No. 1 Florida Rallies for Sweep of Dartmouth

Sunday, March 6

Gainesville, Fla.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-6

Florida

12-1

Dartmouth

Florida

3/6/2016 2:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Dartmouth jumped out to a 3-0 lead against No. 1 Florida on Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium, but the Gators rallied for seven runs over a four-inning stretch and held off a Big Green rally to finish a three-game sweep with an 8-6 victory. The top three-hitters in the Florida (12-1) lineup each had two RBIs to help Alex Faedo earn his third victory on the young season.

Junior Michael Ketchmark went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for Dartmouth (0-6) while sophomore Kyle Holbrook smacked his first home run of the year and scored three times as the Big Green offense broke out of an early season funk with six runs and 12 hits.

It was Ketchmark that gave Dartmouth a lead in the second inning when he stroked a one-out single to score senior Joe Purritano, from third base. Freshman Steffen Torgersen followed with a knock to center field, plating Holbrook who had singled for a 2-0 advantage.

Big Green sophomore right-hander Clay Chatham retired the first six Gators he faced, but Deacon Liput led off the third with a double into the right-center gap. Unfazed, Chatham induced three ground balls to escape the inning unscathed.

The Dartmouth bats rewarded him in the fourth with another run when Holbrook blasted a shot over the fence in right on the first pitch he saw for a one-out solo home run and a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom half, Florida answered with a one-out solo bomb of its own by J.J. Schwarz, his third of the year. And in the fifth, the Gators chased Chatham from the mound when Buddy Reed — who hit a walk-off homer last night in the 12th inning — laced a two-run triple into the right-field corner, knotting the game at three apiece. Schwarz greeted junior reliever Chris Burkholder by hitting a hard grounder that was muffed for an error as Reed scored the go-ahead run.

Catcher Mike Rivera led off the Florida sixth with a first-pitch home run down the line in left, his third of the season. Dalton Guthrie added a sacrifice fly later in the stanza to boost the Gator lead to 6-3.

Dartmouth threatened in the seventh against the Florida bullpen as Faedo (3-0) was pulled after five innings after surrendering three runs on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Ketchmark led off against reliever Kirby Snead with a sharp single to left, and pinch hitter Justin Fowler walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After a force at third, Snead was lifted in favor of Frank Rubio to face another pinch hitter in freshman Michael Brown, who reached on an infield hit to load the bases. Rubio managed to escape the jam with a shallow fly to right and a punchout to preserve the 6-3 lead.

The Gators stole a run in the seventh. With runners on the corners and one out, Ryan Larson attempted to steal second only to be gunned down by freshman Rob Emery. But Schwarz took off from third and slid safely across the plate on the play.

In the eighth, the Big Green cut their four-run deficit in half on a two-out RBI double off the bat of Ketchmark, who then scored on a single to right-center by Fowler.

Florida tacked on an insurance run in its half when Jonathan India rapped out a two-out single and scored on a Guthrie double.

Purritano delivered a two-out RBI single in the ninth against Nick Horvath to bring the tying run to the plate, but a pop to short ended the game, giving Horvath his first save of the year.

Guthrie finished the day 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs, while Reed and Schwarz also drove in two runs for Florida. Both teams collected a dozen safeties on the afternoon, seven of which came from the bottom third of the order for the Big Green.

Chatham (0-2) was stuck with the loss for yielding four runs on six hits over 4.1 innings with a walk and a strikeout. Following Burkholder's 1.2 innings of work, senior Beau Sulser made his first appearance since injuring his arm on May 4, 2014 against Yale in the Rolfe Division playoff game. The right-hander allowed two runs on three hits over two stanzas.

Dartmouth has 10 days before its next game due to winter finals, returning to the state of Florida for a third time to play a dozen contests, beginning with Bucknell at the RussMatt Invitational on March 16 at 3 p.m.

Notes: The Big Green's six runs were one more than they had scored in their first five games … this is the second straight year in which Dartmouth has started 0-6. Last year the Big Green finished the season one game under .500 (21-22) … the Big Green last played the top-ranked team in the country six years ago, losing twice to Virginia.