Dartmouth Baseball Hands Out 2019 Team Awards

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth baseball team awards were handed out at the annual end-of-year team banquet Tuesday night with senior third baseman Steffen Torgersen being named the Most Valuable Player and sophomore reliever Max Hunter the Pitcher of the Year.

A native of Shoreline, Washington, Torgersen picked up where he left off last season after taking over the starting duties at the hot corner midway through the 2018 campaign. Starting all 41 games, he led the Big Green with a .344 average (seventh in the Ivy League), .438 on-base percentage (sixth), four triples (third) and 11 hit by pitches (tied for first), plus sported a team-best 117 assists in the field as he displayed tremendous range with a stellar .965 fielding percentage. Torgersen had 15 multi-hit games from the left side of the plate, including six three-hit contests and another with four to tie a career high, and he set another personal high-water mark with five RBIs in a 15-7 victory over the eventual regular-season champion, Harvard. His 52 hits and 29 runs scored were second-best on the team, and he ranked third in the Ivy League with a .400 batting average in conference play.

Hunter, a southpaw from St. Louis, Missouri, had the best ERA (3.98) of anyone that climbed the hill for Dartmouth throughout the season. All 20 of his appearances — leading the Ivy League — came out of the bullpen as he posted a 1-0 record with four saves while holding opponents to a paltry .165 batting average in 31.2 innings of work. His first collegiate victory came early in the season when he struck out a career-high six batters in just three innings, allowing only an unearned run on one hit. Hunter picked up his first save in the season opener at UTSA in a 4-3 victory, then he nailed down three more wins in conference play — two at Brown and another against the defending champions, Yale. Over his final four appearances, he threw 6.2 scoreless innings with just one hitter reaching base.

The Offensive Player of the Year award went to senior co-captain Matt Feinstein from Old Brookville, New York. A four-year starter in the outfield for the Big Green, Feinstein hit .321 on the season while leading the team in hits (54), runs (32) and total bases (88) while swatting 10 doubles, three triples and six home runs for a slugging percentage of .524. He posted a team-high 18 multi-hit games while hitting safely in 34 of the 41 contests, only once failing to collect a hit in consecutive games. With runners in scoring position, Feinstein hit a robust .390 and drove in a career-high five runs in a 23-1 shellacking of Columbia. He finished his career with a .306 average and 11th all-time at Dartmouth with 176 hits.

Freshman Justin Murray from Cardiff, California, was chosen as the team's Rookie of the Year. The two-way player spent most of his time on the mound, earning a spot in the weekend rotation while posting a 2-5 record to with a 5.93 ERA over 54.2 innings. Murray appeared in 10 games as a pitcher, nine as the starter, and led the team with 32 strikeouts while walking just 11 batters, or 1.81 per nine innings, the second-lowest rate in the Ivy League. Both of his victories came on the road, first in a six-inning stint at Columbia in which he surrendered just one run to earn Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors, then at Brown two weeks later with seven innings of two-run ball on four hits.

The Most Improved Player award went to sophomore Ubaldo Lopez from Miramar, Florida. Following a rough rookie campaign, Lopez began the year with just two hits in his first 15 at-bats, leaving him with a career .100 average through 50 at-bats. But he found his stroke late in the spring trip against Bradley when he belted two home runs and drove in all six runs — the last four on a ninth-inning grand slam — to defeat the Braves, 6-2. He eventually was named a National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball after leading Dartmouth to two more wins against Princeton, hitting .409 for the week with five doubles, two long balls and 11 RBIs. Lopez ended the season hitting .254 and led the team with 12 doubles, seven home runs and a .525 slugging percentage while driving in 28 runs and reaching base at a .384 clip thanks to 20 walks.

Senior Sean Sullivan was chosen as Dartmouth's Teammate of the Year. The second baseman from Hopedale, Massachusetts, demonstrated to his teammates what hard work and determination can do for a player throughout his career. He had just 20 plate appearances over his first two seasons, but worked his way into a starting role as a junior and led the Ivy League in on-base percentage (.456) and ranked second in batting (.340) that year. He continued his solid play in his final campaign, hitting .301 with a team-high 22 walks while displaying excellent defensive skills at the keystone position (.987 fielding percentage). His fiery style of play and personality energized his teammates, even when he was sidelined for the last six games of the year due to an injury.

Finally, senior right-hander Cole O'Connor earned the James H. Cooke Award, which is bestowed upon the four-year letter winner who has done the most for Big Green baseball during his career. A two-time captain and member of the weekend rotation all four years of his career, O'Connor had the respect of his teammates and coaches alike as he tied the school record with 38 starts on the mound while posting a 13-12 record and 4.75 ERA over 225.1 innings, walking fewer than two batters per nine innings. He was also one of 30 players nationwide to be a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award, which recognizes notable achievements in four areas of excellence — community, classroom, character and competition.

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