Dartmouth Tops EMU, Nipped by St. Bonaventure on Opening Day

Saturday, February 25

Port Charlotte, Fla.

11:00 AM

Dartmouth College

1-0

Eastern Michigan

2-5

Dartmouth

Eastern Michigan

Dartmouth Tops EMU, Nipped by St. Bonaventure on Opening Day

2/25/2017 6:41:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Sophomore Matt Feinstein rapped out five hits on the day to help Dartmouth (1-1) split a pair of games to open the 2017 baseball season for the Big Green, beating Eastern Michigan (2-5) in the opener, 8-4, before coming up a run short against St. Bonaventure (1-1) in the nightcap, 8-7, at the Snowbird Classic.

Dartmouth broke open a 1-1 game in the sixth against the Eagles with five runs in the frame on five hits, a walk, an error and a pair of sacrifice flies as the Big Green batted around. Junior Kyle Holbrook and sophomore Nate Ostmo greeted reliever Matthew Beaton (0-1) with consecutive singles before freshman Michael Calamari reached on an error with Holbrook trotting home with the go-ahead run. A stolen base followed by a walk loaded up the bases for senior Adam Gauthier, who delivered an RBI single. Freshman Trevor Johnson and junior Dustin Shirley each lofted sacrifice flies before senior Michael Ketchmark capped the inning with a run-scoring single.

The big inning allowed senior starter Beau Sulser (1-0) deservedly earn the victory after he fanned eight in five frames while yielding just an unearned run on three hits with nary a walk. After junior southpaw Marc Bachman pitched the sixth, senior Chris Burkholder closed out the victory for his fifth career save by tossing the final three innings, giving up a pair of unearned runs on two hits with two walks and pair of punch outs.

Dartmouth tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth on another RBI single off the bat of Ketchmark to score Feinstein, who had led off the stanza with his third single of the contest, and a bases-loaded walk to Calamari.

The Big Green lineup continuously put the pressure on the Eastern Michigan defense by collecting a dozen hits — all singles — and walking a dozen times while striking out just once, though they did strand 15 base runners. Johnson, Ketchmark and Holbrook each had a pair of knocks, and Shirley, Ketchmark and Calamari all had two RBIs apiece.

John Montgomery and Devin Hager both had two hits to account for half of the Eagles' total in the game, and Jeremy Stidham scored half of their four runs after entering as a defensive replacement behind the dish in the sixth.

After a brief respite, Dartmouth took the field once again, but the Bonnies jumped on sophomore starter Cole O'Connor for three runs in the top of the first, two of which were unearned. David Hollins and David Vaccaro both drove in runs with a double and a single, respectively, and Tommy Lacongo squeezed home the third run.

St. Bonaventure added another run in the second on a two-out, RBI double off the bat of Cole Peterson, but the Big Green scored twice in the bottom half and again in the third to knot the score at four. Feinstein came through in the second with a bases-loaded, two-run single, while Ostmo singled home one run and sophomore Mike Brown doubled home another in the next frame.

O'Connor settled in to shut down the Bonnies through the fifth, but senior Jackson Bubala (0-1) was not as fortunate after entering to start the sixth. He did retire the first two batters, but a T.J. Baker double and a Jared Baldinelli single broke the tie, and Sam Fuller with another RBI single.

Dartmouth got one back in the bottom half on a Feinstein single that scored junior Hayden Rappoport, who finished the game 2-for-4. But that run was negated when Peterson led off the seventh with a triple and scored when Aaron Phillips singled back through the box.

St. Bonaventure got an insurance run in the eighth off rookie left-hander Michael Parsons, which turned out to be the difference in the game as the Big Green rallied in the bottom of the ninth. Ketchmark tripled and scored on a Shirley grounder to second to cut the deficit to two at 8-6. Now with two outs, Ostmo was plunked, then scored when Calamari (pinch hitting for Brown) hit a high fly to center that dropped in for a double.

The game appeared to be over when Baker took the mound from his position at first base and induced Rappoport to hit a grounder to second. But the throw went wide and nearly got away, which would have tied the score. But with runners on the corners, freshman Blake Crossing hit a screaming liner right at the left fielder, who secured the ball for the final out to give Baker the save.

Phillips (1-0) earned the victory for the Bonnies, yielding five runs over 5.1 innings on eight hits and five walks to go with four strikeouts. His offense supplied him with the eight runs on 14 hits but only one free pass, led by Baldinelli who went 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI.

Feinstein drove in three runs on his two hits in five trips to the plate, and Ketchmark reached base four times on two hits and a pair of walks, scoring twice in the process.

Dartmouth and St. Bonaventure will play one more time on Sunday morning with first pitch at 11 a.m. at North Charlotte Regional Park No. 6.

Notes: Both Dartmouth and St. Bonaventure featured players in their respective lineups with fathers that played in the major leagues. Trevor Johnson is the son of former Dartmouth two-sport star Mark Johnson, who played seven years in the bigs, while David Hollins is the son of former Phillie third baseman Dave Hollins, who had a 12-year career.