Cornell in Town for Final Games of the Season

Saturday, May 4

Hanover, N.H.

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

Cornell

Senior Matt Feinstein admires a home run

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Cornell in Town for Final Games of the Season

5/3/2019 3:48:00 PM | Baseball

May 4, 2019 Game 2 ESPN+ Broadcast Game 1 ESPN+ Broadcast May 5, 2019 Game 3 ESPN+ Broadcast NESNplus (Sunday)Live Stats Twitter Updates Dartmouth Notes Cornell Notes

Dartmouth looking to end the season on a high note

By: Rick Bender

DARTMOUTH (14-24, 7-11)
vs. CORNELL (12-22, 6-12)
Saturday, May 1 (DH) 11:30 a.m. | Sunday, May 2 12:00 p.m. | ESPN+ | NESNplus (Sunday)
Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park | Hanover, N.H.

For the first time in a dozen years, Dartmouth will play its final series with no postseason implications on the line. But a series victory over visiting Cornell would at least keep the Big Green out of the cellar. With a sweep, Dartmouth could even finish as high as fourth in the standings, and even two out of three could push the Green that high.

Overall Record vs. Cornell
• Dartmouth has squared off against the Big Red 183 times, owning a 98-84-1 record.
• The Big Green have won 26 of the past 39 meetings dating back to the 2002 season, which includes both showdowns in the Ivy League Championship Series in 2009 and 2012. Both went three games with Dartmouth winning in 2009 and the Big Red emerging victorious in 2012 on an extra-inning, walk-off home run.
• Cornell is 4-9 at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park and 21-26 in Hanover since 1970.
• Although the Big Red have split the last three series in Hanover, they have lost 21 of the last 28.
• Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen has a 39-26 mark in games against Cornell.
• The first games in the series took place on April 10-11, 1906, with Cornell winning both games.

Scouting the Big Red
• Cornell is riding a three-game winning streak entering today, its longest of the season.
• The Big Red lost two of three in four of their six Ivy League series so far, got swept by Brown and took two of three from Princeton last weekend.
• The offense has struggled all year with a line of .221/.303/.309 while averaging 3.2 runs per game. In league play, the numbers are a little better with an average of 3.7 runs per game.
• Adam Saks is the lone .300 hitter in the lineup (.337), but missed a third of the season.
• Will Simoneit is the Big Red's top power hitter with 5 of the team's 11 homers, including a walk-off three-run shot on Sunday against the Tigers.
• The pitching staff, on the other hand, has been one of the best in the Ivy League with a 4.47 ERA and a .270 batting average against.
• We'll talk about the starters in the projected rotation, but the bullpen has been terrific, anchored by John Natoli (5-1, 1.72, 5 saves).
• The Cornell defense is right in the middle of the pack with .966 fielding percentage (42 errors) while allowing 35 unearned runs and throwing out 12 of 55 base stealers (21.8 percent).

Last Time Against Cornell
In the three-game series last year in Ithaca, Dartmouth bookended the weekend with victories, while the Big Red won the second game. Cole O'Connor threw seven innings of two-run ball in the opener to pick up the win with Austen Michel shutting down the Cornell bats for the final two frames for the save. Two runs in the third and another in the sixth were all the Big Green needed as Steffen Torgersen had two of the team's eight hits with a run and an RBI, and Dustin Shirley scored twice.

Clay Chatham struck out eight in six stanzas of game two, but Cornell broke open a scoreless duel with four runs in the fourth with Will Simoneit providing the big blow in the form of a two-run double en route to an 8-3 triumph. Blake Crossing had two hits and Kyle Holbrook homered in the losing cause.

In the finale, Dartmouth jumped on Big Red starter Jeb Bemiss for four runs in the top of the first, starting with back-to-back doubles by Sean Sullivan and Matt Feinstein. Jack Fossand was the benefactor of the early offense as he matched O'Connor with seven innings of two-run ball. Again Michel got the final six outs without allowing a run for his second save of the series.

Probable Starting Pitchers
Both teams will start three right-handers in the series, starting with Dartmouth staff ace Cole O'Connor (4-3, 6.18) against the Big Red's Colby Wyatt (2-6, 3.65). O'Connor has been solid in his last four starts with a 3.45 ERA over 28.2 innings, going 2-0 with two no-decisions. Wyatt, on the other hand, has been trending in the opposite direction, not escaping the fifth in three of his last four league starts while posting an 8.53 ERA.

The second game of the doubleheader will feature freshman Justin Murray (2-4, 6.46) for Dartmouth going up against Jonathan Zacharias (0-3, 3.27). Murray has displayed excellent control of late, walking just four batters in his last 30 innings, but he has allowed 13 earned runs in his last two starts spanning 10.2 innings. Zacharias, meanwhile, has not thrown more than 4.1 innings in any of his six starts, though he suffered two of his three losses when he allowed just one run.

For Dartmouth's final game of the season, freshman Nathan Skinner (2-6, 6.65) — a two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week — will make his fifth start in conference play. Three of his first four lasted exactly 4.2 innings, while his best came against Harvard two weeks ago in which he yielded one earned run over six stanzas with six strikeouts. Bemiss was stellar three weeks ago against Harvard, tossing one-hit ball with eight strikeouts over 7.2 innings to earn a 2-0 win, then went the distance in a 4-2 loss against Princeton before giving up five earned runs against Penn last week.

What's Up Next
While Cornell will play its final game against St. Bonaventure on Tuesday, this is it for the 2019 Big Green.

Countdown to 600 Wins
Head coach Bob Whalen needs just one more win 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 630, Kathy Delaney-Smith in women's basketball with 602), while former Cornell softball coach Dick Blood is third on the list with 623.

Loss to Whalen's Alma Mater
In his third attempt at winning his 600th career game, Bob Whalen saw his Big Green squad come up a run short to Maine (his alma mater) in an 8-7 defeat on May 1. Dartmouth fell behind by six runs twice before rallying within a run thanks to a four-run eighth. But the Big Green left the tying run at third in both the eighth and ninth as the Black Bears defeated Dartmouth for the first time in 24 years. Granted, the two teams had only played once between the two Maine victories, but who's counting?

Third Series Loss at Home
After defeating Yale in the first game of the series on April 27, 7-5, Dartmouth dropped two the following day with the last showdown a 4-0 loss. And with the 8-7 defeat against Maine on Wednesday, the Big Green are now 2-9 at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park with three straight series defeats. Dartmouth will finish with its first losing record at home since the 2007 squad went 1-4, two years before FieldTurf and the stadium seating was added to the facility.

12-Game Streak Halted
Senior third baseman Steffen Torgersen had his 12-game hitting streak come to an end against Maine as he batted leadoff for the first time this season, going 0-for-4. But he did draw a walk, extending his streak of reaching base to 13 games and 25 of his last 26 contests. During the 12-game hit streak, Torgersen hit .489 (22-for-45) with two doubles, a triple, home run, eight runs and seven RBIs. For the season, he leads the team in both batting (.345) and on-base percentage (.445), and in league play those figures are .411 and .482, both of which are among the top four in the league.

Bullpen Getting the Job Done
Through the first 33 games this season, the Dartmouth bullpen had posted an ERA of 9.15. But it seems that the young arms that have comprised most of those innings have adjusted to the college game, allowing just two earned runs over the last five contests spanning 18.2 innings for an ERA of 0.96. Freshman Trystan Sarcone had 5.1 of those innings to lead the way, while classmate Chase Jeter threw five more and sophomore Jonah Jenkins tossed 3.2 shutout innings. Of the 142.2 innings of relief thrown this year, 98.0 have been thrown by freshman and sophomores.

Best Time to Score? Ninth Inning!
Of all the innings played this season, Dartmouth has scored more runs in the ninth than any other with 38 runs. The team batting average in that inning is .290 with an OPS of .989 (144 points higher than the next best inning) thanks to 29 walks, 10 doubles and eight homers — twice as many bombs as any other frame. Ubaldo Lopez has particularly enjoyed hitting in the ninth, going 6-for-11 with two doubles, three homers and 10 RBIs for a slugging percentage of 1.545. One of those long balls was a game-winning grand slam against Bradley, and one of his two-baggers cleared the bases to beat Princeton, 10-8.

Lopez Odd (Inning) Duck
Perhaps Ubaldo Lopez doesn't just like hitting in the ninth inning, but odd innings in general. The sophomore boasts a .365 average in odd innings this season, but in even innings, that drops down to .125. Anybody want to venture a theory as to why this is?

O'Connor Moving Up Career Lists
Senior Cole O'Connor pitched eight innings against Yale to pick up the 7-5 win, the 13th of his career. That total puts him in the top 20 at Dartmouth, but having been in the starting rotation each of his four years, he ranks quite a bit higher in innings (216.1, 10th) and games started (37, 3rd). With his start against Cornell this weekend, he will tie the program record of 38 starts set by Jim Croteau '82 and matched by Robert Young '10.

Feinstein Etching His Name, Too
Senior Matt Feinstein moved into Dartmouth's career top 20 in hits during the first game against Harvard and is currently 13th with 171 knocks to his credit. To reach the top 10 he would have to collect six more, or two per game. He also homered against Yale in the first game, giving him six on the season (tied for the team lead), the most for a Big Green player since Jeff Keller '14 hit six in 2013.