Baseball Splits Doubleheader at Columbia to Start Ivy Play

Saturday, March 28

New York, N.Y.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-14, 1-0

Columbia

8-10, 0-1

Dartmouth

Columbia

Baseball Splits Doubleheader at Columbia to Start Ivy Play

3/28/2015 7:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Sophomore Michael Concato threw a seven-inning complete game victory in the Ivy League opener for Dartmouth as the Big Green split a doubleheader with host Columbia on Saturday afternoon. Senior Matt Parisi had three of the nine hits for the Big Green (3-15, 1-1 Ivy) in support of Concato in the 5-4 win, but Mike Weisman shut down the Dartmouth offense in the nightcap as the Lions (9-10, 1-1 Ivy) salvaged the split, 4-1.

Columbia took a 1-0 lead in the first game against Concato in the second inning when Randell Kanemaru punched a single through the right side with two outs, scoring Gus Craig who had singled and stolen second base.

But Dartmouth answered immediately in the top of the third, starting with consecutive singles off the bats of freshman Dustin Shirley and Parisi. Parisi's hit squirted away from the right fielder allowing both runners to advance an extra base, and sophomore Ben Socher followed with a single up the middle to score Shirley. After a walk to junior Joe Purritano, senior Nick Lombardi grounded into a fielder's choice to bring home a run, and sophomore Michael Ketchmark drove in a third marker with a grounder to third for a 3-1 lead.

The Lions threatened to tie the score in the fourth after two were down. Craig sliced a double into the left-field corner and scored on David Vandercook's single. A passed ball put Vandercook on second, and on Kanemaru's second single of the game, right fielder Kyle Holbrook fired a strike to catcher Adam Gauthier, who then threw to third to catch Vandercook who had rounded the bag too far in anticipation of scoring.

With a 3-2 lead in the sixth, the Big Green tacked on a couple of insurance runs that proved necessary. Junior Nick Ruppert mashed a double to the left-center gap, took third on an error and sprinted home on Gauthier's squeeze bunt. With two outs, Parisi pulled a grounder between third and short for an RBI single.

In the bottom half, Columbia got those runs right back. Robb Paller doubled on a full-count pitch and Joey Falcone singled to put runners on the corners with one gone. Craig lofted a fly to left to allow Paller to tag up and score, and Vandercook dropped a double inside the right-field line to bring pinch runner Shane Adams all the way around from first to trim the Dartmouth advantage to 5-4.

Concato shut the Lions down in the seventh and final frame, despite issuing a two-out walk and uncorking a wild pitch. But he got Jordan Serena to hit a grounder to Parisi at short, who threw to first to nip the speedster and secure the win.

Concato (1-2) allowed the four runs on eight hits and that lone walk in the seventh while striking out five for his first win of the season.

Taking the loss was Kevin Roy (1-2), who yielded all five Big Green runs, four earned, over five-plus frames with a walk and three punchouts.

In the second game, Weisman (1-1) was in control from the beginning as he held Dartmouth hitless for the first 4.2 innings before Gauthier slapped a single to right. By that time, Columbia enjoyed a 2-0 lead thanks to solitary runs in the third and fourth. Serena brought home Will Savage, who had doubled, with a single to left-center for the game's first run in the third, and Logan Boyher beat out an infield hit in the fourth with two outs to score Craig, who had led off the fourth with a triple.

The Lions doubled their advantage in the fifth against senior Louis Concato, starting with a leadoff double to left-center by Serena. Craig singled him home after two were out, then scooted to third when the ball got past the right fielder. The error proved moot when Vandercook boomed a double to center, making it a 4-0 game.

Dartmouth ended Weisman's reign in the seventh when Ruppert ripped a two-out double, but the left-hander exited having surrendered just two hits over 6.2 innings without issuing a walk and striking out two. Bryce Barr trotted in from the bullpen and made things interesting by hitting the first batter he faced and walking the next to load the bases, but a grounder to second ended the threat.

The ninth proved even more intriguing when reliever Matt Robinson came in to pitch and walked the first two batters on full-count offerings. Shirley battled before flying out to right on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, advancing Ketchmark to third, and Gauthier beat out an infield hit to give him two of the three Big Green hits and put them on the board. Columbia summoned Harrison Egly to pitch, and he promptly walking his first batter to load the bases and bring the go-ahead run to the plate. But Egly settled in and pumped third strikes past the next two hitters to pick up his third save.

Vandercook went 3-for-4 with an RBI in the second game to lead the 10-hit Lion attack, while Craig had two hits and scored two of the four Columbia runs.

The elder Concato (0-4) was stuck with the loss for giving up the four runs on eight hits and two walks over 4.2 innings, but did fan five.

Dartmouth travels to Philadelphia to take on Penn (4-8, 0-0 Ivy) in another Ivy League doubleheader, starting at noon on Sunday. Columbia will entertain Harvard (10-8, 0-0 Ivy) in a noon twinbill tomorrow as well.