Late Rally Falls Short in 7-5 Loss at Cal State Bakersfield

Sunday, March 18

Bakersfield, Calif.

3:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-8

CSU Bakersfield

9-12

Dartmouth

CSU Bakersfield

Late Rally Falls Short in 7-5 Loss at Cal State Bakersfield

3/18/2018 6:12:00 PM | Baseball

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — After falling behind by a 5-0 score for the second straight game at Cal State Bakersfield, Dartmouth nearly pulled off the comeback, twice closing to within a run but ultimately falling short in a 7-5 loss to the host at Hardt Field on Sunday afternoon. Ryan Koch was a perfect 3-for-3 with two double and a pair of RBIs for the Roadrunners (9-12), while junior Sean Sullivan provided a career-high four hits for the Big Green (3-8) as CSUB won three of the four games to win the series.

Aaron Charles held the Dartmouth bats in check for the first five frames, keeping the Green off the board despite allowing a single in each of those innings. He did not record an out in the sixth, however, as Dartmouth loaded the bases on a leadoff single by senior Dustin Shirley and walks to senior Hayden Rappoport and sophomore Blake Crossing. Senior Justin Fowler followed by ripping a two-run single to left while taking second on the throw home, ending the afternoon for Charles.

Freshman Ubaldo Lopez greeted southpaw reliever Kyle King with a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-3 game with one out. But King fanned the next two hitters to maintain the two-run lead for the Roadrunners.

In the seventh, junior Matt Feinstein drew a walk on a full-count pitch to lead off the inning, took second on an error and scampered home with the fourth run on a Rappoport single to center. With the tying run at second and one down, King once again wriggled free of the jam with a strikeout and a grounder to short.

Cal State Bakersfield got that run back in its half of the seventh, also with the help of a leadoff walk. A wild pitch and a Koch double brought the insurance run across the plate for a 6-4 lead. Junior Zac Bygum emerged from the bullpen with one out for his season debut and promptly retired the next two hitters on three pitches to end the inning.

That run was quickly returned in the eighth as Lopez was hit by the first pitch thrown by sidewinding reliever Naithen Dewsnap, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored when junior Nate Ostmo beat out an infield hit and the throw to first was wild. Sullivan's fourth hit of the game put runners on the corners with nobody out, but right fielder Jassen Oliver made the play of the day, catching a fly and gunning down Ostmo trying to score the tying run at the plate for a double play. Dewsnap got the third out on strikes to end the threat.

Again the Roadrunners answered, this time thanks to a bout of wildness. Mark Pena was hit by a pitch, then took second and third on wild pitches before Austyn Tengan rapped a pitch back through the box with one down for an RBI single.

Dewsnap shut the door in the ninth, surrendering just a two-out walk to Crossing, to earn his fourth save of the season and second of the series.

Charles (2-3) picked up the win with five-plus innings of three-run ball, giving up seven hits and three walks while fanning four.

Bakersfield scored three times in the first for the second straight game thanks to a single, double, two walks, an error and three stolen bases. Another run came home in the second on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Evan Berkey, and the fifth Roadrunner tally was posted in the fifth on Koch's first two-bagger to plate Jared Toothman, who had singled and stolen second to start the stanza.

Suffering the loss in his first collegiate start was sophomore Tyler Fagler (0-1), who gave up four runs in three innings of work on five hits and three walks with one strikeout. Senior Sam Fichthorn threw 3.1 innings of relief, yielding two runs with four strikeouts, and Bygum punched out two hitters in his 1.2 innings on the mound.

The 4-for-5 afternoon for Sullivan was his ninth multi-hit game in 11 contests this season, while Fowler and Rappoport each collected two hits as Dartmouth had 10 as a team, as did CSUB.

Dartmouth continues its 10-game spring-break trip in California with a game at San Jose State on Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. (local time) that will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.

Notes: Sullivan boosted his season batting average to .511, which currently is the top mark among all qualified Division I players … Bakersfield stole eight bases in the game, the most against Dartmouth in at least 23 years.