Big Green Drop Two Tight Ones Against Yale, 7-6 and 5-3

Saturday, April 23

Hanover, N.H.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

13-21, 7-6

Yale

14-22-1, 8-5

Yale

Dartmouth

Big Green Drop Two Tight Ones Against Yale, 7-6 and 5-3

4/23/2016 5:29:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — With first place in the Rolfe Division of the Ivy League on the line, Yale came to Dartmouth's Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park and took both games of a doubleheader on Saturday, 7-6 and 5-3. Mason Kukowski saved both contests for the visiting Bulldogs to help Yale (15-22-1, 9-5 Ivy) open up a two-game lead in the standings over both the Big Green (13-22, 7-7 Ivy) and Harvard.

Dartmouth freshman Rob Emery led all players with five hits on the afternoon, going 4-for-4 in the opener and launching a solo homer in the second game. But after blowing a 3-0 lead in the first game, the Bulldogs scored twice in the fifth and sixth innings to recover for the victory. In the nightcap, Yale rode a four-run second to victory behind the pitching of Chasen Ford.

Neither starting pitcher was terribly sharp to begin the day as Dartmouth right-hander Beau Sulser surrendered five runs in five innings on four hits and four walks, although he did strike out seven. The first three scored in the second when Harrison White led off with a triple, Tim Degraw doubled him home on the next pitch, and Simon Whiteman ripped a two-run triple to cap the inning.

Yale right-hander Simon Politz managed to escape trouble in the first three innings, stranding five runners in the process, four in scoring position. But the dam finally broke in the fourth, beginning with a leadoff double by Emery. A walk and a hard single to left off the bat of sophomore Justin Fowler loaded the bases with nobody out before senior Adam Gauthier singled home the first Big Green run. Freshman Matt Feinstein hit a grounder to third, but the throw to the plate to get the force went wide, and senior Nick Ruppert was able to slide in with the second run.

Sophomore Dustin Shirley, who had two hits in both games, just missed a grand slam as his shot to left-center missed clearing the fence by six inches, leaving him with a two-run double. A grounder to short by sophomore Kyle Holbrook made it a 5-3 Dartmouth lead, but Shirley was stranded at third as Politz got the final two outs on ground balls.

It appeared as though Sulser had settled in after his first two shaky innings, retiring eight straight into the top of the fifth. But Richard Slenker walked for the third time with one down and Benny Wanger followed by lofting a fly to left that the wind just carried over the fence for his second home run of the season, tying the game at five.

The Bulldogs took the lead in the sixth against reliever Chris Burkholder (2-1), who had not allowed a run in his last 14.2 innings spanning six appearances, though both runs ended up being unearned. A single, stolen base and misplayed bunt put runners on the corners with nobody out, but Burkholder redeemed his fielding miscue by scooping up a safety squeeze bunt and nailing the runner at the plate for the first out. After the second out advanced the runners to second and third, the go-ahead run scored on a passed ball, and Yale added an insurance run when Whiteman beat out a slow roller to short for an RBI single.

Dartmouth sent Politz to the showers in the sixth when Emery poked a two-out RBI single through the right side to cut the deficit to one at 7-6. But Kukowski came on and stranded the tying run at third before retiring the side in order in the seventh to finish off the save.

Politz (5-3) picked up the win despite yielding six runs, five earned, over 5.2 innings on nine hits and three walks while punching out two. Whiteman, Wanger and Degraw each had two hits and combined to drive in six runs, three by Whiteman.

In the second game, Yale roughed up sophomore right-hander Clay Chatham (0-5) in the second, starting with loading the bases with nobody out on three consecutive singles. It looked like Chatham might get out of the jam when he induced a grounder to third, but the home plate umpire ruled catcher's interference on the play, forcing in the first run. Tom O'Neill followed with a two-run single, though left fielder Ben Socher gunned down the runner trying to go from first to third on the play, and Chatham was replaced by junior Michael Danielak on the mound.

Danielak fanned the first batter he faced for the second out, but then issued a walk before Slenker ripped an RBI double off the left-field fence. Again, Socher made a fine throw, this time hitting the shortstop who relayed the throw to the plate to nail Whiteman trying to score from first, keeping the score at 4-0.

Like Politz in the first game, Ford found himself in trouble more often than not. Dartmouth stranded two men on in both the first and second innings, but junior Michael Ketchmark slapped a single the opposite way in the third to allow Shirley (who had hit a leadoff single) to trot home from third.

Yale got that run back in the fourth when Andrew Herrera sent a pitch sailing onto Park Street for his third home run of the year. Emery ripped his solo shot, his second four-bagger of the season, with one out in the sixth before Ruppert and Fowler hit back-to-back doubles to suddenly make it a 5-3 game.

Ford set down the next five hitters, however, to finish off his seven innings having given up three runs, two earned, on seven hits and two walks with two punchouts. Chris Lanham narrowly got through the eighth, needing Degraw to run down a deep fly to the track in center off the bat of pinch hitter Joe Purritano with the tying runs on base, and Kukowski pitched a perfect ninth for his third save of the year.

Yale collected 11 hits in the game with eight of the nine starters having at least one. O'Neill had a pair of singles and two RBIs out of the nine-hole, while Degraw and Slenker each had a pair of knocks as well.

Ruppert had two doubles for the Big Green, but aside from Shirley's two hits, Dartmouth managed just three more.

Dartmouth will have the opportunity to climb back into a tie for first on Sunday when it hosts Yale for another doubleheader beginning at noon. The games will be streamed live via Big Green Insider on the Ivy League Digital Network with Wayne Young calling the action.

Notes: Dartmouth has hosted 39 doubleheaders since the turf was installed and Red Rolfe Field added the stadium of Biondi Park to the venue. Yale is just the second team to sweep one of those twinbills from the Big Green, Penn being the other in 2014 ... the Bulldogs had been 1-12 at the park ... Dartmouth's 3-4-5 hitters went a combined 1-for-22 with two walks and two RBIs on the day ... sophomore Jack Fossand pitched well in relief in the second game, tossing three scoreless, hitless innings to keep the Big Green close.