Big Green Win Second Game to Tie Yale for Division Lead

Tuesday, May 3

Hanover, N.H.

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

17-24, 9-10

Harvard

17-23, 10-9

Harvard

Dartmouth

Big Green Win Second Game to Tie Yale for Division Lead

5/3/2016 7:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — After dropping the first game of a doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park, Dartmouth had to win the nightcap in order to finish the regular season in a tie with Yale atop the Rolfe Division standings in the Ivy League. Thanks to the combined efforts of three pitchers and just enough offense, the Big Green (18-24, 11-9 Ivy) were able to defeat visiting Harvard, 3-1, the same score the Crimson (17-24, 9-11 Ivy) won by in the opener.

Due to the tie atop the division standings, Dartmouth will travel to Yale for a one-game playoff on Saturday at 1 p.m. to determine which team will advance to the Ivy League Championship Series that will be hosted by the Gehrig Division champion, Princeton, the weekend of May 14-15. The Bulldogs earned the right to host the playoff by virtue of their series win over the Big Green in Hanover on April 23-24.

Senior Thomas Roulis celebrated Senior Day by collecting three hits in the victory for Dartmouth, including a double while scoring the insurance run in the eight inning. Classmate Nick Ruppert tripled and scored in his final home game while sophomore Kyle Holbrook reached base three times and crossed the plate with what turned out to be the winning run in the fourth.

The pitching was handled by underclassmen, however, with freshman Cole O'Connor twirling shutout ball until being lifted in the fourth for sophomore southpaw Marc Bachman, who stranded the two runners O'Connor put on base by getting the third out on strikes. Harvard did touch Bachman for an unearned run in the sixth, but sophomore Patrick Peterson came in and shut the door with 3.1 scoreless stanzas to pick up his fourth save.

Ruppert ripped his three-bagger to lead off the third, then raced home on a routine grounder to short off the bat of sophomore Dustin Shirley for the game's first run.

O'Connor, meanwhile, needed 28 pitches to get through the first inning, but he kept Harvard off the scoreboard by getting a tapper back to the mound with the bases loaded and two out. The Crimson threatened again the third only to have O'Connor pump a called third strike for the third out, stranding runners on the corners.

When Harvard had two on and two out in the fourth, Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen turned to Bachman in the bullpen, who got the third out on strikes on three pitches.

In the bottom half, a Roulis single and a walk to Holbrook ended the day for Harvard pitcher Ian Miller (1-6). With the bases jammed and one down, senior Adam Gauthier hit a grounder to second, but hustled down the line to beat the relay throw on the attempted double play, allowing Holbrook to score for a 2-0 Dartmouth lead.

Harvard cut the deficit in half in the sixth, but not without some controversy. With runners on first and third with one out, Drew Reid hit a chopper to third. The throw to second got the force, but Shirley's throw to first went in the dirt as the run scored. Whalen argued to no avail that the runner interfered with the pivot man, which would have ended the inning with an automatic double play without the run going on the board. Peterson took the mound following the play, and after issuing a walk, got a fly to center to end the threat.

Although Dartmouth committed an error in the seventh and eighth innings, Peterson was able to work around both miscues with a little help from Gauthier, who gunned down a runner trying to steal to end the eighth. A quick one-two-three ninth ended with a flourish as Peterson got the final out swinging for his third strikeout.

Bachman (2-1) earned the win, yielding an unearned run on two hits with two strikeouts in two innings.

The first game was a pitchers' duel as well with Kevin Stone (5-3) taking a shutout into the seventh and final frame. Two singles in that inning gave Dartmouth a glimmer of hope before junior Ben Socher lined an RBI single with two outs. But with the tying runs on first and second, Stone induced a foul pop to third to end the game.

Big Green right-hander Michael Danielak (2-3) pitched admirably as well, yielding just two runs over six innings of work. Matt Rothenberg drove in the first run with a grounder to short in the third, scoring Drew Reid who had led off with a single. The second run came home in the sixth after Danielak hit Trent Bryan with a pitch. Patrick McColl then sliced a double down the left-field line on a hit-and-run, bringing Bryan all the way around from first.

Harvard tacked on another insurance run in the seventh when Mitch Klug, who had five hits in the twinbill, belted a leadoff homer, his second four-bagger of the season.

Notes: Harvard's victory in the first game ended a personal 15-game losing streak against Dartmouth that dated back to the 2012 season … if the Big Green defeat Yale in the playoff, they will earn their ninth-straight division crown, tying a league record held by Princeton (1996-2004) … Dartmouth and the Bulldogs tied for the division title just two years ago with identical 11-9 records. The Big Green hosted and won the game, 11-4.