WORCESTER, Mass. — Dartmouth put three runs on the board in the first and ninth innings, but Holy Cross put together a five-run second and a six-run fifth to fuel a 16-10 victory over the Big Green at Fitton Field on Wednesday evening. Austin Masel had three hits and four RBIs to lead the Crusaders (8-22) to their highest-scoring output of the season.
Sophomore
Ubaldo Lopez homered and doubled twice and senior
Sean Sullivan posted career highs with four hits and three RBIs for the Big Green (9-14) as they finished off a stretch of 23 straight games on the road to start the season. Senior
Steffen Torgersen also homered and freshman
Ben Rice drove in three to bolster the Dartmouth offense.
Things looked up for the Big Green when senior
Matt Feinstein stroked an RBI double into the right-field corner and Rice added a two-run single for a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first. But Holy Cross started chipping away in the bottom half, scoring a run without the aid of a hit on a hit batter, walk, a fly out and an attempted double steal in which the runner on first was tagged out, but the lead runner crossed the plate before the third out was made.
The first five Crusaders reached base in the second against freshman starter
Trystan Sarcone (0-2), with the fifth being a two-run double off the bat of Andrew Selima to put the hosts on top, 4-3. One out later, Masel produced an RBI single and with two gone, Ben Malgeri drove in one more with a two-bagger to make it 6-3 at the end of two innings.
After Holy Cross tacked on an unearned run in the third, Dartmouth got it back in the fourth on a two-out, RBI single by Sullivan. The Big Green threatened to tie the game in the fifth as sophomore
Logan Adams doubled home a run, which put the tying runs in scoring position with just one out. But Luke Dawson struck out the next two hitters to contain the damage and preserve the 7-5 lead.
The Crusaders broke open the game in the bottom half against reliever
Jack Schmidt with six more runs. The big blows came on a Masel two-run triple and a single by pinch hitter Evan Blum to score two more.
The two teams traded runs in the sixth on Torgersen's first home run of the season, a no-doubter to right, while Holy Cross got back-to-back doubles from David Kale and Masel. Lopez matched Torgersen in the seventh with a line drive that just cleared the fence in left for his team-leading third long ball of the year, making it a 14-7 contest.
A pair of errors to start the bottom of the eighth, followed by Nate Wolf double brought home the final two Crusader runs in unearned fashion. Dartmouth would not relent, however, as Lopez hit a leadoff double, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a Rice sacrifice fly. An error helped extend the inning, which led to Sullivan's fourth hit — a two-run single — before the game finally ended after three hours and 29 minutes on the 11th strikeout by six Holy Cross pitchers.
C.J. McKennitt (1-4) was credited with his first win in a short start that lasted 2.2 innings. He surrendered three runs on four hits while striking out three. Kyle Johnson had the best day on the mound for Holy Cross with two shutout stanzas.
Seven Dartmouth pitchers also struck out 11 batters, with each hurler getting at least one. Junior
Alec Vaules was the most effective Big Green moundsman with two scoreless innings while striking out three.
Dartmouth (3-3 Ivy) will host Penn (14-8, 3-3 Ivy) for three games this weekend to begin the home slate. The Big Green will play 15 of their final 19 games at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park, with each contest streamed live on ESPN+ with Wayne Young '72 and Brett Franklin calling the action. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 11:30 a.m., and Sunday's finale will feature the first pitch at noon.
Notes: Dartmouth had just one game last three hours or more in its first 19 games (a 10-inning contest), but each of the last four have lasted at least three hours … Lopez has hit safely in 10 of the last 11 games, batting .463 (19-for-41) with eight doubles, three homers and 14 RBIs for a slugging percentage of .878.