Clash of Rolfe Division Leaders at Biondi Park on Saturday

Rolfe Division on the Line
Dartmouth has a golden opportunity to take control of the Rolfe Division race this weekend when it hosts co-leader Yale for four games in Hanover. The Big Green are 12-1 against the Bulldogs at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park since the turf and stadium were installed before the 2009 season, including a victory in the divisional playoff two years ago.

	Dartmouth (13-20, 7-5) vs. Yale (13-22-1, 7-5) Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park (2,000) • Hanover, N.H.
	Saturday, April 23, Noon (DH) Game 1: Ivy League Digital Network \| Live Stats Projected Starters: RHP Beau Sulser (3-1, 2.10) vs. RHP Scott Politz (4-3, 3.44) Game 2: Ivy League Digital Network \| Live Stats Projected Starters: RHP Clay Chatham (0-4, 7.40) vs. RHP Chasen Ford (3-3, 4.27)
	Sunday, April 24, Noon (DH) Game 1: Ivy League Digital Network \| Live Stats Projected Starters: RHP Duncan Robinson (3-4, 3.42) vs. RHP Mason Kukowski (0-5, 6.23) Game 2: Ivy League Digital Network \| Live Stats Projected Starters: RHP Cole O'Connor (0-2, 3.62) vs. TBA

No matter what happens, Dartmouth and/or Yale will have at least a share of the lead going into the final weekend. Should either team win the series, that squad will have sole possession of first place. But if they split, they will remain tied and could even be involved in a three-way tie should Harvard or Brown sweep the other.

Last Week in Review
•   Dartmouth split two doubleheaders at Brown last weekend, then swept a twinbill at Cornell for the first time since the 2008 season.
•   In windy Providence last Saturday, two unearned runs proved to be the difference in the opener against the Bears in a 4-2 loss, despite 10 strikeouts by ace Duncan Robinson.
•   Dartmouth evened the score in the second game as Dustin Shirley and Thomas Roulis each had three hits and combined to drive in three runs in a 4-3 victory. Michael Danielak earned the victory with 3.1 innings of relief while striking out five, and Patrick Peterson collected his second save.
•   Everything went right in Sunday's first game as the offense nearly doubled its best output of the season with 15 runs while Beau Sulser tossed a four-hit shutout in the 15-0 triumph.
•   The finale was an about-face at the plate as three Brown pitchers shut the Big Green out on four hits in a 2-0 defeat.
•   In Ithaca, Dartmouth scored once in the sixth to break a 3-3 tie, then added on five more in the seventh to defeat the Big Red in the first game, 9-3. Shirley and Roulis each had two hits and two RBIs as nine different players scored a run and reliever Chris Burkholder extended his scoreless streak to 14.2 innings to earn his second victory.
•   Four Big Green pitchers held Cornell to one unearned run in the nightcap, and Kyle Holbrook scored twice and drove in another in a 3-1 win.

Last Time Against the Bulldogs
Dartmouth pulled off a four-game sweep of Yale in New Haven last year to begin an epic run through the Rolfe Division in which it won all 12 games against its intradivision rivals. Only one other team has done that since divisions were implemented in 1993.

The first victory took extra innings as an error led to Kyle Holbrook lofting a sacrifice fly in the eighth to beat the Bulldogs, 3-2. Mike Concato finished his complete-game victory with a perfect bottom half, and Michael Ketchmark blasted a two-run homer to provide the other Big Green runs.

Game two turned into a slugfest in which Dartmouth topped double-digit runs for the only time all year with an eye-popping 22-10 final. Twice Dartmouth scored five times in an inning, plus tallied seven in the eighth, opening up a 17-3 lead. Joe Purritano drove in five runs and hit the only home run of the game, Matt MacDowell had four RBIs, and Matt Parisi and Dustin Shirley each had three.

Duncan Robinson dominated the third game with a three-hit shutout in a 7-0 triumph. Ben Socher homered and Nick Lombardi drove in two runs as the Big Green cruised.

The finale bookended the series with another 3-2 Dartmouth victory. Louis Concato surrendered just one run over seven innings to get the win, and Patrick Peterson survived the ninth, stranding the tying run at second after allowing Yale to close the gap to one run. Lombardi had three hits and Shirley scored two of the three Big Green runs.

The Overall Record vs. Yale
•   The two teams have met 217 times on the diamond with the Bulldogs leading 120-96-1, although Dartmouth has won 22 of the last 28.
•   The Big Green have swept the Bulldogs four of the last eight series in Hanover, plus have a 31-14 record here since the split into divisions in 1993.
•   Dartmouth is 51-39 at home against the Bulldogs since 1930.
•   Big Green head coach Bob Whalen enters this game with a 52-43 mark versus Yale.
•   The first game in the series took place 134 years ago in 1881 when the Big Green defeated Yale, 6-3.

Scouting the Bulldogs
•   Since starting 0-9-1 (with its first eight games against projected regional teams), Yale is an even 13-13, though Harvard took three of four from the Bulldogs in New Haven last weekend.
•   Yale is hitting .251 as a team (.258 in league play) while averaging 4.36 runs a game. Third baseman Richard Slenker has been the best hitter with a slash line of .310/.407/.474 to go with 13 doubles, two homers and 17 RBIs, and leadoff hitter Nate Adams owns a .325 batting average.
•   The Bulldogs generally like to be aggressive on the base paths, and this year's team is no different, easily leading the league with 46 stolen bases. Simon Whiteman has 13 to top the team while Slenker and Tim Degraw each have seven.
•   The Bulldog pitching staff ranks sixth in the league with a 5.90 ERA and is seventh in walks per nine innings, but the top of the rotation has been quite good. Griffin Dey has been the most reliable reliever with a 4.72 ERA over 13.1 innings.
•   Yale owns the best fielding percentage in the Ivy League at .976, with Dartmouth second at .971. But the Bulldogs have allowed more than 80 percent of base stealers to succeed and have a league-high 18 passed balls.

Probable Starting Pitchers
•   Game one is set to feature Dartmouth RHP Beau Sulser (3-1, 2.10) against Yale's ace, RHP Scott Politz (4-3, 3.44). The senior Sulser has allowed just two runs combined in his three starts this year while striking out 14 in 18 innings, plus is coming off his first career shutout. The freshman Politz has stymied the opposition of late as well, giving up just 12 hits and eight runs over his last four starts spanning 27 innings.
•   The rest of the starters have not been announced, but I'll take my best shot. For the Big Green, sophomore RHP Clay Chatham (0-4, 7.40) will try to earn his first collegiate victory. He'll likely go up against RHP Chasen Ford (3-3, 4.27) who is 3-0 with a no-decision in his last four starts, including a complete-game, 6-1 victory over Princeton.
•   The mid-week doubleheader at Cornell jumbled the Dartmouth rotation, so senior RHP Duncan Robinson (3-4, 3.42) should be on the mound for the first game on Sunday. He threw five straight complete games before his one-stanza start in Ithaca in an effort to give the Green some innings. Yale will most likely go with RHP Mason Kukowski (0-5, 6.23) who struggled against Harvard last week, getting knocked out in the fourth inning.
•   Finally, freshman RHP Cole O'Connor (0-2, 3.62) will finish out the weekend after giving Dartmouth three scoreless innings at Cornell on three days' rest. Yale's fourth starter has been different every Ivy weekend, so let's go with RHP Drew Scott (1-1, 6.37). He may not have a start this season, but he pitched 6.2 innings of one-run relief against Harvard with seven strikeouts.

What's Up Next
Dartmouth finishes a five-game homestand with the final non-conference game of the year on Wednesday against Siena at 3 p.m. Next weekend, the regular season will conclude with a four-game set against Harvard, the first two in Cambridge on Saturday, the last two in Hanover for Senior Day on Sunday. Both doubleheaders will begin at 1 p.m.

Approaching 1,900
The Big Green varsity baseball team is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and what better way to commemorate the season than by winning its 1,900th game? OK, an Ivy League title would be better, but work with me here. Dartmouth sits at 1,896 entering the doubleheader on Saturday, so the countdown is at four to reach the milestone.

Big Sweep of Big Red
Dartmouth won both games at Cornell — the Big Green's first twinbill sweep in Ithaca since 2008 — to move into a tie for first place in the Rolfe Division with Yale at 7-5. If Dartmouth can win its final two Ivy League series against the Bulldogs and Harvard, it would almost assuredly win its ninth consecutive division title, which would tie the league record set by Princeton (1996-2004).

Big Green Bits
•   Sophomore Marc Bachman earned his second career victory with two scoreless innings in the second game at Cornell.
•   Dustin Shirley is third in the Ivy League with a .429 average in conference games to go with a league-leading 21 hits.
•   The Big Green set a school record with three triples in one inning in the 3-1 win at Cornell — Shirley, Kyle Holbrook and Thomas Roulis. The NCAA record is four, last accomplished in 1983.
•   Nine Big Green players scored in the 9-3 win at Cornell. The only player not to score a run in the starting lineup was Nick Ruppert.
•   Duncan Robinson leads the Ivy League with 54 strikeouts, nine more than the next pitcher.
•   Opponents have hit just .175 against Chris Burkholder the lowest in the Ivy League, and his 2.41 ERA ranks third. He also has thrown 14.2 consecutive scoreless innings over his last six appearances.
•   In 12 Ivy games, Dartmouth pitchers have held the opposition to three runs or less eight times.
•   Robinson, Michael Danielak and Burkholder combined to hold Cornell to three hits in the 9-3 win, the fewest for an opponent all season.
•   Dartmouth had not scored exactly nine runs in a game since a 9-0 whitewashing of Harvard on April 29, 2014.

Bats Blossoming in April
Dartmouth has hit .291 in the month of April after hitting just .225 prior to the calendar change. Dustin Shirley has led the charge with a .404 average and 10 runs, while Thomas Roulis (.375) and Rob Emery (.364) have contributed to the surge. Even more encouraging is the team on-base average is .376 this month with a more patient approach at the plate, with Adam Gauthier reaching base nearly half of his plate appearances (.487). The 15-run output at Brown on April 17 was the first foray into double digits since a 22-10 win over Yale last year on April 11.

Schedules