Win Streak at Eight After Twinbill Sweep of Brown

Saturday, April 18

Hanover, N.H.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

13-19, 9-4

BROWN

8-23, 4-9

Brown

Dartmouth

Win Streak at Eight After Twinbill Sweep of Brown

4/18/2015 5:16:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Sophomore Mike Concato completed his third career shutout in 3-0 victory in the opening game against visiting Brown, and Dartmouth rapped out 12 hits and got four strong innings from its bullpen to complete a sweep of the doubleheader with a 6-5 triumph at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park on Saturday afternoon. Freshman Kyle Holbrook collected a pair of hits in each game to help the Big Green extend their winning streak to eight games and improve to 14-19 overall and 10-4 in the Ivy League.

Brown fell to 8-24 on the season and 4-10 in league play despite home runs by Nick Fornaca and Dan Kerr in the nightcap.

Concato (3-3), who threw a shutout against the Bears last year as well, weaved his way in and out of trouble throughout the game as the Bears advanced a runner into scoring position in five of the seven innings thanks in part to four stolen bases. But the right-hander never gave in, scattering six singles in the seven-inning contest without walking a batter to go with a career-high seven strikeouts.

The Big Green touched Brown hurler Eddie Fitzpatrick for a run in the third when junior Joe Purritano lined a two-out double into the left-center gap, driving in sophomore Ben Socher from first for a 1-0 lead.

Twice after that, Will Marcal singled and stole second to lead off an inning yet was not able to advance any further. In the fourth, Concato got a liner to short, a foul fly down the left-field line and a called third strike to strand Marcal at second base. Concato was even better in the sixth with the lead still just 1-0 as he struck out the side to end the threat.

In the bottom of the sixth, Dartmouth took advantage of an error that extended the inning to get some breathing room. Senior Nick Lombardi should have been gunned down trying to steal, but the second baseman dropped the throw for an error. With two gone, Holbrook yanked a ball into the right-field corner for an RBI triple. Senior Matt MacDowell followed with a double over the right fielder's head to make it a 3-0 game.

The top of the seventh was rather anticlimactic as Concato set the side down in order on nine pitches to secure the shutout win.

Fitzpatrick (2-5) allowed just one earned run in his six innings on the mound, yielding five hits and three walks while striking out two.

In the second game, Dartmouth wasted little time in grabbing an early 1-0 lead. Senior Matt Parisi led off with a ringing double to the left-center gap, took third on a sacrifice bunt and trotted home on a Purritano sacrifice fly to center.

The lead did not last long as Kerr roped a two-out double to left-center in the second and scored on a long triple off the bat of Fornaca.

As quickly as the lead was lost, the Big Green took it back even faster thanks to a long drive over the left-field fence on to Park Street by sophomore Michael Ketchmark on the first pitch in the bottom half of the frame. It was his team-leading third home run of the season.

Dartmouth added another run in the third when Purritano lined a ball into right-center and hustled into second for a double with two out. Lombardi followed by shooting a ball back through the box that was deflected off the foot of pitcher Taylor Wright. But the carom sent the ball between short and third, allowing Purritano to score on the RBI single for a 3-1 Big Green lead.

Fornaca turned on a two-out pitch from sophomore Jackson Bubala in the fourth, nearly hitting a passing car on the street, for his first home run of the year and bringing Brown back within a run at 3-2.

Again Dartmouth answered in the bottom half. Junior Nick Ruppert hit a leadoff single through the middle, stole second with two gone then scored easily on a triple to right-center by freshman Dustin Shirley.

Neither team scored in the fifth, then waited 24 minutes for a brief rainstorm to pass. Both starters returned after the delay, but neither recorded an out. Bubala surrendered a double to Marc Sredojevic and Kerr's first four-bagger of the year, knotting the score at four, before giving way to sophomore Chris Burkholder. The right-handed reliever went on to retire the first nine batters he faced.

In the bottom half, Ruppert dropped down a bunt single, took second on a wild pitch and stopped at third when Holbrook lined a single to right. After Holbrook advanced on another wild pitch, MacDowell hit a slow chopper up the first-base line that Wright fielded and threw threw to the plate in an attempt to gun down Ruppert. But Ruppert beat the tag and Wright's day was over. Chris Smith came on and stranded both runners, however, leaving the Big Green with a slim one-run lead at 5-4.

Dartmouth tacked on an important insurance run in the eighth. Holbrook walked to start the inning, was sacrificed to second, took third on a wild pitch and crossed the plate when Shirley grounded a ball through a drawn-in infield for an RBI single.

The first two Bears reached base against Burkholder in the ninth on an error and a line single, so head coach Bob Whalen turned to freshman Patrick Peterson in the bullpen. The right-hander got the first out on a sacrifice bunt, putting the tying runs in scoring position, before a run came home on a check-swing grounder to short for the second out. With the tying run at third, Peterson fanned Jake Levine on a full-count curveball to preserve the 6-5 victory and earn his fourth save.

Burkholder (1-3) earned the win with three-plus innings of work, giving up just one unearned run on one hit with three strikeouts. Wright (0-4) took the loss for Brown, allowing five runs on 10 hits and a walk in five-plus frames while fanning three.

Five Big Green batters had two hits in the contest, among them Ruppert who scored twice and Shirley who drove in two.

The two teams will conclude their four-game series tomorrow with a doubleheader at noon at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park. Both games will be streamed live on the Big Green Insider via the Ivy League Digital Network.

Notes: Dartmouth maintained its three-game lead in the Rolfe Division as Harvard swept a twinbill from Yale … the Big Green's magic number to clinch their eighth-straight division crown is four with six to play … this is the seventh consecutive season in which Dartmouth has won at least eight in a row … Purritano was 3-for-6 with two doubles, a run and two RBIs in the two games and is now hitting .529 (18-for-34) with 17 RBIs in 10 career games against Brown … the Big Green have won the last 10 games against the Bears at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park … since starting the season 6-for-59 (.102), Holbrook has gone 11-for-34 (.324) to raise his average 81 points and is hitting .286 in Ivy League games.