Baseball Completes First-Ever Four-Game Sweep at Yale

Sunday, April 12

New Haven, Conn.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

9-19, 7-4

Yale

9-17, 2-9

Dartmouth

Yale

Baseball Completes First-Ever Four-Game Sweep at Yale

4/12/2015 4:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Junior Duncan Robinson twirled a three-hit shutout in the opener, and freshman Patrick Peterson got a called third strike to leave the tying run stranded at second in the series finale as Dartmouth (10-19, 8-4 Ivy) completed its first-ever four-game sweep at Yale (9-18, 2-10 Ivy) on Sunday by finals of 7-0 and 3-2. Senior Nick Lombardi rapped out five hits and drove in three runs in the twinbill to lead the Big Green to their fifth and sixth victories in their last eight contests.

Robinson (3-2) was in control from the start and needed just 79 pitches to complete the seven-inning contest. The right-hander did not walk a batter for the third straight start, extending his streak to 24.2 innings, and struck out seven in his first career shutout. Only once did the Bulldogs advance a runner to third, leaving him stranded there in the second stanza, and Robinson retired the final eight batters he faced.

Dartmouth went right to work against Yale hurler Chasen Ford as senior Matt Parisi led off the game with a double to left. Sophomore Ben Socher moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt, and junior Joe Purritano brought him home with a grounder to second for a 1-0 lead.

Socher provided some immediate breathing room in the fourth as he led off with his first career home run. But the Big Green weren't done as Lombardi singled with one out and junior Nick Ruppert walked with two gone. A four-pitch walk to sophomore Michael Ketchmark loaded the bases, and an error on senior Matt MacDowell's grounder allowed two to cross the plate, giving Dartmouth a 4-0 advantage.

In the fifth, Lombardi delivered a two-run single, scoring Socher and Purritano who had just pulled off a double steal. The final run came in the sixth with a little help from another Bulldog error, allowing Parisi to drive in a run with a grounder to short.

Socher and Lombardi each had two hits in the game with the former scoring twice and the latter collecting two RBIs.

Ford (2-3) was stuck with the loss after yielding seven runs, only four earned, on five hits and three walks over six innings while fanning five.

Dartmouth finished the weekend as it started it — with a 3-2 victory. It began with another fine start from the Big Green rotation, this time senior captain Louis Concato (1-5), who hurled a season-high seven innings and allowed just a single run on six hits and one walk while matching a career high with six strikeouts and throwing 92 pitches.

Offensively, freshman Dustin Shirley proved to be the catalyst, starting both scoring stanzas for the Big Green with singles and stealing second base. In the third, Socher singled him to third with one out and Purritano brought him home with a fielder's choice. After Purritano stole second as well, Lombardi lined an RBI single to left for a 2-0 lead.

In the fifth, the Bulldogs tried to gun down Shirley at third on a Parisi grounder, but the rookie beat the play to the bag. With Socher at the plate, Yale right-hander Chris Moates uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Shirley to tally the third Dartmouth run.

The Bulldogs were held scoreless through the first five frames by Concato, but finally squeaked out a run in the sixth when Davis Toups dropped a double just inside the right-field line, took third on a fly ball and scored on a wild pitch.

Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen, coaching his 500th Ivy League game, went to the bullpen to start the eighth with left-hander Adam Frank taking the mound. After retiring two batters, he issued a walk and freshman Patrick Peterson came on to get a pinch hitter to fly out to left.

Peterson found trouble in the ninth, however, as Joe Lubanski led off with a double and went to third on a Nate Adams single. When Tom Ruddy brought home a run with a force out at second, Yale was within a run and just two outs left. Ruddy did steal second with two gone to get himself into scoring position, but Peterson pumped a called third strike past Green Campbell, who already had three hits, to finish his second save.

Lombardi finished the second game 3-for-4 with an RBI while Shirley was 2-for-3 with two of the three Big Green runs.

Moates (1-3) suffered the defeat having yielded all three runs in 8.1 innings on seven hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts.

The Dartmouth defense played its part on the afternoon as well as it did not commit an error in either contest and leads the Ivy League with a .975 fielding percentage. Over the last 14 games, the Big Green have just six errors on their ledger with a sparkling .988 fielding percentage.

Dartmouth will play a non-conference doubleheader at UMass Lowell (7-16) on Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. before hosting Brown (8-19, 4-8 Ivy) next weekend in a four-game Ivy League series. Yale has mid-week games at home against Trinity and Sacred Heart on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, at 3:30 p.m., then travels to Harvard (15-15, 5-7 Ivy) for four games over the weekend.

Notes: The four-game series format was instituted with the start of divisional play in 1993, making this the 12th four-game series for Dartmouth at Yale … the Big Green have beaten the Bulldogs in 22 of the last 28 meetings, but Yale still holds a 120-96-1 lead in the all-time series … Bob Whalen has a career record of 284-216 in his 500 Ivy League games over 26 seasons at Dartmouth.