Baseball Hosts Harvard for Three Games This Weekend

DARTMOUTH (1-20, 0-6) vs. HARVARD (8-16, 4-2)
April 8-9, 2023 • Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park • Hanover, N.H.

Home Stand Continues
Dartmouth is in the middle of an 11-game home stand with Harvard in town for three contests this weekend. The Big Green not only are in search of their first Ivy League victory but also their first win of any kind in over three weeks having dropped their last 13 games. The home venue is the best place to end that skid as the team has a winning percentage of .676 (119-57) since Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park came into existence in 2009.

Overall Record vs. Harvard
• Dartmouth has played the Crimson more than any other opponent with Harvard holding a 137-130 advantage.
• Since the Big Green won 24 of 25 between 2010-16, including 15 straight to end that run, the Crimson have a slight edge, winning eight of the last 13 matchups, though Dartmouth did take two of three in Cambridge last year.
• Since 1923, Dartmouth is 57-40 (.588) when hosting Harvard, including a 15-6 mark at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park.
• Head coach Bob Whalen is 66-49 against Harvard during his tenure with the Big Green.

Scouting the Crimson
• Harvard has been playing well since suffering a 12-game losing streak, winning series against Penn and Princeton while going 7-3.
• Of the Crimson's 16 losses, six have come in walk-off fashion, four of those after entering the final inning with the lead.
• Harvard is averaging just over six runs a game on the season (third among Ivies) and nearly seven in league play (fifth).
• Three players are doing the most damage in the lineup — Jake Berger (.322/.394/.494), Logan Bravo (.295/.387/.495) and Ben Rounds (.276/.377/.517). That trio has hit half of the Crimson's 24 home runs this year.
• There is some swing-and-miss in the lineup as well, however, as the only team in the league striking out more than 10 times per game.
• While the staff ERA of 7.44 is a bit high, it is fifth among Ivy teams.
• Two of the weekend starters have an ERA under 5.00, and one has struck out nearly 14 batters per nine innings, 15th nationally.
• Harvard's defense has been shaky at times with a fielding percentage of .954, among the bottom 40 nationally, though it has turned 20 double plays.
• Bill Decker (Ithaca '85) is in his 11th year as the Crimson's head coach with a record of 152-208 entering the series, and is 689-465 as a collegiate head coach in 34 years, 22 coming at Trinity. He was the Ivy League Coach of the Year in 2019 after guiding Harvard to its first Ivy title and NCAA Regional appearance in 14 years.

Probable Starting Pitchers
• Kicking off the series on the mound will be a pair of 2022 All-Ivy relievers looking for their first win in 2023. Dartmouth will go with RHP Jack Metzger (0-4, 8.53), a second teamer who led the league in saves and who has displayed some of the best control in the country, ranking among the top 10 in fewest walks issued per nine innings (0.85, 7th) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.67, 8th). Harvard has first-teamer RHP Jay Driver (0-2, 4.88) ready to oppose him, looking to bounce back from a rough start against Princeton last week in which he gave up seven runs, four earned over 4.1 frames.
• The second game will feature two pitchers who were second-team All-Ivy starters a year ago with LHP Trystan Sarcone (0-5, 11.25) on the bump for the Big Green and RHP Chris Clark (2-2, 4.94) for the Crimson. The southpaw is coming off his best start of the year having allowed four runs over seven stanzas while striking out nine and walking just one. Clark, meanwhile, allowed just one run over six innings against Princeton and has struck out at least eight batters in four of his six starts.
• Dartmouth hasn't announced who will start the finale, but RHP Eddie Albert (0-3, 9.53) is the likely hurler. The rookie has struggled in his two Ivy starts thus far, yielding 10 runs over 5.0 innings after posting a 3.60 ERA over his previous three appearances. Harvard has RHP Sean Matson (0-2, 7.57) set to go on Sunday. Even though the sophomore doesn't have a victory to his credit this season, the Crimson have won each of his two Ivy starts.

What's Up Next
Dartmouth will continue its 11-game home stand on Wednesday when ninth-ranked Boston College comes to town for a game at 3 p.m. Next weekend, the Big Green will complete the home stand with three games against Yale beginning with a Saturday doubleheader at 11:30 a.m. followed by Sunday's finale at noon.

(U)Mass of Pitchers
In the 6-1 defeat against UMass Lowell, the two teams combined to utilize 17 pitchers in the contest — nine by the River Hawks, eight by the Big Green. Dartmouth freshman Ivan Hoyt tossed the first two innings in his first career start, and reliever Shane Bauer also hurled a couple of frames. But the other 15 pitchers recorded no more than three outs in the game. Hoyt was the only one to strike out three batters as well. The last time Dartmouth used as many pitchers in one game was in last year's season finale (10), a thrilling 12-11 victory in 10 innnings over Columbia.

Putting His O'Tooles On Display
Infielder Peter O'Toole is making the most of his opportunities in the field these days. The senior has started the last four games at second base and has six hits in his last 15 at-bats (.400) with four doubles, two walks, two hit by pitches and four RBIs, giving him an on-base percentage of .526. His defense has also been stellar, fielding 20 chances without an error, including a spectacular diving stop behind second base to get the out at first and save a run against Penn.

Beware the Ides of March
Back on March 15, Dartmouth lost a hard-fourth, 4-3 game at South Florida. Little did the team realize that would be the start of the current 13-game losing streak, the third longest in program history. The Big Green will have to avoid its third straight Ivy series sweep in order to keep from matching the longest, a 16-game skid, set during the 1979 campaign.

Penn-ciled Out
Penn has become Dartmouth's regular-season nemesis in recent years, and this year was no different. The Quakers came to Hanover for three games on April 2-3 and came away with three victories, giving them eight wins in the last nine meetings and two series sweeps at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park. No other Ivy team has swept a three-game series on the Big Green's home field since the schedule was altered before the 2018 season.

Not Trystan in the Wind
I don't know how that relates to this note, but it's a halfway decent pun, right? Trystan Sarcone got off to a rough start to the season, but he looked more like his old self in his start against Penn. The left-hander pitched a season-long seven innings while striking out nine — one shy of his career high — and walking just one. He departed the game with the Big Green trailing by just one run, 4-3, but the Quakers ended up tacking on five runs in the final two frames to defeat Dartmouth, 9-4.

Defense Tightening Up
The first few games of the season can be a little shaky in the field having practiced almost exclusively indoors before playing actual opponents, and this season is no exception. Dartmouth committed 13 errors in the first six games, but since then has just 11 in the last 15 (a .979 fielding percentage) while surrendering just nine unearned runs. Dartmouth has also thrown out 8-of-25 base stealers (32 percent) this year, second in the league.

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 (0.85) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.67), he ranks among the top 10 nationally in both categories as well (7th and 8th, respectively).

The Schwartz Is With Him
Ryan Schwartz hasn't seen much playing time in his career, but he certainly has made the most of his opportunities this season. The senior made his first career start in the 6-1 loss to UMass Lowell on April 4 after collecting a pair of hits in four at-bats off the bench coming into the game. His 1-for-3 at the plate was a solid performance, and he caught both fly balls that came his way in left field. For his career, Schwartz is now hitting an even .400 with four hits in 10 at-bats.

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