepperdine put together a two-out rally in the bottom half capped by Hutton Moyer's RBI single to lift the host Wave (10-12) to a 6-5 victory over the Big Green (1-7) on Wednesday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

Trailing 5-3 in the ninth, Dartmouth got a leadoff single from junior Adam Gauthier, but still had just a man on first with two gone when sophomore Ben Socher knocked a hit back through the box, his third of the day. When junior Joe Purritano followed with a single to right, the Big Green were within a run. Senior Nick Lombardi then slapped a pitch that a diving first baseman could only knock down, allowing Socher to score from second to knot game at five and pinch runner Bo Patterson to scoot to third with the potential go-ahead run. But reliever Max Gamboa (2-1) avoided further damage by getting a routine fly to right.

Big Green reliever Chris Burkholder (0-2) quickly retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the ninth, but could not get the third to send the game into extra innings. Matt Gelalich hit a single to center and trotted to second when Brandon Caruso drew a walk. Moyer then drove a 1-0 pitch into left-center, sending Gelalich plateward with the winning run.

Gelalich and Caruso were two of the four Waves with two hits in the game, while Brad Anderson delivered two safeties to drive in two runs.

Dartmouth finished the day out-hitting Pepperdine, 14-11, with 10 knocks from the top four hitters in the lineup. Senior Matt Parisi joined Socher with three hits, while Purritano and Lombardi both went 2-for-5.

Chandler Blanchard, making his first start of the season, escaped the first inning without a run scoring after giving up a leadoff single and a walk thanks to his first baseman Anderson snaring a line drive off the bat of Purritano and doubling up Parisi at second. In the bottom half, Anderson hit a grounder to short to drive home Caruso, who had doubled to lead off and barely beat the throw to third on a fly to left, for a 1-0 Pepperdine lead.

Big Green hurler Duncan Robinson was victimized by another leadoff hit in the second when Jordan Qsar poked a single through the right side, took second and third on two groundouts, and trotted home on Manny Jefferson's line single to left. Jefferson then stole second and raced home on a Gelalich single just out of the reach of the third baseman Lombardi to make it a 3-0 game.

In the top of the third, Dartmouth got some help to get on the board. Blanchard plunked junior Nick Ruppert with one out, then threw away a Parisi dribbler in front of the plate to put runners on second and third. Socher then found a hole between first and second for an RBI single. But Blanchard pulled another Houdini, this time picking Socher off first and getting Purritano on a shallow fly to left.

The Wave answered right back in the bottom half as Anderson pulled a pitch into the left-field corner for a double, advanced to third on a grounder to short and scored easily on a wild pitch to boost the Pepperdine lead back to three at 4-1.

Parisi got that run back in the fifth when he stroked a two-out double to score Michael Ketchmark, who had led off the frame with a single. But again the Wave responded as Caruso reached on an infield hit, moved up to second on an infield out, stole third and crossed the plate on another Anderson knock.

Dartmouth closed the gap back to two at 5-3 in the eighth when freshman Dustin Shirley dropped a base hit into center with two outs, plating Purritano who had mashed a leadoff double.

Robinson, who did not get a decision thanks to the two-run ninth, surrendered five runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out three.

Chandler would not have earned a victory as he lasted just 4.2 innings, yielding two runs, one earned, on four hits and a walk.

Dartmouth continues its nine-game trip to the state of California when it begins a four-game series at Cal State Northridge (15-5) on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. (PST).

Notes: Ruppert extended his streak of reaching base successfully to 18 thanks to getting hit by a pitch in the third … Dartmouth is 1-4 all-time against Pepperdine with the lone win a 3-2, 11-inning triumph in 2006 when the Wave were ranked 23rd in the nation.