Baseball Takes First Game at Harvard, Falls Short in Game Two

Saturday, April 30

Cambridge, Mass. / O'Donnell Field

11:30 AM

Dartmouth College

20-15, 11-5

Harvard

16-19, 7-8

Dartmouth

Harvard

Justin Murray doubled, homered and drove in four in the first game.

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Baseball Takes First Game at Harvard, Falls Short in Game Two

4/30/2022 5:50:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box (HTML)Game 1 Box Game 1 Highlights Game 2 Box (HTML)Game 2 Box

Justin Murray had a homer and four RBIs in the 8-6 win, but the bats were held to one run in the nightcap

By: Rick Bender

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Senior Justin Murray hit the decisive two-run homer in the ninth and finished game one with three hits and four RBIs to lead visiting Dartmouth to an 8-6 victory in the first of two games at Harvard on Saturday. But the Crimson (17-19, 8-8 Ivy) stymied the Big Green (20-16, 11-6 Ivy) in the nightcap to salvage the doubleheader split with a 6-1 win.

Senior Nathan Skinner (5-3) picked up the win in the opener by tossing six-plus strong innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

But it was Harvard that struck first on back-to-back doubles by Ben Rounds and Logan Bravo in the bottom of the first. Dartmouth responded in the top of the second when junior Kolton Freeman lined an RBI triple and junior James House sent a sacrifice fly to center for a 2-1 Big Green lead.

In the third, Murray drove home his first run of the game with a single to plate sophomore Tyler Cox, who had led off the frame with a double. Murray added to the lead in the fifth with an RBI double, then swiped third and scored when the throw got away, boosting the lead to 5-1.

Skinner, who had allowed just that first-inning run through the first six stanzas, started the seventh by allowing a single and a walk, and Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen summoned senior Cole Roland from the bullpen. The right-hander struck out the side, but not before giving up a one-out, RBI single to George Cooper.

It took one pitch for the Big Green to get that run back as senior Kade Kretzschmar launched his fifth home run of the season over the fence in left-center. But the Crimson hit two round-trippers in the bottom half, the first a solo shot by Bravo, his fourth hit of the game and six homer of the season, and the second a two-run blast off the bat of Peter Messervy, whittling the Dartmouth lead down to one at 6-5. Harvard threatened to tie the game, putting the tying run on third with two down, but Roland induced a grounder to third to deny the Crimson.

Murray came through again in the ninth by providing some insurance that turned out to be needed, crushing a pitch to straight-away center for a two-run homer, his fourth of the season.

Junior Jack Metzger took the mound for the Big Green in the ninth, and after a leadoff double and error put a runner on third with nobody out, he retired the next three batters to earn his sixth save with only an unearned run crossing the plate.

Chris Clark (2-2) took the loss for allowing five runs, four earned, on five hits and three walks while fanning five.

Harvard's starter in game two fared much better, however, as Sean Matson threw shutout ball into the seventh. His teammates managed to give him an early lead as well, plating a pair in the first frame on a Cooper triple, Bravo RBI single and Jake Berger double to drive in Bravo.

It was Bravo doing the damage again in the second, ripping a two-out, two-run two-bagger to double the Crimson lead to 4-0. Cooper singled home Zach Brown with one out in the fourth, and when Hunter Baldwin doubled him to third, that ended the afternoon for senior southpaw Trystan Sarcone. Reliever Tyler Cortland gave up a sacrifice fly to make it 6-0, but the Big Green bullpen shut down Harvard the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, Matson was touched for just two hits in the first six innings, though Dartmouth nearly scored in the third. Junior Peter O'Toole drew a walk before sophomore Nathan Cmeyla lined a shot into the gap that went to the fence in right-center. But the Crimson right fielder hit the cutoff man who threw a perfect relay to the plate to just nab O'Toole.

Murray led off the seventh with a single and Bertsch doubled him to third with two down, which led to Harvard calling upon left-hander Tim Williamson to the mound, and he kept the Big Green off the board by getting a grounder to short.

Dartmouth's lone run came in the eighth on a Cmeyla single, throwing error on a double-play ball, a Cox single and a fielder's choice off the bat of freshman Elliot Krewson. In the ninth, the Big Green went down in order as the Crimson claimed the 6-1 win.

Matson (3-3) struck out seven and allowed just four hits and one walk in his 6.2 innings to earn the win. Sarcone (5-3), the Ivy League leader in ERA in conference games entering the game, took the loss for yielding six runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings.

Bravo had three more hits in the nightcap, driving in four, while Cooper was 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI.

Cmeyla had two of Dartmouth's five hits in the game.

The two teams will play the rubber match on Sunday at noon.

Notes: Dartmouth is now four games behind first-place Columbia with four games remaining after the Lions swept a doubleheader at Cornell … Penn split a doubleheader at Yale, leaving them 2.5 games ahead of the Green for second place.