Baseball Nips Penn in Ivy Opener, 5-4

Saturday, March 31

Philadelphia, Pa.

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

5-12, 1-0

Penn

5-15, 1-3

Dartmouth

Penn

3/31/2018 5:14:00 PM | Baseball

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Sophomore Austen Michel stranded the tying run at third in the ninth by inducing a routine grounder to second to preserve a 5-4 victory for Dartmouth in its Ivy League opener at Penn on Saturday afternoon. The Big Green (5-12, 1-0 Ivy) collected 12 hits with every starter having at least one, while Matt McGeagh drove in two runs for the Quakers (5-15, 1-3 Ivy), who were playing their home opener at Meiklejohn Stadium after weather had wiped out several previous games.

Penn made it interesting in the ninth when Matt O'Neill doubled to deep center field on the very first pitch he saw from Michel, putting the tying run in scoring position with nobody out. But Michel kept his cool on the mound, pumping a third strike past Andrew Murnane for the first out, then getting consecutive grounder to junior Sean Sullivan at second to earn his second save of the season.

It was Sullivan that led off the game with a single to set the table for the first Big Green run. Sullivan was erased on a fielder's choice, but senior Dustin Shirley beat out an infield hit and sophomore Michael Calamari ripped a single to left to bring senior Kyle Holbrook home from second for a 1-0 Dartmouth lead.

The Green tacked on two more in the second after two were out. Sophomore Blake Crossing singled, stole second and scored easily on a long double to right-center off the bat of freshman Bennett McCaskill. Sullivan then sent a ball toward third that was misplayed, allowing McCaskill to come around to score.

Crossing was in the middle of another rally in the fourth, dropping a two-out RBI single into right-center to plate senior Justin Fowler, who had been issued a free pass and advanced to second on a grounder to third.

Meanwhile, Dartmouth right-hander Cole O'Connor cruised through the first five innings, retiring the side in order three times and surrendering just one single in the other two frames. The Quakers got to him in the sixth, however, starting with a slow tapper for an infield hit and a Matt Tola double to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Chris Adams and Eduardo Malinowski each delivered RBI singles, and one out later McGeagh lined a ball off O'Connor's leg for an infield hit as Adams came plateward. Yet O'Connor managed to maintain the 4-3 lead by retiring the next two batters.

In the eighth, the Big Green got an important insurance run against the Penn bullpen. A leadoff single off the bat of Holbrook and a pair of grounders gave Dartmouth a runner on third with two gone. The Quakers then lifted lefty reliever Robby Cerulle in favor of right-hander John Alan Kendrick to face Fowler, a right-handed hitter. Fowler foiled the strategy by poking a pitch right back up the middle for an RBI single and a 5-3 advantage.

O'Connor (2-3) was lifted after seven innings after giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out six. But Michel got himself into trouble right away by walking the leadoff batter — the only one issued by the two hurlers in the game. After a fly to right, Sean Phelan singled to right, putting runners on the corners, and McGeagh sent another fly to right that Holbrook made a diving catch on, allowing the Quakers' fourth run to score. But that would be all as Michel finished off the win the next inning.

Gabe Kleiman (0-4) suffered the loss for surrendering four runs, three earned, on eight hits and a pair of walks to go with six strikeouts.

Sullivan, Crossing and junior Matt Feinstein each had two hits for Dartmouth, giving Sullivan 12 multi-hit games in the 17 Big Green contests this year.

The two teams will finish their three-game series on Sunday with a doubleheader that begins at 11:30 a.m.

Notes: Dartmouth has won two straight games for the first time since a three-game streak last April 15-16 … despite collecting two hits, Sullivan — who entered the game fourth among Division I hitters in batting average — saw his average drop five points to .465.