Spring Trip Sends Baseball to Florida for Eight Games

Wednesday, March 16

Auburndale, Fla. / Lake Myrtle Park

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Fairfield

Connor Bertsch drives a pitch for extra bases at Gardner-Webb, March 5, 2022

Junior Connor Bertsch leads the team with three home runs.

Photo by: Willis Glassgow

Spring Trip Sends Baseball to Florida for Eight Games

3/15/2022 12:36:00 PM | Baseball

Dartmouth Notes

Play in the Russ-Matt Invitational begins against Fairfield on Wednesday

By: Rick Bender

DARTMOUTH (3-4) at RUSS-MATT INVITATIONAL
March 16-23, 2022 • Lake Myrtle Park • Auburndale, Fla.

Look Back at Most Recent Weekend
• Dartmouth last played four games at Gardner-Webb, splitting the series with the Bulldogs on March 4-6.
• The first game was a pitchers' duel through seven innings before Gardner-Webb broke it open with a six-run eighth to defeat the Big Green, 9-2.
• Justin Murray rebounded from a rough opening-day start to allow three runs on six hits over seven innings, striking out six.
• Dartmouth swept the doubleheader on March 5, winning a 1-0, seven-inning contest in the opener before the bats exploded in an 11-7 victory in the nightcap.
• Nathan Skinner registered his first career shutout in the 1-0 win, surrendering just four hits without a walk over the seven stanzas, striking out six.
• Tyler Cox had two of the three Big Green hits, but it was his sacrifice fly in the fifth that drove in Tyler Robinson with the lone run.
• Every starter had at least one hit in the slugfest, led by Cox with three knocks and four RBIs, while Bryce Daniel reached base five times (two hits, three walks), scoring four runs.
• A six-run first doomed Dartmouth in the series finale that ended in a 12-5 defeat.
• The Big Green did blast four home runs in the game — all of the solo variety — with two off the bat of Kolton Freeman.
• Connor Bertsch has a hot bat to start the year, hitting a cool .500 with three home runs.

Quick Scout of Opponents in Florida
• Fairfield enters the week with a 4-8 record a year after going 39-5 and being ranked 28th in the final Collegiate Baseball poll.
• The Stags' top hitter has been Matt Bergevin (.923 OPS, 11 RBIs) and the staff ace is Michael Sansone (2-1, 3.75 ERA, 26K in 24.0 IP).
• Central Connecticut State is 3-4 after getting swept at Kansas State last weekend, though it did take two of three at Navy to open the year.
• Dan Covino (1.241 OPS, 2 HRs) and Noah Martinez (.988 OPS, 3 HRs) are dangerous hitters in the middle of the order, while Anthoniy Mozzicato (1-1, 1.00 ERA) and Dominic Niman (1-0, 4.09 ERA) have been the Blue Devils' top two moundsmen.
• Bradley, which lost two of three at USF last weekend, is 4-8 on the year with a pair of wins over Western Michigan and another over Pitt.
• The Braves' team OPS is .831, led by Connor O'Brien (1.046 OPS, 5 2B, 2 HR, 12 RBIs) and Carson Husmann (.960 OPS, 4 2B, 2 HR, 11 RBIs), while the pitching staff has an ERA of 8.09 with 90 strikeouts and 75 walks in 95.2 innings of work.
• Williams has yet to play a game after having its season-opening doubleheader on March 13 postponed. The Ephs were 7-6 last year in an abbreviated schedule due to the pandemic.
• Bowdoin won a twinbill at Hamilton College to start the year, then dropped a doubleheader against Dickinson to start 2-2.
• The Polar Bears are hitting .231 as a team, led by Stephen Simoes (1.375 OPS), and the staff has a 4.94 ERA with two pitchers — Jack Mullen and Jason Bogdanos — accounting for all but 4.2 of the 31 innings thus far.
• Hope College is off to a 4-1 start and have seven games scheduled prior to playing the Big Green.
• The Flying Dutch have hit eight homers in five games while allowing just as many, but the staff has struck out 57 batters in just 38 innings (13.5 per nine) while walking 33 (7.8 per nine).

Probable Big Green Starting Pitchers
• Dartmouth will line up its rotation in anticipation of the start of Ivy League play on March 26-27, so the first two games in Florida will feature some younger pitchers on the mound, who are still to be determined.
• Once Friday rolls around, RHP Justin Murray (0-2, 9.90) will take the mound to face Bradley. The senior is looking to build off his solid start at Gardner-Webb in which he tossed seven innings and allowed three runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
• Facing Central Connecticut State on Saturday will be RHP Nate Skinner (1-0, 1.50), fresh off his seven-inning shutout at Gardner-Webb. He has not allowed a run in his last 11 innings, yielding just seven hits in that span with seven strikeouts.
• On Sunday, LHP Trystan Sarcone (1-1, 13.50) will get the ball for the second game against Bradley. He recovered from a rough first start to defeat Gardner-Webb, surrendering three earned runs over 5.1 frames, striking out four without a walk.
• The final three games in Florida will once again see younger arms getting their opportunity to display their talent and earn coveted roles out of the bullpen.

What's Up Next
The first Ivy League games (and home games) in three years are coming your way March 26-27 when the Big Green host Brown for a three-game series. Dartmouth has won or split every series with the Bears every year starting in 2008, posting a record of 35-11 in that span.

Launching Long Balls
The Dartmouth bats started to emerge in the final two games at Gardner-Webb, scoring a combined 16 runs with 12 extra-base hits, including five home runs. Four of those four-baggers came in the final game, two courtesy of Kolton Freeman, the first multi-homer game of his career and first for any Big Green player since Logan Adams cranked two against Princeton on March 23, 2019.

Aluminum Ash Maple Bertsch Bat
No Dartmouth hitter has been hotter than Connor Bertsch. The junior third baseman has a superb slash line of .500/.550/1.056 in 18 at-bats to start the year with a team-leading three home runs and 19 total bases despite not playing in two of the first seven games. He was 2-for-5 with a double, homer and three RBIs in the 11-7 victory, then was a perfect 3-for-3 with another big fly in the series finale.

Catalysts at Top of the Order
In the 11-7 win at Gardner-Webb, Bryce Daniel led off for the first time this year and played the role to perfection, reaching base five times with a single, double and three walks, plus technically reached base his other trip to the plate thanks to an error. The junior also stole two bases and scored four times, the most by a Big Green player since Sean Sullivan scored four times in the epic 21-inning game against Penn in 2019.

But Daniel wasn't the only driving force at the top of the order as Tyler Cox was 3-for-6 with four RBIs — the most for a Dartmouth hitter this year — out of the two-hole. Cox was 7-for-11 in the final three games against the Bulldogs with three walks for a .667 OBP.

All in a Save's Work
Dartmouth was enjoying a five-run lead in the ninth inning of the third game at Gardner-Webb, but trouble came along and Cole Roland was summoned from the pen to record the final out with the tying run on deck. He added some drame as only he can do by walking the first batter he faced, then struck out the next hitter to slam the door on the 11-7 win for his first career save. It was the first save of one out by a Dartmouth pitcher since Marc Bachman stranded the tying run at second in a 10-9 at The Citadel on March 19, 2017.

More Than One Way to Skinner a Lineup
With a staff ERA close to 12.00 after the first four games of the season, Dartmouth was in need of a fine pitching performance, and Nathan Skinner did not disappoint. The senior right-hander twirled a four-hit shutout in the seven-inning contest at Gardner-Webb, allowing the Big Green to come away with a 1-0 victory. It was the first shutout for Dartmouth since April 30, 2017 when Beau Sulser tossed a two-hitter at Harvard. Since surrendering a two-run homer in the first inning of his first start, Skinner has thrown 11 consecutive scoreless innings.

Tylers Without Tippecanoe
History buffs get this reference. All of the offense in the 1-0 win in the series at Gardner-Webb came courtesy of a pair of Tylers in the lineup — Tyler Cox and Tyler Robinson. The duo collected all three hits for the Big Green in the game, and Robinson scored the only run when Cox lofted a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning of Dartmouth's only scheduled seven-inning game this season.