Completed Event: Baseball versus Cornell on April 27, 2025 , Win , 7, to, 4
Final
Baseball
vs Cornell
7
4
Mark Johnson ’90
This Day in Dartmouth History: May 9
5/9/2020 2:00:00 PM | Baseball, Athletics
May 9, 1987 — Baseball sweeps a doubleheader from Harvard to win the Ivy League
Dartmouth entered the final day of the 1987 baseball season trailing Harvard by a game in the standings with a 12-2 record in Ivy League play. And even though Navy, which had handed the Big Green their lone two conference losses, had already finished its season with a 13-3 mark, the Midshipmen could not win the title. Just one Harvard victory would give the Crimson the crown, but a Dartmouth sweep would bring the trophy back to Hanover for the first time since the College World Series season of 1970.
Head coach Mike Walsh had his two star left-handers, junior Mike Remlinger '88 and freshman Mark Johnson '90 (father of Trevor Johnson '20), rested and ready to go at Red Rolfe Field. Remlinger was practically unhittable in the opener, allowing only three hits in the seven-inning affair. It seems that the Harvard hitters weren't exactly keen on digging in against the flame-throwing southpaw as his control was less than ideal, walking nine but striking out 10 as well.
The Big Green took a quick 3-0 lead in the first, but the Crimson tallied two runs in the third. Solitary runs in the fourth and fifth — one of which came on a solo blast off the bat of junior Chris Bunker '88 — boosted the lead back to three, but Harvard rallied to tie the game in the sixth thanks to a key, pinch-hit triple, the second Crimson three-bagger of the game. But in the bottom of the seventh, Dartmouth advanced a runner to third with just one out and junior Rob Combi '88 got the run home for the walk-off win, tying the Big Green atop the standings with Harvard.
In game two, Johnson threw a similar game to Remlinger's, only slightly more hittable giving up five knocks (all singles) while showing slightly better control, issuing "only" seven free passes while fanning nine. But through the first six stanzas, he kept the Crimson off the scoreboard. Meanwhile, the Dartmouth offense had struck early once again, plating two unearned runs in the first as Johnson helped his own cause by stroking an RBI single. In the bottom of the sixth, sophomore catcher Jim Horvath came up big with a single that scored Bunker, who had roped a two-out triple, to boost the lead to 3-0.
The run proved to be crucial as Harvard cleanup hitter Jim DePalo, who had walked each of his first three times up, got hold of a Johnson offering for a two-out, two-run homer, slicing the lead down to one. The future major league first baseman was unfazed on the mound, however, striking out the Crimson shortstop for the third time to clinch the 3-2 victory and the league championship.
May 9, 2010 — Baseball wins rubber game of the Ivy League Championship Series at Columbia
Dartmouth returned to the Ivy League Championship for the third consecutive year in 2010 with an opportunity not only to defend its title, but also to avenge its loss in 2008 when Columbia took two of three in Hanover. Now the Big Green was hoping to return the favor by defeating the Lions in New York at their home field that includes a tall center field fence just 350 feet away. With the unique dimensions and the wind that regular whips off the nearby Hudson River, wild games are the norm.
The opener was one Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen would rather forget as Columbia tagged the Big Green with a 13-2 defeat, though both runs came on solo homers. The second game turned into one of those wild affairs as Dartmouth jumped out to a 4-0 lead only to have Columbia knot the score in the fourth and take a 9-5 lead in the fifth. But the Green battled back with three in their half and three more in the sixth to go back on top, 11-9. After the Lions scraped out a run in the eighth, senior Jim Wren '10 lofted a grand slam over that short porch in center to secure a 15-10 triumph, forcing a decisive game three.
Neither of Dartmouth's first two starters had fared well on the mound, but Whalen pinned the team's title hopes on freshman left-hander Kyle Hunter '13. Wren gave Dartmouth a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first with a sacrifice fly, but Columbia touched Hunter for a run in the third and two more in the fourth, the second scoring on a double steal. But junior Sam Bean '11 and Wren rapped RBI singles in the fifth, and a wild pitch allowed the go-ahead run to score for a 4-3 advantage.
Sophomore shortstop Joe Sclafani '12 roped a run-scoring double in the sixth only to have the Lions get that run right back, ending Hunter's afternoon. Sophomore right-hander Cole Sulser, who was 7-0 on the season and got the win in game two by hurling three innings of one-run relief, was summoned once again to subdue the potent Columbia lineup. After recording the third out on strikes, he put zeroes on the board in the seventh and eighth while the Big Green bats went to work against the Lions' bullpen.
Dartmouth loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh before freshman Zack Bellenger '13 brought home one run with a single, another came home on a passed ball and two more sprinted across the plate on a single off the bat of senior Brett Gardner '10 for a 9-4 lead. Gardner and Sclafani added RBI singles in the ninth, making the one run Columbia scored in the bottom half moot in the title-clinching, 11-5 victory. Every starter had at least one hit with Gardner going 3-for-6 with three RBIs and Sclafani also banging out three safeties while driving in two. Sulser, who made his major league debut last year with the Tampa Bay Rays, picked up his fourth save as Hunter picked up the win after getting no-decisions in all five of his regular-season Ivy League starts (each of which Dartmouth won).
Players Mentioned
OF
/ BaseballHead Coach Bob Whalen postgame vs. Brown, April 14, 2024
Sunday, April 14
Highlights: Dartmouth Plays of the Week, May 8, 2023
Monday, May 08
Highlights: Baseball vs. Cornell, May 7, 2023
Sunday, May 07
Highlights: Baseball vs. Cornell (game 2), May 6, 2023
Sunday, May 07
