April 30, 2011 — Baseball extends home winning streak to 24 while clinching Rolfe Division crown
The Class of 2011 already had three Rolfe Division titles to its credit, and on this day nine years ago, those seniors were ready to make it a clean sweep with the magic number for clinching the division at three. Yale did its part in dropping the first game of a doubleheader to Brown while Dartmouth stymied Harvard in both ends of the doubleheader, 4-1 and 6-0, to claim the crown with one day still remaining in the regular season. Joe Sclafani '12
Sophomore southpaw Kyle Hunter '13 climbed the hill for the first game at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park and generally made quick work of the Crimson lineup, facing just one batter over the minimum in the first five frames. The offense, meanwhile, pushed a run across in the third on a single, walk, balk and grounder to third that plated junior David Turnbull '12. After junior Joe Sclafani broke a Big Green record that had stood since 1938 with his eighth triple of the season in the fifth, senior Sam Bean '11 followed by belting a two-out, two-run homer — the first and only four-bagger of his career — for a 3-0 lead.
Hunter ran into a bit of trouble in the sixth as Harvard scored a run and had runners on the corners with two gone, but the lefty induced a foul pop to senior second sacker Jeff Onstott '11 to preserve the 3-1 lead. Onstott got that run back in the bottom half with a solo blast, and Hunter got the final three outs in the seven-inning contest for the complete-game, 4-1 victory.
The nightcap proved to be the clincher with another left-hander on the mound for Dartmouth in freshman Mitch Horacek '14, and he was even more effective than Hunter in game one. The rookie handcuffed the Crimson for six innings, shutting them out on three hits and a walk. But the Harvard hurler, Max Perlman, matched those goose eggs leaving the game a scoreless tie entering the seventh. Horacek departed after giving up a one-out single, but rookie reliever Mike Dodakian '14 got a fly out and sophomore catcher Chris O'Dowd '13 gunned down the runner trying to steal to end the inning.
The Big Green bats finally got going in their half of the seventh, loading the bases with one out before freshman Jeff Keller '14 rapped out a two-run single that brought home the third run thanks to a throwing error on the play. In the eighth, senior Jason Brooks '11 delivered an RBI single and sophomore Ennis Coble '13 drove in two more with a single of his own for a 6-0 advantage. Senior Ryan Smith, Dartmouth's all-time saves leader with 28, had runners on second and third with one out before getting a liner to left that Bean speared and doubled the runner off second to end the game.
The two victories not only clinched the division but also extended the Big Green's home winning streak to 24 games, the longest in the country. They would add on to that total the following year to 28 before it was snapped. Dartmouth finished the 2011 campaign with a program-record 30 wins that stood for exactly two years.
