This Day in Dartmouth History: April 28
4/28/2020 2:00:00 PM | Baseball, Softball, Women's Tennis, Athletics, Men's Lightweight Rowing
Dartmouth left no doubt as to who the North Division champion was as it defeated Harvard, 8-2 and 9-2, on the final day of the regular season in Cambridge to claim its second consecutive division title. The Crimson entered the final series with an undefeated 14-0-1 record but lost their final three games of the season to the Big Green.
Junior Kristen Rumley '15 and sophomore Morgan McCalmon '16 started the two games on the mound and relieved each other in both contests as well. Rumley struck out five batters over 8.1 innings on the day, while McCalmon fanned six in 5.2 innings.
In game one, the Big Green scored three runs in the first inning and never looked back, helping Rumley win her 16th game of the season. Freshman Karen Chaw '17 doubled home a run in the fourth, rookie Chloe Madill '17 blasted a solo shot in the fifth and McCalmon crushed a home run in the sixth before two more crossed the plate in the seventh.
Sophomore Katie McEachern '16 got things started in game two with a two-run double in the first and freshman Maddie Damore '17 extended the lead to 3-0 with a solo shot in the second. McCalmon, who won her 10th game of the year, helped her own cause by doubling in two more runs in the fifth before Dartmouth put the game away with a four-run sixth to advance to the Ivy League Championship Series.
The Dartmouth lightweight rowing team made the trek to Ithaca back in 2007 to go head-to-head with the unbeaten No. 1 Cornell Varsity Eight for the Baggaley Bowl. The Big Red were the defending champion of both the Eastern Sprints and IRA Nationals.
To the surprise of most of the spectators, the Big Green Varsity Eight — featuring future two-time Olympian Anthony Fahden '08 — came back to shock Cornell and hand the host its first defeat of the year. The boats started even off the line before Cornell pushed out to a two-seat lead at the 500-meter mark. Dartmouth evened things up at the 800 mark and slowly increased its lead up to a full eight seats with 500 meters left and held for the rest of the race.
The Big Green finished the race with a time of 5:55.3, edging out Cornell by 1.8 seconds. The victory was a harbinger for things to come for the lightweights, but we'll save that for another day …
April 28, 2012 — Baseball sweeps a twinbill at Harvard to clinch Rolfe Division
The Big Green entered the final weekend of the Ivy League season enjoying a four-game lead over Harvard, meaning they needed just one win in the series with the Crimson to clinch their fifth consecutive Rolfe Division title. It did not take long for Dartmouth to take care of business, defeating Harvard in Cambridge in the first game of a doubleheader, 11-3, then celebrated by taking the second game by a final of 12-3.
Crimson left-hander Brent Suter — who has pitched the last four seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers — was roughed up for four runs in the second inning of the opener with senior David Turnbull '12 and freshman Thomas Roulis '15 contributing RBI singles. The score remained 4-0 through five innings as Big Green sophomore southpaw Mitch Horacek '14 scattered five hits.
A couple of walks and an error loaded the bases with one out in the sixth and chased Suter from the mound. The Dartmouth bats then jumped all over the bullpen to plate seven runs in the stanza as Roulis stroked a two-run single and freshman Nick Lombardi '15 laced a three-run double, putting the game out of reach.
In the nightcap, the Green once again got started early, giving freshman lefty Adam Frank '12 a five-run cushion before he ever took the mound as junior Chris O'Dowd '13 and rookie Matt Robinson '15 stroked RBI singles. Sophomore Jeff Keller '14 and senior Jake Carlson '12 each drove in a run with a base hit in the next two frames, and Lombardi launched a grand slam in the fourth to make it an 11-0 romp.
Frank, meanwhile, cruised through the Crimson lineup, facing the minimum through six innings with the lone base runner reaching on a bunt single in the fourth before being erased on a double play. The rookie ended up hurling eight innings of three-run ball, allowing five hits and walking two while striking out four to improve his record to 4-1 on the season.
April 28, 2013 — Softball beats Harvard in first game to clinch North Division
Trailing by one in the seventh against two-time defending Ivy League champion Harvard, Dartmouth evened the score at four to force extras and scored the game-winning run in the eighth to win the North Division and clinch a spot in the Ivy League Championship Series.
It was a back-and-forth contest with some clutch pitching and timely hitting for Dartmouth. The Big Green took a 1-0 lead in the first with back-to-back two-out doubles by senior Hillary Hubert '13 and freshman Katie McEachern '16, but the Crimson scored twice in the second to jump ahead.
Each team brought across a run in the third and Dartmouth tied the score at three on a Hubert RBI single in the fourth. Harvard came right back with a solo home run in the fifth to take a 4-3 advantage into the seventh and final inning.
With a runner on third and two outs, sophomore Kristen Rumley '15 singled up the middle to drive in the tying run. After freshman Morgan McCalmon '16 started the bottom of the seventh by intentionally walking Harvard's leadoff hitter, she retired the next three batters in order to send it to extras.
McEachern led off the eighth by smacking the first pitch over the left-field fence for her third extra-base hit of the game and, putting the Big Green on top for good. McCalmon then struck out the side to close out the victory and send Dartmouth to the Ivy League Championship Series.
April 28, 2015 — Women's Tennis receives first-ever NCAA bid
The Dartmouth women's tennis team had quite the season in 2014-15, earning a national ranking in January and maintaining one for the rest of the season, sitting as high as No. 18. The BIg Green won their first 11 matches to post their best-ever start to a campaign, won their first ECAC title and finished second in the Ivy League.
Add earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament to that long list of achievements and you have successfully recapped the season.
Dartmouth was led by sophomore Taylor Ng '17 who was named the Ivy League Player of the Year while posting a stellar 22-1 record at No. 1 singles in dual matches. She also automatically qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship.
In a room in Floren Varsity House full of student-athletes, coaches and administrators, Dartmouth was announced as one of 64 teams who qualified for NCAAs, receiving an at-large bid for the first time in program history.
