Dartmouth Cruises to 9-2 Win at Quinnipiac

Wednesday, March 27

Hamden, Conn.

3:00 PM

Dartmouth College

8-11

Quinnipiac

8-13

Dartmouth

Quinnipiac

Junior Alex Vaules

Photo by: Mike Janes/Four Seam Images

3/27/2019 5:31:00 PM | Baseball

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Alec Vaules tossed five shutout innings and Steffen Torgersen had three hits to lead the Big Green

By: Rick Bender

HAMDEN, Conn. — Junior Alec Vaules threw five scoreless innings as Dartmouth took a shutout into the ninth while the offense banged out 11 hits — three by senior Steffen Torgersen — as the Big Green (8-11) handed host Quinnipiac (8-13) a 9-2 defeat on Wednesday afternoon at QU Baseball Field.

Vaules (1-0), making just his second career start, picked up his first collegiate victory by surrendering a mere two hits and a walk over his five frames, fanning four in the process. Freshman Trystan Sarcone put a zero on the board in the sixth, and senior Zac Bygum held the Bobcats in check during his two-inning stint before they avoided the shutout with two runs in the ninth.

Dartmouth wasted little time in taking the lead as senior Matt Feinstein singled with one out in the first, took second on a wild pitch and beat the throw to the plate after junior Michael Calamari lined a single left.

In the second, freshman Ben Rice followed the blue print of the first frame by roping a single to left with one out, then ended up at third after fellow rookie Bryce Daniel was hit by a pitch and senior Sean Sullivan drew a walk to load the bases. Feinstein followed with a sacrifice fly to right to scored Rice, but Daniel was gunned down trying to take third on the throw to the plate, leaving the lead at 2-0.

It took all of five pitches in the fourth for the Big Green to double their lead. Torgersen led off with a base hit and came around to score when Rice boomed a triple off the wall in right-center. The very next offering went to the back stop as Rice scored on the wild pitch for a 4-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Vaules was having little difficulty with the Quinnipiac lineup. The only trouble he ran into came in the bottom of the second when the Bobcats put men on first and second on a walk and a bunt single with one out. But the right-hander pumped a full-count pitch past the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year and got a fly to left to escape unscathed.

The only other Quinnipiac hitter to reach base came on a one-out single in the fourth, and Vaules induced a double play grounder to end the inning. In the fifth, he finished with a flourish, retiring the side in order for the third time and striking out the last two batters he faced.

The Bobcats defense started to break down in the sixth as Dartmouth tallied an unearned run thanks to an errant pickoff throw after Torgersen had singled. A wild pitch and a grounder to short by Rice brought the Big Green third baseman home with the fifth run of the game.

Three more errors in the ninth allowed Dartmouth to score four insurance runs on just one hit. Quinnipiac's run in the bottom half came on an RBI grounder off the bat of Andre Marrero and a double by Samuel LaChance.

All three of Torgersen's hits were singles, and he scored twice while Rice was 2-for-4 with his triple, two runs and two RBIs in his second career start behind the plate. Sullivan and sophomore Ubaldo Lopez also had two hits, the latter extending his hitting streak to seven games after being named a Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week for last week.

Gabriel Romano (0-1) was stuck with the loss in his first collegiate start, surrendering four runs, all earned on seven hits and two walks in three-plus innings.

Dartmouth (2-1 Ivy) travels to Columbia (6-11, 2-1 Ivy) for a three-game Ivy League series this weekend. Saturday's doubleheader at 11:30 a.m. and Sunday's finale at noon will all be streamed live on ESPN+.

Notes: The Big Green have won the last two meetings with Quinnipiac and lead the all-time series, 12-7 … the victory was the 593rd for head coach Bob Whalen, now in his 30th year at the helm of the program … the Dartmouth defense has played error-free baseball in seven of its last nine games and has a .978 fielding percentage. The team record for a season is .979 set in 2013.