Mid-Week Battle with the Crusaders on Tuesday

Tuesday, April 25

Worcester, Mass. / Fitton Field

5:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Holy Cross

Baseball huddle during Yale Dartmouth baseball game

Photo by: Doug Austin

Mid-Week Battle with the Crusaders on Tuesday

4/25/2023 11:15:00 AM | Baseball

ESPN+Live Stats Series History Dartmouth Notes

Dartmouth looking to avenge a loss to Holy Cross last month

By: Rick Bender

DARTMOUTH (1-31) at HOLY CROSS (12-30)
April 25, 2023 • Fitton Field • Worcester, Mass.

Rematch with Holy Cross
Dartmouth has an opportunity to exact some revenge on Tuesday when it plays at Holy Cross. Back in early March, the Crusaders handed the Big Green a 17-4 defeat down in North Carolina at the USA Baseball Complex. This will be the first time in 44 years the teams will square off more than once in a season, and the first time in 55 years they will meet on different dates in the same campaign.

Overall Record vs. Holy Cross
• The Crusaders have fared quite well against Dartmouth, winning 95 of the first 151 meetings, one of which ended in a tie back in 1912.
• From 2008-16, the Big Green won seven straight contests against Holy Cross (three by one run), but the Crusaders have turned the tables of late, taking the last four meetings.
• Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen has a 15-10 record in games against Holy Cross but 0-2 against current Crusader head coach Ed Kahovec.
• Holy Cross has played at Fitton Field since 1905, and in the last 100 years, Dartmouth has a record of 18-39 at the facility against its host.

Last Month Against the Crusaders
• Dartmouth and Holy Cross met on Field 2 at the USA Baseball Complex, the first of two games played by the Big Green that day with the other against Penn State.
• The Crusaders jumped out to an early lead with a run in the first and four more in the second before Dartmouth responded with a pair of runs in its half.
• The Holy Cross bats continued to put runs on the board, however, as every starter had at least one hit.
• Tyler Cox had two of the Big Green's seven hits and Ivan Hoyt had a double and two RBIs.

Scouting the Crusaders
• Since Holy Cross won three of its four games in North Carolina, it has gone 8-22.
• The bats are contributing about 5.6 runs per game with a slash line of .258/.382/.375 as a team with 23 homers and an efficient 53 stolen bases in 63 attempts.
• Sean Scanlon has been the Crusaders' best hitter, leading the team in all three slash categories with 17 doubles, five homers and a team-best 30 RBIs.
• Opponents are hitting .325 against Holy Cross pitchers, who have posted a combined 7.49 ERA this season.
• Scanlon doubles on the mound and has served primarily as an opener with 33.1 innings in 13 starts and one relief appearance.
• There have been just four outings of at least five innings by any Crusader pitcher this year.
• Defense has been an issue with 66 errors for a .954 fielding percentage, not to mention 23 passed balls and opponents successfully stealing at an 86 percent rate (86 of 100).
• Ed Kahovec (Rochester '08) is in his fourth season of leading the Crusaders into battle and seventh on the staff. His teams have gone 44-97 entering this game and last year reached the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament. As a collegian, he was a three-time All-Liberty League selection and hit .372 as a senior while leading Rochester to the conference regular-season title.

What's Up Next
Dartmouth continues its eight-game road swing with a three-game series at Brown, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. But check the Dartmouth website for any updates that may alter the times due to weather.

Bats Starting to Come to Life
It has been a long season both at the plate and on the mound for the Big Green, but the bats showed encouraging signs at Columbia on April 22-23. Dartmouth recorded a season-high 18 hits while matching a season-best 13 runs in the second game of the series, then followed that up with 10 more knocks in the finale. The 28 hits equal the most for the Big Green in any three-game stretch this season, let alone two.

Bertsch Shows Old Form
Connor Bertsch was an All-Ivy Second Team selection at third base last year after hitting .331 with five homers and 35 RBIs, plus did not commit an error in any conference game. This year has been more of a struggle, but for one game at Columbia, the senior turned back the clock by going 5-for-6 with a double, walk and three runs. He is the first Big Green player with five hits in a game since Michael Ketchmark '17 was 5-for-6 against the University of Chicago in 2017. The last time Dartmouth had someone with five hits in a league game was in 2016 when Dustin Shirley '18 was 5-for-6 in a 9-8 loss to Princeton. So who is the last one with five hits in a win in league play? Matt Parisi '15 just over 10 years ago in an 11-3 win over Brown on April 13, 2013.

Suspended at Columbia
For the second consecutive year, Dartmouth and Columbia had a game suspended in the middle of their series. Last year, lightning forced the second game to be stopped after four innings, and the Lions came back the next day and squeaked out a 6-4 victory. This year, rain and lightning delayed the second game, but after play resumed in the bottom of the eighth, Dartmouth tied the game with a five-run ninth, forcing extra innings. But there was not enough light to continue, so the game was resumed on Sunday, and it turned into another Lion victory, 14-13 in 12 innings.

Extra-Inning Heartbreak
Momentum seemed to be on Dartmouth's side when it scored five runs in the ninth to tie the second game at 11 at Columbia, then escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom half. And when the Big Green took a 13-11 lead in the 10th, it seemed that the losing streak would finally come to an end. But it was not to be as the Lions rallied to tie in the bottom half and walk it off in the 12th. It was the longest game for Dartmouth since the 21-inning marathon against Penn in 2019 that the Quakers won, 21-15. The last Big Green win in a game that lasted more than 10 innings came in 2018 against Brown, a 2-1 triumph in 13 on May 1.

Sarcone Settling In
Co-captain Trystan Sarcone got off to a rocky start in 2023, but since the calendar flipped to April, the left-hander has been more like his All-Ivy League Second Team self from a year ago. In his four starts this month, the southpaw has posted an ERA of 3.67 and left with a lead in each of the last three outings. In 27 innings, Sarcone has held the opposition to 24 hits and four walks while striking out 23.

Meet the Metzger, Control Artist
Senior Jack Metzger has been terrific in keeping extra runners off the bases this year. The right-hander not only leads the Ivy League in both fewest walks allowed per nine innings (0.76) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.00), he ranks among the top five nationally in both categories as well (6th and 12th, respectively), though he did walk two batters in his start at Columbia, his first outing with more than one base on balls in 26 appearances, eight of which were starts.