Crimson Coming to Town for Ivy Series

Sunday, April 21

Hanover, N.H.

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

Harvard

Trevor Johnson is greeted after scoring by Steffen Torgersen and Matt Feinstein.

Photo by: Brian Foley

4/19/2019 2:16:00 PM | Baseball

April 21, 2019 Game 1 ESPN+ Broadcast Game 2 ESPN+ Broadcast April 22, 2019 Game 3 ESPN+ Broadcast Live Stats Twitter Updates Dartmouth Notes Harvard Notes

Dartmouth hosts Harvard starting on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

By: Rick Bender

DARTMOUTH (11-19, 5-7)
vs. HARVARD (18-9, 8-4)
Sunday, April 21 (DH) 11:30 a.m. | Monday, April 22 12:00 p.m. | ESPN+
Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park | Hanover, N.H.

Dartmouth will have an opportunity to move up the Ivy League standings this weekend with Harvard in town. The Crimson are three games ahead of the Big Green, tied for second with Penn, so a series sweep would pull Dartmouth even with their regional rival. While Harvard is coming off a crushing defeat in the Beanpot Championship on Wednesday, the Big Green have lost seven of their last nine, though they did win their road series at Brown last weekend.

Overall Record vs. Harvard
• By the end of this series, Dartmouth will have played the Crimson more than any other opponent. The Big Green have taken 27 of the last 32, but Harvard still holds a 134-127 lead.
• Last year the two teams met in the final series of the year with Dartmouth needing to win two of the three games. After splitting the first two, the Crimson staged an eight-run comeback in a wild 18-17 victory over the Green, denying Dartmouth a berth in the Ivy League Championship Series.
• The series win was the first for Harvard over the Big Green since 2005.
• Since 1923, Dartmouth is 56-38 (.596) when hosting Harvard, including a 14-4 mark at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park.
• Head coach Bob Whalen is 63-46 against Harvard during his tenure with the Big Green.

Scouting the Crimson
• Harvard has not lost more than two consecutive games all year while boasting the best overall record in the league at 18-9.
• The Crimson have won all four Ivy League series thus far, taking two of three from Penn, Princeton, Yale and Cornell, the last three all at home.
• With an offense that averages 6.6 runs a game and leads the league with 34 home runs, Harvard relies heavily upon Patrick McColl (.445/.508/.864) — top three nationally in average and slugging — and Jake Suddleson (.371/.417/.695). The two have 19 homers and 38 extra-base hits between them.
• Three others are also hitting better than .300, including Ben Skinner (.337/.398/.446), and two-way player Hunter Bigge provides some more pop with four home runs.
• The pitching staff has an ERA of 5.21 while holding opponents to a .264 average. But control problems have been an issue as the moundsmen have walked 5.5 batters per game.
• Kieran Shaw has been almost automatic in closing out games, saving 11 contests (tied for the league record) in his 13 appearances.
• Harvard ranks sixth in the Ivy League with a .963 fielding percentage (35 errors in 27 games), and the catchers have thrown out 11 of 66 potential base stealers.

Last Time Against Harvard
Dartmouth was in good shape to clinch a berth in the Ivy League Championship Series after defeating the Crimson in the first game between the two last year, 6-5. Sean Sullivan singled to lead off the seventh with the game tied at five, stole second, took third on a grounder and scored the winning run on a wild pitch, making a winner out of reliever Michael Parsons. Austen Michel twirled 2.1 scoreless innings to lock down the save, and Blake Crossing was 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the offense.

The second game was also tied in the sixth at three when the Crimson broke open the game to go on to an 11-3 victory. Simon Rosenblum-Larson struck out 10 Big Green batters in six innings on the mound, and Kieran Shaw threw three shutout innings to record the save. Dustin Shirley was 3-for-4 with a solo homer that tied the game at three in the sixth.

Needing a win to advance to the ILCS, Dartmouth brought out the lumber and scored 17 runs in the first six innings. Steffen Torgersen hit his first career home run, a three-run shot, and three others also drove in three runs with Shirley going 4-for-6 on the day.
The only problem was that the Crimson were hitting the ball just as well, smashing five home runs in the contest. Harvard tied the game at six in the third, took a 9-7 lead after four, then looked to be out of it when Dartmouth scored 10 runs in the fifth and sixth for a 17-9 advantage. But a seven-spot in the sixth made it a one-run game, and the Crimson scored twice in the eighth to take the lead. Hunter Bigge pitched the final four innings, holding the Green scoreless for the last three frames to close out the 18-17 Harvard win. The Big Green ended the season half a game behind Columbia for second place due to a tie against Penn.

Probable Starting Pitchers
• The series opener on Sunday will feature senior RHP Cole O'Connor (3-3, 7.25) against Harvard RHP Hunter Bigge (4-1, 5.98). O'Connor is coming off a quality start of seven innings in which he allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits and three walks to go with four strikeouts at Brown. Bigge also picked up a win in his most recent start despite yielding six runs in six innings of an 8-6 triumph against Cornell.
• Game two will likely pit freshman RHP Justin Murray (2-2, 5.15) against RHP Buddy Hayward (4-1, 4.23). Murray has road wins over Columbia and Brown, allowing three runs in 13 innings in the two games combined. Hayward, meanwhile, tossed a complete game against the Big Red last week, allowing just a solo homer in the first inning of a 7-1 win, throwing 120 pitches in the process.
• For the finale, expect freshman RHP Nathan Skinner (1-5, 7.41) paired up against RHP Ian Miller (2-2, 6.27). Skinner has struggled in his last three outings, but did strike out four in 4.2 innings at Brown last week. Miller, who has walked 27 batters in 33 innings, tossed four scoreless innings last week against Cornell before failing to get an out in the fifth in a 2-0 loss.

What's Up Next
The Big Green have their final road game of the season on Wednesday at Siena before returning to Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park next weekend to host the defending regular-season Ivy champion Yale in a three-game series. Saturday's doubleheader is Senior Day during which the six seniors will be recognized for their careers between games of the twinbill.

Countdown to 600 Wins
Head coach Bob Whalen needs just four more wins to reach 600 in his career as Dartmouth's head coach, now in his 30th season in Hanover. Only four coaches in Ivy League history — in any sport — have won 600 or more games at one school, led by Bob Sneddon with 634 as Penn's head baseball coach for 35 seasons (1971-2005). Two of the other three are current Harvard coaches (Jenny Allard in softball with 626, Kathy Delaney-Smith in women's basketball with 602), while former Cornell softball coach Dick Blood is third on the list with 623.

First Loss to Middlebury Since 1950
Division III Middlebury had not defeated Dartmouth on the diamond since a 9-5 victory on May 15, 1950, until the Panthers handed the Big Green a 15-7 loss on April 17. Middlebury improved to 16-8 on the season and collected 18 hits to earn the rare win. Dartmouth is still 12-2 all-time against the Panthers in a series that dates back to 1922.

Crossing Over
Junior Blake Crossing, who was second in the Ivy League in on-base percentage last year, offered his services on the mound to Coach Whalen in an effort to help the team out. He has pitched three times out of the bullpen and posted an ERA of 6.00 in three innings. But it was his work against Middlebury that shined the most, striking out three batters in 1.2 innings without yielding a run. Those three strikeouts were more than half of the team's total for the game (5).

Third Ivy Rookie of the Week
Freshman Justin Murray was chosen as the Ivy League Rookie of the Week following his performance against Brown on Sunday. The right-hander hurled seven innings of two-run ball, yielding four hits and a pair of walks while striking out three in earning his second win of the season in the 7-5 triumph, helping Dartmouth claim the series victory. Murray is the third Big Green pitcher to earn the rookie honor from the league office, joining Trystan Sarcone and Nathan Skinner. Dartmouth has had at least one Ivy Rookie of the Week in 14 straight years.

Sullivan In The Swing of Things
Senior Sean Sullivan has been swinging the bat as well as anyone over the last month, leading the team with a .372 average (29-of-78) since March 19, a span of 18 games. The leadoff hitter has also drawn 13 walks and struck out just eight times, plus driven in 16 runs, third on the team. And his on-base percentage of .452 is second only to Ubaldo Lopez (.500).

Best Time to Score? Ninth Inning!
Of all the innings played this season, Dartmouth has scored more runs in the ninth than any other — by far — with 34 runs. The team OPS in that inning is 1.001 (161 points higher than the next best inning) thanks to 27 walks, nine doubles and seven homers to bolster a .283 average. Three times the Big Green have rallied from a deficit to either win the game or send it into extra innings, and another time tied it before falling in extras. Just like my teenage son (and myself), a bunch of procrastinators …

Offensive Spike
After the first 15 games, Dartmouth was hitting a mere .215 as a team while averaging three runs per game. But when the Big Green returned to the Northeast, the bats warmed up in the cooler temperatures. In the 15 games since, Dartmouth is hitting .291 and averaging nearly nine runs per contest with three hitters — Sean Sullivan (.379), Ubaldo Lopez (.357) and Steffen Torgersen (.354) — all hitting better than .350. Both Nate Ostmo and Matt Feinstein are also slugging better than .500.

Pitching Woes
While the Dartmouth bats have gone through an offensive surge, unfortunately so have the opponents. The Big Green have allowed 10.5 runs per game over the last 15 contests, ballooning the staff ERA to 7.91. Only 12 teams in the country have a worse ERA currently, and only three other times in Dartmouth history has the team posted an ERA above 7.00 for a season — 7.38 in 1996, 7.04 in 2007 and 7.03 in 1981.

Glove Man at the Hot Corner
Dartmouth's most dependable defender over the past year has been senior third baseman Steffen Torgersen. It was April 8, 2018, when he took over the starting duties at the hot corner, where he has committed just one error in 154 chances since for a fielding percentage of .994 (his other error this season came as a shortstop).

Making Plays
The Dartmouth defense ranks among the top fielding teams in Division I with a .978 fielding percentage through 30 games. That ranks 29th in the country, its best showing since the 2015 campaign when the Big Green were 22nd at .976.

Quick Hitters
• Matt Feinstein, who enters this weekend with 157 career hits, needs two more hits to move into Dartmouth's top 20.
• Cole O'Connor will move into the Big Green top 20 for victories with his next win (12 currently).
• In his last start, O'Connor became the 18th pitcher in Dartmouth history to throw 200 innings in a career.
• When do certain players do their most damage at the plate? Well, Steffen Torgersen has been at his best in the middle three innings, hitting nearly .500 (19-for-40). Nate Ostmo does better from the fifth inning on with a .364 average (20-for-55) with six doubles and both of his home runs. And look out for Ubaldo Lopez in the ninth — 5-for-8 (.625) with two doubles, two homers and eight RBIs.
• The pitchers have had their struggles this year as a group, but the fourth inning has been their best with a 4.20 collective ERA.
• Torgersen has a team-best .346 average in league play, while Lopez (.341), Ostmo (.333) and Sean Sullivan (.329) are close behind.
• Pinch hitting has not come through in a pinch this year thus far. Big Green pinch hitters are a collective 1-for-27 (.037) this season with the lone hit provided by Ubaldo Lopez on March 15 at USF.
• Although Middlebury stole eight bases in its 15-7 win on April 17 — just the third time in the last 26 seasons an opponent has stolen at least that many — the batteries have essentially stopped the running game in league play. Ivy opponents have stolen just two bases in seven attempts in the 12 conference games.