Robinson Dominant as Big Green Split Two Games with Princeton

Sunday, April 5

Hanover, N.H.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

6-17, 4-3

PRINCETON

4-20, 1-6

Princeton

Dartmouth

Robinson Dominant as Big Green Split Two Games with Princeton

4/5/2015 4:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Junior Duncan Robinson struck out a career-high eight batters while yielding just a single unearned run to lift Dartmouth to a 3-1 victory in the first game of a doubleheader against Princeton on Sunday afternoon at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park. But Tiger right-hander Luke Strieber was even more effective, hurling 8.1 innings of scoreless baseball to help visiting Princeton (5-20, 2-6 Ivy) to a 4-0 shutout win over the Big Green (6-18, 4-4 Ivy) and a split of the twinbill.

Robinson (2-2) faced just two over the minimum in the first five frames with one of the three hits he allowed being erased on a double-play ball in the first. The 6-6 right-hander needed 91 pitches to finish off the Tigers in the seven-inning contest, yielding a total of six hits without a walk to go with his eight punchouts.

After inducing that double play to end the first, Robinson was quickly staked to a 2-0 lead in the bottom half. Senior Matt Parisi led off with a dribbler overt the mound that went for an infield single, and sophomore Ben Socher followed with a bunt single with both runners advancing on a wild throw to first. Despite falling behind in the count, 0-2, junior Joe Purritano lined a single to left that brought home both Parisi and Socher.

Those two runs would be all Robinson needed, though the Big Green tacked on an insurance run in the fifth when Parisi tripled to center with two outs, then sprinted home on a wild pitch.

Princeton put its run on the board in the sixth, beginning with the second single of the game by Asher Lee-Tyson out of the nine-hole. A muffed pick-off throw allowed him to take second, and a pair of grounders to short got him across the plate.

In the seventh and final inning, the Tigers threatened to tie the game after consecutive singles by Nick Hernandez and Peter Owens put runners on first and second with one gone. A grounder to second put the tying runs in scoring position, but Robinson finished with a flourish, getting a pinch hitter to look at strike three to end the game in a crisp one hour and 23 minutes.

Keelan Smithers (1-5) was stuck with the loss for giving up three runs, two earned, on five hits and two walks over six innings while fanning four. After the first three batters of the game, he gave up a mere two hits the rest of the way.

Parisi and Purritano each had two hits for the Big Green with the former scoring twice and the latter providing two RBIs.

The second game belonged to Strieber, however, as he faced just two over the minimum through eight innings. Socher singled in the first, Holbrook singled in the eighth and two other runners reached base on errors between the two, but twice Dartmouth hit into a double play. The only runner to advance past first was senior Nick Lombardi in the second after an error, a wild pitch and a grounder to second put him on third base with two outs.

Strieber (1-2), who struck out only two and ended his afternoon having thrown an efficient 85 pitches, tired in the ninth as freshman Justin Fowler and Socher both singled for the third and fourth hits off the right-hander. Princeton summoned Nick Donatiello from the bullpen, and he preserved the shutout in seven pitches on a pop up and a grounder to short to end the game for his second save.

The Tiger offense put single runs on the board in the first and second innings against Big Green senior right-hander Louis Concato (0-5) for an early 2-0 lead. A leadoff walk to Billy Arendt led to a Danny Hoy single, a Zack Belski sacrifice and a Hernandez grounder to second to score Arendt in the first. Concato worked around a leadoff walk in the second by getting a double play, but consecutive singles by Chad Powers, Lee-Tyson and Arendt scored another Princeton run.

The score remained at 2-0 through six innings as both pitchers found a groove, but Powers led off the seventh by driving a 3-1 pitch into the netting over the left-field fence for his first home run. It took three more Big Green pitchers to finish the inning as the Tigers tacked on their final run on another Lee-Tyson hit and a Hoy RBI double to right-center.

Nearly all of the Princeton offense was provided by the top two (Arendt and Hoy) and the bottom two (Power and Lee-Tyson) in the order as each had two hits and combined to score all four runs and drive in three.

Socher had two of the four Dartmouth hits in the nightcap and finished the day 3-for-7.

The Big Green will play one more game at home before embarking on a seven-game road trip when they host Boston College (13-16) on Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. Princeton finishes up its road trip with a 3 p.m. contest at Monmouth on Wednesday.

Notes: Dartmouth split all four doubleheaders against the teams in the Gehrig Division for just the second time in 23 years of divisional play. The 2009 team is the only other team to do so, and it went on to win the Ivy League title … the Big Green will enter intradivision play with at least a share of first place and perhaps the lead outright depending on further results from the weekend.