Two Extra-Inning Games at Penn End in a Loss and Tie

Sunday, April 1

Philadelphia, Pa.

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

5-13, 1-1

Penn

6-15, 2-3

Dartmouth

Penn

Two Extra-Inning Games at Penn End in a Loss and Tie

4/1/2018 7:26:00 PM | Baseball

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The Dartmouth baseball team held a lead in the ninth inning in both games of a doubleheader at Penn on Easter Sunday, but the Quakers found a way to rally to tie both games, denying the Big Green a pair of victories. In the opener, Sean Phelan hit a sacrifice fly in the 11th to lift Penn to an 8-7 win, and Matt McGeagh hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the nightcap before the two teams had to settle for a 4-4 tie as darkness settled after 11 innings for the first tie in league play in 31 years.

The Quakers improved to 6-15-1 on the season and 2-3-1 in the Ivy League, while Dartmouth fell to 5-13-1 overall and 1-1-1 in the Ancient Eight.

The Big Green found a way to rebound from the heartbreaking first game in the form of senior Jack Fossand. The 6-5 right-hander was dominant on the mound, holding Penn to a solitary run over the first eight innings, striking out a career-high 11, which is also the most by a Dartmouth pitcher in over two years.

Fossand's performance allowed the Green to hold a lead for nearly the entire game. The first run was put on the scoreboard in the very first inning when senior Kyle Holbrook walked with two down and cross the plate when classmate Dustin Shirley boomed a double to center. Dartmouth tacked on two more with two down in the second thanks to a throwing error with runners on second and third for a 3-0 advantage.

The Quakers, meanwhile, were having trouble solving Fossand, who retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced, whiffing eight through those 5.1 innings. The only hitter who had success to that point was Andrew Murnane, who hit a two-out double in the third, then added a single in the sixth. A two-out infield hit and a Phelan single to left-center ended the shutout bid, but Fossand got the third out on strikes.

Penn had a golden scoring opportunity in the seventh after a leadoff double and a wild pitch put a man on third with nobody out. But Fossand would not break, sandwiching a foul pop behind the plate between a pair of strikeouts to keep the score at 3-1.

In the ninth, Dartmouth tacked on an insurance run on a two-out, RBI single from sophomore Michael Calamari, scoring junior Sean Sullivan who had led off the frame with a base hit.

Fossand got the first out in the ninth but no more, issuing his only free pass of the game, uncorking a wild pitch and surrendering an RBI single to Daniel Halevy. Big Green head coach Bob Whalen went to the bullpen, but McGeagh greeted senior Marc Bachman by unloading on a 1-2 pitch for a two-run homer, his fifth long ball of the year.

After two more scoreless innings, the game was called due to darkness with the score tied at four.

Fossand not only set a career high in strikeouts, but innings as well with his 8.1 frames, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk.

Penn starter Christian Scafidi was touched for three runs as well, only one earned, over 6.1 innings on seven hits and three walks, fanning four.

Dartmouth had one-run leads in both the ninth and 10th innings of the opener, but Penn rallied each time before walking off in the bottom of the 11th. A one-out walk and a balk in the bottom of the ninth put the tying run in scoring position, but after a fly to right, sophomore Austen Michel got within a strike of earning the save. That strike did not come as Eduardo Malinowski poked an 0-2 pitch to right for a single, and the throw home was a close play with Peter Matt eluding the tag and diving back to the plate to score, tying the game at six.

Senior Kyle Holbrook got some two-strike payback by launching a 1-2 pitch over the fence in right, his second four-bagger of the season for a 7-6 Big Green lead in the 10th. Again the Quakers had an answer, this time in the form of a Halevy leadoff long ball.

In the 11th, sophomore southpaw Michael Parsons (0-2) came on to pitch. He hit Chris Adams with a pitch, and Malinowski sent Adams to third with a single before Phelan hit the game-winning sacrifice fly to left.

Penn had started the scoring with a run in the first, putting runners on the corners with nobody out on a leadoff double and single. It looked like right-hander Clay Chatham might escape without any damage when a line drive to second turned into a double play, but a passed ball allowed Adams to sprint home for a 1-0 Quaker lead.

In the second, Dartmouth responded with a two-out, RBI single off the bat of junior Matt Feinstein, tying the game at one.

Both pitchers settled in from there, putting zeroes on the board through the fifth. The Big Green finally broke the stalemate as sophomore Blake Crossing led off with a double, took third on a wild pitch and scored when senior Dustin Shirley singled between third and short after senior Kyle Holbrook had walked, chasing Penn starter Mitchell Holcomb from the mound. After a sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position, walks to senior Justin Fowler and junior Nate Ostmo forced home another run for a 3-1 lead.

In the seventh, Shirley hit a sacrifice fly to plate an unearned run thanks to a pair of Quaker errors for a three-run lead. But a walk and a single to start the bottom half of the inning led to the removal of Chatham from the game. Freshman Max Hunter hit the first batter he faced to load the bases, and Kyle Cronk followed with a two-run single, closing the gap to one. When the Quakers bunted to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, however, Hunter got the final two outs on strikes to keep the score at 4-3.

Dartmouth picked up a pair of insurance runs in the eighth when Ostmo blasted a two-run homer to left, his second of the year, only to have Penn answer in kind on a Halevy sacrifice fly and an McGeagh RBI double. Michel came on and stranded the runner at second with a strikeout to end the inning before the fateful final frames.

Jacob Sadowitz (1-1) picked up the win on the mound, allowing a run in two innings of relief. Holcomb's final line over five-plus innings was three runs on three hits with three strikeouts and the first four of a dozen walks issued by five Quaker pitchers.

Chatham also yielded three runs, but over six-plus stanzas on six hits and a single free pass while striking out six.

Malinowski had four hits to lead Penn's 14-hit attack, while Ostmo drove in three runs and Feinstein reached five times on a pair of hits and three walks.

Dartmouth returns to Hanover to host Holy Cross on Wednesday, April 4 at 3:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the Ivy League Network, now available on Apple TV, Roku and the ILN app for Android and Apple devices, with Wayne Young '72 calling the action.

Notes: The series finale was just the sixth tie in league play in Dartmouth history with the last one coming in 1982, a 7-7 tie against Navy on April 18.