Home and Home with Harvard to Finish Ivy Season

Still Something to Play For
While Dartmouth clinched its eighth-straight Rolfe Division title last weekend, the Big Green aren't quite done with the 2015 Ivy season. In order to host the Ivy League Championship Series, scheduled for May 2-3, quite a lot has to go right for Dartmouth, but it is possible. But before we delve into that tangled web, let's take a look at last week and then put our focus on this weekend's opponent, the Harvard Crimson.

Dartmouth (16-19, 12-4)
vs. Harvard (18-20, 7-9)
Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park, Hanover, N.H. /
O'Donnell Field, Cambridge, Mass.

Saturday, April 25, 1 p.m. DH in Hanover
Video: Ivy League Digital Network • Live Stats
Tentative Starters
Game 1: RHP Mike Concato (3-3, 2.72) vs. RHP Nick Gruener (3-2, 6.86)
Game 2: RHP Duncan Robinson (4-2, 2.63) vs. RHP Matt Timoney (6-1, 3.63)

Sunday, April 26, 1 p.m. DH in Cambridge
Video: Ivy League Digital Network • Live Stats
Tentative Starters
Game 1: RHP Louis Concato (1-5, 5.30) vs. RHP Sean Poppen (3-2, 5.28)
Game 2: RHP Chris England (1-2, 3.79) vs. RHP Ian Miller (2-2, 4.32)

Last Week in Review
•   The Big Green continued their recent winning ways, sweeping the four-game series against the Brown Bears in Hanover last weekend.
•   The first game belonged to Mike Concato, who twirled a six-hit shutout, the third of his career and second against Brown. The right-hander was named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week for his exploits, which included a career-high seven strikeouts. Joe Purritano drove in the first Big Green run with a double, and Kyle Holbrook ripped an RBI triple for insurance late in the 3-0 win.
•   Dartmouth squeaked out the last three games, winning each one by a single run. The offense provided solitary runs in six of the eight innings it came to the plate, and Chris Burkholder picked up the win with three-plus innings of relief, allowing just an unearned run. Patrick Peterson came on and closed the door, stranding the tying run at third for his fourth save and a 6-5 victory.
•   On Sunday, the Big Green pulled off a pair of walk-off wins. Duncan Robinson went into the final frame with a shutout, but the Bears touched him for a run to knot the score. It did not matter in the end as a Nick Ruppert single, a sacrifice, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Matt MacDowell in the bottom half gave Dartmouth a 2-1 triumph.
•   The finale was a bit more wild with the Green emerging with an 8-7 victory. Dartmouth rapped out 15 hits and Nick Lombardi drove in four runs, but Brown tied the game in the ninth on a two-run homer. Again the Big Green came right back, loading the bases on a MacDowell single, Matt Parisi walk and Ruppert single. Joe Purritano then brought the winning run home with a slow chopper to second that allowed MacDowell to just beat the throw home.

Last Time Against the Crimson
Dartmouth trailed Yale in the standings by two games entering this series and needed a sweep of Harvard to have a realistic chance of extending its division titles to seven. When Brown beat Yale in the first two games, the Big Green took advantage and won all four games to force a playoff.

Rain forced the postponement of the twinbill in Cambridge, so the series opened in Hanover. Beau Sulser pitched into the seventh and Duncan Robinson got the final two outs to save a 4-2 victory in the opener. Nick Lombardi went 3-for-3, and Matt MacDowell and Dustin Selzer each knocked in a pair. The second game was even tighter with the score tied at one entering the ninth. After Michael Danielak retired the side in order in the top half, Matt Parisi belted a two-run, walk-off homer for a 3-1 win.

While the sweep in Hanover was being played, Yale took two from Brown, leaving the Big Green in need of a sweep to force the playoff. Dartmouth scored in just one inning of the first game in Cambridge, but it was a nine-run inning while Mike Concato was tossing a seven-hit shutout. The big blow was a Jeff Keller grand slam to cap the stanza.
The Crimson took a 2-1 lead through four frames in the series finale, but the Big Green put four on the board in the fifth, the last two scoring on a Joe Purritano double. Robinson pitched the final six innings out of the bullpen, yielding just one earned run to win the 5-3 game.

Overall Record vs. Harvard
•   By the end of this series, Dartmouth will have played the Crimson more than any other opponent. The Big Green have won 17 of the last 18 games, but Harvard holds a 129-117 lead all-time.
•   Four times Dartmouth has swept Harvard in a four-game series since the format changed in 1993 (1995, 2011, 2013 and 2014). Since 2000, only once have the Big Green not at least split with the Crimson, that coming in 2005.
•   Since 1923, Dartmouth is 52-36 (.591) when hosting Harvard, including a 10-2 mark at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park.
•   Harvard has been playing at the site of O'Donnell Field since 1898, beating Dartmouth in the inaugural game, 13-7. Since 1923, the Big Green are 42-53 (.442) at the site.

Scouting the Crimson
•   Don't let the 7-9 Ivy record fool you — Harvard has been in every league game, losing by one run six times and never by more than three.
•   The Crimson not only lead the league with a .303 team batting average, but are smacking the ball at a .333 clip in Ivy games alone, averaging nearly seven runs in those league contests. No less than six players are hitting at least .350 against Ivy pitchers, led by Jack Colton at .413 and Jake McGuiggan at .405.
•   The pitching staff has the league's fourth-best ERA overall (4.88) and in conference games (3.94), one spot behind Dartmouth. Sean Poppen has been particularly effective against the Ivy League with a 2.19 ERA in his four starts, while Nick Scahill (2.70) and T.J. Laurisch (3.09) have seen the most time out of the bullpen on the weekends.
•   In the field, Harvard has a .962 fielding percentage with 51 errors while throwing out about 26. percent of would-be base stealers.

Probable Starting Pitchers
•   Dartmouth may have a slight change to its weekend rotation, though the reigning Ivy Pitcher of the Week, sophomore RHP Mike Concato (3-3, 2.72), will start the first game as usual. All he did was toss a six-hit shutout and strike out a career-high seven batters against the Bears last week. Harvard may send RHP Nick Gruener (3-2, 6.86) to the mound, though he hasn't lasted more than three innings in either of his last two starts.
•   For the second game, junior RHP Duncan Robinson (4-2, 2.63) will attempt to continue his mastery of the Ivy teams, having posted a 3-1 record with a 0.99 ERA in four league starts while walking just one batter. He likely will be pitted against RHP Matt Timoney (6-1, 3.63), who is coming off one of his best starts — 7.2 innings of scoreless ball with seven strikeouts against Yale.
•   In Cambridge, senior RHP Louis Concato (1-5, 5.30) will attempt to regain the form he showed at Yale when he yielded one run over seven stanzas. For Harvard, RHP Sean Poppen (3-2, 5.28) is expected to toe the slab. He has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his four Ivy starts.
•   For the finale, Coach Whalen is unsure who will get the ball, but it very well could be RHP Chris England (1-2, 3.79). The senior has a 1.93 ERA over his last three appearances, spanning 14 innings. The Crimson have rookie RHP Ian Miller (2-2, 4.32) at the ready, who allowed just two runs on four hits without walking a batter while fanning four last week.

What's Up Next
Dartmouth has one final tune-up before the Ivy League Championship Series, that against Amherst on Tuesday at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park at 3 p.m. If Penn and Columbia don't split their final Ivy series against each other, the Big Green will be traveling to whichever team wins the series for the ILCS. If they do split, the championship series will be pushed back to May 9-10 at a site to be determined.

Keep Up with the Action
All four games this weekend will be streamed live on Big Green Insider via the Ivy League Digital Network. Visit IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork.com to find out how to subscribe so you can watch all of the action.

How Can Dartmouth Host the ILCS?
Glad you asked. It is a rather convoluted and unlikely scenario in which a number of things must go exactly right for the Big Green. So let's take a look at these conditions for Dartmouth to host:
•   First and foremost, the Big Green have to win all four games against Harvard. That's non-negotiable.
•   Second, Penn and Columbia must split their four-game series. If either team wins three or four, Dartmouth will travel to the team that wins the series for the ILCS.
•   Either Brown or Yale must win exactly three games, no more, no less.
•   AND, Cornell cannot win more than one game in its four-game set with Princeton.
If all of those conditions are met, then a new set of conditions come up:
•   If Cornell beats Princeton once, Penn must win a playoff game against Columbia.
•   If Princeton sweeps Cornell, Columbia must beat Penn in that playoff game.
Keep your bingo cards handy throughout the weekend to see if the ILCS can come back to Hanover for the first time since 2010!

Rolfe Division Champs
Dartmouth clinched its eighth-consecutive Rolfe Division title last weekend thanks to a four-game sweep of Brown and a series split between Harvard and Yale. Only one Ivy team has strung together a longer streak of division titles, that being Princeton winning the Gehrig nine years in a row from 1996-2004.

10-Game Win Streak
The Big Green enter this series against Harvard with a 10-game winning streak, their longest since ripping off 12 straight triumphs during the 2012 campaign. It is also their fourth win streak that reached double digits since the start of the 2009 season, and 11th in program history. Dartmouth has won at least seven games in a row in every season since 2008 when the division title streak began. The school record is 21 straight wins in 1970, the year the Green advanced to the College World Series.

10-Game Win Streak
Senior Matt Parisi was one of 47 Division I players to be named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, which is bestowed upon the nation's top shortstop. Parisi leads the team in eight offensive categories (including his .386 on-base percentage and .481 slugging percentage), and ranks among the Ivy League's top 10 in five of those categories — doubles (16, 1st), hits (44, 6th), total bases (62, 7th), batting average (.341, 8th) and runs scored (25, 9th). He has been just as good in the field, recording a .963 fielding percentage with a mere five errors while ranking third in the conference with 90 assists.

Walk-Off Wonderland
Dartmouth won both games of the second doubleheader with Brown in walk-off fashion to finish the series sweep. The Bears actually tied the game in the top half of the final frame in each instance, only to have the Big Green answer in the bottom half to pull out the victories. First, Matt MacDowell hit a long sacrifice fly to center to give Duncan Robinson a 2-1, complete-game victory, then the senior catcher singled and scored the winning run in the finale, just beating the throw home on a slow chopper to second off the bat of Joe Purritano with the bases loaded for an 8-7 triumph. It was the first time in 17 years Dartmouth had won both ends of a twinbill on walk-offs. Mike Conway '00 and James Little '00 provided the winning RBIs against Princeton as freshmen on April 12, 1997.

Freshmen Surging
Several of the freshmen on the roster have come around at the plate of late to provide a boost to the offense. Kyle Holbrook is hitting .321 during the 10-game win streak with two doubles, a triple, six runs, five RBIs and eight walks, while Dustin Shirley is hitting an even .300 with seven runs and six RBIs to go with four stolen bases. On top of that, Justin Fowler has spread out his success as an occasional starter, boasting a modest six-game hitting streak while reaching base in his 12 appearances that date back to March 20 in California.

100 at Biondi Park
The 8-7 victory that finished the series against Brown marked the 100th game at renovated Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park. Over the seven seasons since the turf and stands were installed, the Big Green have a superb 82-18 record at the facility.

Ivy Pitcher of the Week
It wasn't until the penultimate week of the regular season that Dartmouth finally earned one of the Ivy League's weekly awards. Mike Concato was named the Pitcher of the Week after tossing a six-hit shutout without a walk while striking out a career-high seven batters in a 3-0 win over Brown on April 18. It was his third career shutout, making him one of just 10 Big Green pitchers to throw at least that many and leaving him two behind the all-time leader, Jim Beattie '76. Since winning its first division title in 2000, Dartmouth has had 80 weekly honors from the league office, the most of any Ivy team. Penn is second with 66.

Big Green Banter
•   Duncan Robinson leads the Ivy League with 0.99 ERA and 23.0 K/BB ratio in Ivy games.
•   Freshman Patrick Peterson has earned a win or save in each of his five Ivy appearances, and leads the league with three saves in conference games.
•   Senior Matt Parisi has 11 doubles in Ivy games, two shy of tying the league record. He also leads the league with 16 doubles for the entire season.
•   Joe Purritano had his streak of driving in at least one run snapped at seven games during the Brown series, then had the walk-off winner in the finale, giving him 16 RBIs in the last nine contests.
•   During the 10-game win streak, the Big Green are hitting .284 while averaging 6.4 runs a game, plus own a 3.42 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of just over 4-to-1.
•   Nick Lombardi had four RBIs in the 8-7 win over Brown, the ninth time in his career he has driven in exactly four runs in a game, which is more often than he has driven in two (8 times) or three (7).
•   Speaking of Nicks, Nick Ruppert stole three bases in that 8-7 win as well, making him the first Big Green player to swipe three bags in a game since Ennis Coble '13 did so against Harvard on April 28, 2013.
•   When Dartmouth beat Brown, 2-1, it was the first game in which the Big Green won with no more than two hits since beating Harvard by the same score on May 11, 1991.
•   Chris Burkholder picked up his first win of the season with three-plus innings of relief in the 6-5 win over Brown, allowing just one unearned run while matching a career high with three strikeouts.
•   The Big Green have won three consecutive games by one run for the first time since winning their final four contests of the 1991 season by one run.
•   Odd duck: Justin Fowler only likes to hit in the odd innings, batting .364 (8-for-22) in those frames, but just .087 (2-for-23) in the even innings.

Schedules