Clutch Hitting, Solid Pitching Lift Baseball to 6-4 Victory Over Louisville

Saturday, February 26

Louisville, Ky. / Jim Patterson Stadium

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

1-1

Louisville

3-3

Dartmouth

Louisville

Tyler Cox led the Big Green with three of the team’s 11 hits.

Photo by: Connor Cunningham

Clutch Hitting, Solid Pitching Lift Baseball to 6-4 Victory Over Louisville

2/26/2022 5:00:00 PM | Baseball

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Kade Kretzschmar hit a go-ahead, two-run triple in the seventh and Cole Roland earned the victory with four innings of relief.

By: Rick Bender

LOIUSVILLE, Ky. — Dartmouth put together a three-run rally in the top of the seventh, capped by senior Kade Kretzschmar's two-run triple, to take a lead it would not relinquish as the Big Green baseball team (1-1) knocked off Louisville (3-3), 6-4, on Saturday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium. Sophomore Tyler Cox had three of Dartmouth's 11 hits to lead the offense while Kretzschmar and junior Kolton Freeman drove in two runs apiece.

Senior Cole Roland (1-0), who was pitching in his first collegiate game due to injuries and the pandemic, earned the win on the mound with four innings of two-run relief, including inducing the tying run to fly out to right to end the game. The right-hander surrendered two runs on just one hit with two walks while striking out three.

Dartmouth jumped out in front in the top of the first after freshman Elliot Krewson led off the game with a double and took third on Cox's infield hit. Freeman brought home Krewson with a fielder's choice to second, giving the Green their first lead of the season.

That lead was short-lived as Cameron Masterson deposited a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left for a two-run homer in the bottom half off senior Nathan Skinner. But the right-hander settled down and twirled four scoreless frames after that one mistake.

Cardinal starter Jared Poland walked the lead-off batter in the second and gave up a double and a walk to start the third, but he was able to work his way out of trouble each time. So did Skinner in the bottom of the third after Louisville loaded the bases with two outs, but he got a fly to right to keep Dartmouth within a run.

When senior Justin Murray doubled to lead off the fourth, Poland looked like he would once again wiggle his way out of it, only to have an error with two outs allow Murray to score from third, tying the score at two.

Dartmouth had an opportunity to take the lead in the sixth, but Murray was stranded at second after stroking his second double of the day with one down.

The Cardinals greeted Roland rudely in their half with a leadoff single and a stolen base, immediately putting the reliever in trouble. Some wildness in the form of a walk, passed ball and wild pitch contributed to two runs scoring, the second on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Logan Beard, for a 4-2 Louisville lead.

The response came immediately against Ryan Hawks, who had taken the mound to start the sixth. Rookie Zackarie Casebonne stroked his first collegiate hit with a single to right-center, took second on a one-out single by Krewson and both runners moved up on a balk. Cox laced a 1-2 pitch into left for an RBI single, and after a strikeout, Kretzschmar got the big hit, lofting a triple to left to drive in Krewson and Cox for a 5-4 lead.

Roland, meanwhile, found his groove, retiring the side in order in the seventh and eighth. In the top of the ninth, the Big Green bats supplied an insurance run after two were out as Cox poked a single to right and came all the way around to score on a booming Freeman double to left-center.

The first two batters were put down by Roland, extending his streak to 10 consecutive outs, before he just missed the corner on a full-count pitch. A pinch runner stole second, but the leadoff hitter, Christian Knapczyk, was retired on a lazy fly to right to end the game.

Krewson had a pair of hits and scored twice while Murray rapped two doubles and walked once to bolster the offense.

The two Dartmouth hurlers held Louisville to only five hits one day after the Cardinals scored in every inning and banged out 15 safeties. Beard had two of those five hits while Masterson's home run was his third of the year.

The two teams will play the rubber match of the series on Sunday with first pitch slated for noon featuring a pair of left-handers: Trystan Sarcone for Dartmouth and Riley Phillips for Louisville.

Notes: This was Dartmouth's first win in since an 8-1 victory over Omaha on Feb. 23, 2020, just over two years ago due to the cancellation of the 2021 season … the Big Green hit five doubles in the game, their most since clubbing nine against Columbia on March 30, 2019 in a 23-1 victory.