Doubleheader Sweep Clinches Series with Princeton

Saturday, April 16

Hanover, N.H.

11:00 AM

Dartmouth College

14-13, 6-4

Princeton

4-22, 2-8

Princeton

Dartmouth

Trystan Sarcone struck out seven in six innings of work in the nightcap.

Photo by: Doug Austin

Doubleheader Sweep Clinches Series with Princeton

4/16/2022 5:22:00 PM | Baseball

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Strong starting pitching, three RBIs from Cox in game one and four from Bertsch secured the two wins

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Strong starting pitching and big games from sophomore Tyler Cox and junior Connor Bertsch at the plate led the Dartmouth baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Princeton on Saturday at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park by finals of 6-2 and 11-6. The Big Green moved above .500 for the first time this season, improving to 15-13 overall and 7-4 in the Ivy League, while the Tigers dropped to 4-23 and 2-9 in conference play.

Senior Nathan Skinner (4-2) overcame a shaky first inning to pitch 6.2 stanzas in the opener, allowing just two runs on six hits and two walks while fanning four in picking up the victory. Junior Jack Metzger took over with two on and two out in the seventh, retiring all seven batters he faced on 16 pitches to earn his fourth save.

Not to be outdone, senior southpaw Trystan Sarcone (4-2) surrendered a solitary run over six innings in game two, scattering seven hits and a walk to go with seven strikeouts. Princeton made an effort to get back into the game in the eighth with five runs against the Big Green bullpen, shrinking the lead down to four runs, but Metzger was there to close the door once again, recording the final five outs without giving up a run.

The Tigers began the day with a run in the first against Skinner as Brendan Cumming — who had six hits in the two games — led off with a single, advanced to third on a double by Nadir Lewis and crossed the plate on an RBI grounder off the bat of Matt Scannell.

But the Big Green answered right back against Princeton ace Jackson Emus (1-4), thanks to some a pair of errors and an RBI single by senior Justin Murray, knotting the game at one.

Cox delivered a two-out, two-run single in the second to put Dartmouth on top for good, and the score remained 3-1 until the sixth. Senior Kade Kretzschmar sliced a double into the left-field corner and junior Kolton Freeman bunted for a hit to put runners on the corners with nobody out. A Bertsch sacrifice fly brought home one run, a wild pitch another, and the final Big Green scored on three consecutive singles by sophomore Nathan Cmeyla, senior Bryce Daniel and Cox, ending Emus' day.

Cumming singled home Carlos Abello, who led off the seventh with a double, but Metzger made sure Princeton got nothing more by inducing a grounder to third to end the inning. He retired the side in order in the eighth on three groundouts, then again in the ninth on fly balls to secure the victory.

Cox was the star at the plate, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs, while Murray and Cmeyla both had a pair of knocks.

Dartmouth quickly took control of the nightcap by plating five runs in the first, again with some help from the Tigers' defense. Cox hustled for a double, freshman Elliot Krewson singled him to third and Murray brought home the first run with a double play grounder, but the first baseman dropped the ball, allowing Murray to reach. Another error put and a single loaded the bases for Bertsch, who pulled a ball just inside the third-base bag for a bases-clearing double. Cmeyla followed with a triple just out of the reach of the diving right fielder, and the Big Green had a 5-0 lead.

After Princeton touched Sarcone for a run in the third on a Scannell two-out single, the Dartmouth bats went right back to work. Kretzschmar singled, stole second and scored on a laser of a double off the bat of Freeman. Junior James House singled Freeman to third and Bertsch collected his fourth RBI with an infield hit. Another single loaded the bases before sophomore Tyler Robinson produced the sixth consecutive hit with an RBI single, knocking Tom Chmielewski from the mound. Jason Ramirez replaced him and got three outs in just two pitches on a double play that scored another run and a grounder to third, but the Green now owned a 9-1 advantage.

The score remained that way until the seventh as a steady rain began to fall, and House greeted reliever Max Zdimal in the bottom half by launching a massive solo shot to right, his third home run of the year.

The Dartmouth bullpen had some control troubles in the rain, hitting one batter and walking three others — one with the bases loaded — before Cumming ripped his fourth hit of the game just out of the reach of Bertsch at third for a two-run double. Lewis added a sacrifice fly and Scannell an RBI single (his third hit of the game) to close the gap to 10-6, but Metzger finally ended the rally with a popup to short.

Freeman provided drove in one last run with a single to score junior Peter O'Toole, who had singled and stolen second with two down, and Metzger only issued a two-out, 12-pitch walk in the ninth before fanning the final batter to end the game.

While Freeman led the 15-hit attack by going 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs, Bertsch drove in four with a single and a double.

The two teams will conclude their series on Sunday at noon in a game televised regionally on NESN+ and streamed live on ESPN+ with Wayne Young '72 and Brett Franklin calling the action.

Notes: Dartmouth scored five runs in the first inning for the second time in four games after not accomplishing the feat in 10 years … Cox raised his league-leading average to .431 to go with 50 hits, which also leads the Ancient Eight … he is also batting .520 (26-of-50) in Ivy play … the Big Green have won eight of their last nine against Princeton and 12 of their last 17 games this season.