Two Complete Games, Two Wins for Big Green

Sunday, March 20

Winter Haven, Fla.

12:30 PM

Dartmouth College

Lehigh

3/20/2016 10:31:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

WINTER HAVEN/LAKELAND, Fla. — Duncan Robinson and Michael Danielak each threw nine-inning complete games for Dartmouth on Sunday, striking out a combined 21 batters without a single walk to help the Big Green defeat Lehigh and Maine at the Russ Matt Invitational by scores of 5-4 and 4-2, respectively. Dartmouth improved to 3-9 on the season with the two victories, while Lehigh dropped to 5-11 and the Black Bears to 5-15.

The double dip was not without clutch hits at the plate for the Big Green. Sophomore Dustin Shirley delivered a two-out, RBI single in the eighth against the Mountain Hawks, breaking a 4-4 deadlock, and classmate Justin Fowler came through with a two-out, two-run single in the seventh against Maine to snap a 2-2 tie.

Robinson (1-2) struck out a career-high 12 batters — the most by a Dartmouth pitcher in just over three years — in his first-ever nine-inning complete game effort. The 2015 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year threw 112 pitches and surrendered the four runs on seven hits and a hit batter.

After hitting the leadoff batter in the fifth, Robinson proceeded to retire the next 11 batters, plus picked off the Mountain Hawk he had hit with a pitch. That took the Big Green into their half of the eighth in which junior Ben Socher became the fourth Dartmouth batter to be plunked, took second on an infield out and scurried home on Shirley's single.

Lehigh's Patrick Donnelly led off the top of the ninth with a single and moved up to second on a passed ball. A sacrifice bunt put the tying run 90 feet away from scoring with one out, but Robinson retired the next two hitters on ground balls to third, stranding Donnelly at third to close out the victory.

The game began in ignominious fashion for Dartmouth as Jacen Nalesnik led off with his third home run of the season. The Big Green tied the game in the second on a one-out single by Fowler, plating senior Thomas Roulis from second base who began the frame with a base hit.

Lehigh regained the lead in the third when Mike Garzillo smashed a three-run bomb, his second four-bagger of the year, for a 4-1 lead. But Dartmouth chipped away at the deficit with single runs in the third, fifth and sixth to get back to even. Freshman Matt Feinstein doubled and scored on a single by another freshman, Rob Emery, in the third. Roulis and junior Michael Ketchmark duplicated that scenario in the fifth, and Shirley lofted a sacrifice fly in the sixth to score rookie Mike Brown, who entered the game as a pinch runner for senior Nick Ruppert after he was hit by a pitch.

Peter Moore (1-3) took the loss by pitching the fateful eighth. Dartmouth roughed up starter Matt Kozemchak for 10 hits in 4.1 innings, but managed just three runs as the Big Green finished the game with 13 men left on base.

Dartmouth loaded up the bus after the game at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven and drove to Lakeland's Henley Park to make up yesterday's rainout against Maine. Danielak did not seem to mind the odd travel, allowing just one earned run in his first-ever nine-inning complete game. Like Robinson, Danielak allowed seven hits but also notched a career high in strikeouts with nine as the junior right-hander threw 116 pitches to earn the third win of his career.

The Big Green lineup featured four freshmen in this game — three in the top four slots — and all four runs were scored by the rookies. Dartmouth erased a 1-0 deficit in the third when Brown walked with one out, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Feinstein's hard single that caromed off the left fielder, allowing Feinstein to take second. With two gone, Emery roped an RBI single to left as well for a 2-1 lead.

Maine tied the game at two in the fifth on a run-scoring single off the bat of Caleb Kerbs. The score remained knotted at two into the seventh when Dartmouth faced the third Black Bear pitcher of the game, Charlie Butler (1-3). Feinstein started the rally with a one-out single, then scampered to third on Emery's single one out later. When Ketchmark was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game to load the bases, Fowler ripped the first pitch to left-center, allowing both Feinstein and Emery to score.

That was all Danielak needed, though he did run into a bit of trouble in the eighth and ninth as Maine put runners on the corners in both innings. He escaped the two-out jam in the eighth on a routine grounder to second, then got a strikeout and a force at second to wriggle free in the ninth to finish off the victory.

Feinstein, who led the Green with five hits on the day while scoring three runs, joined Emery and Fowler with two hits against the four Black Bear pitchers. Eddie Emerson tossed the first four innings for Maine, yielding two runs, one earned, on four hits and a walk with a strikeout. The last 2.1 innings were handled by Logan Fullmer, who retired all seven batters he faced, fanning five.

Dartmouth will get a day off on Monday before playing six straight days, beginning with Stetson on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.

Notes: Dartmouth had not played Maine on the diamond in 21 years ... Feinstein has started his collegiate career 11-for-20 (.550) ... Danielak lowered his season ERA to 1.17 (2 ER in 15.1 innings) ... Shirley is the only player on the roster to play in each of the 12 games.