Socher's RBI Double in the 10th Lifts Dartmouth to 2-1 Victory

Tuesday, March 22

DeLand, Fla.

6:30 PM

Dartmouth College

4-9

Stetson

12-10

Dartmouth

Stetson

Socher's RBI Double in the 10th Lifts Dartmouth to 2-1 Victory

3/22/2016 9:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

DeLAND, Fla. — Junior Ben Socher snuck a hard grounder just inside the third-base bag in the top of the 10th for an RBI double and Patrick Peterson closed the door in the bottom half to send Dartmouth to a 2-1 victory over Stetson at Melching Field on Tuesday night. The Big Green (4-9) picked up their third straight win while defeating the host Hatters (12-10) in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

With the score knotted at one, freshman Mike Brown dropped a soft liner into right field to lead off the top of the 10th against Stetson's fifth pitcher of the night, Adam Schaly (1-2). Another rookie, Nate Ostmo, laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Brown to second, and Socher followed with his RBI double past the third baseman and just inside the foul line. The Big Green threatened to score more, but after freshman Matt Feinstein's single to right put runners on the corners with one down, Schaly got a pair of strikeouts to end the inning.

Peterson, who had entered the game in relief at the start of the ninth inning, promptly walked the ninth hitter in the lineup, Austin Hale, to open the bottom of the 10th. The Hatters tried the same strategy that the Big Green employed by ordering Jacob Koos to bunt the tying run into scoring position, but he failed to do so and fouled off his two-strike bunt attempt for a strikeout. Matt Morales worked the count full before grounding out to second, but pinch runner Jack Machonis avoided the double play by running on the pitch. It did not matter, though, as Peterson pumped a third strike past Vance Vizcaino to preserve the victory.

The game began as a scoreless duel through four and a half innings as Dartmouth senior right-hander Beau Sulser stranded five Hatter runners. Stetson hurler Logan Gilbert, meanwhile, fanned four in his three innings of work and reliever Joey Gonzalez retired all six batters he faced in the fourth and fifth, striking out the side in the latter.

The Hatters finally touched up Sulser for a run in the fifth as Hale yanked a leadoff double into the left-field corner. A fly to right sent Hale scampering to third, and after Sulser got the second out on strikes, Vizcaino pulled a 2-0 pitch into the hole between first and second for an RBI single and a 1-0 Stetson lead.

Dartmouth answered right back in the sixth, however, starting with a leadoff walk to Ostmo. A bad throw to second on a force attempt gave the Big Green runners first and second with nobody out, and it looked like the Hatters would escape the jam after a pair of flyouts. But freshman Rob Emery came through with a clutch single into left-center to score Ostmo from second with the tying run.

In both the eighth and ninth innings, Dartmouth put the leadoff batter on base on walks. But in both stanzas, the Green moved the runner to second before the next two batters were retired.

In the Hatter half-innings, junior reliever Chris Burkholder kept the Stetson bats quiet, yielding just a single over three innings while fanning four. Peterson entered in the ninth and issued a two-out walk — the first base on balls for an opposing team in 31.1 innings — but quickly got the third out on a grounder to short, sending the contest into extra innings.

The three Dartmouth pitchers combined to allow just seven hits on the evening with the two walks by Peterson to go with a dozen strikeouts. Sulser, making his first start since May 4, 2014, fanned five in five frames, giving up the only run on six hits.

Feinstein had two of the Big Green's six hits, plus stole a pair of bases to lead the offense.

Both Hale and Kevin Fagan had a single, double and walk in three at-bats for the Hatters, and both teams left eight men on base.

Dartmouth will play again on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. at North Florida (13-10), which lost to Bethune-Cookman today, 4-1. Stetson will prepare to host Coastal Carolina (13-9) in a three-game series beginning on Thursday night.