Baseball Ends Home Slate with a Win

Sunday, May 7

Hanover, N.H.

12:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-36, 2-19

Cornell

9-26, 8-13

Cornell

Dartmouth

Jack Metzger picked up the win with four innings of one-run relief.

Photo by: Kyle Relf

5/7/2023 3:22:00 PM | Baseball

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Dartmouth defeated Cornell, 3-2, thanks to timely hitting and strong pitching

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Tyler Robinson singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh and Jack Metzger made the one-run lead hold up on the mound as Dartmouth concluded its home schedule with a 3-2 victory over visiting Cornell on Sunday afternoon at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park. The win ended a 13-game home skid for the Big Green (3-36, 2-19 Ivy) while the Big Red (9-26, 8-13 Ivy) were denied a series sweep.

Clark Gilmore and Jack Metzger combined to limit Cornell to two runs on eight hits in the contest with the latter picking up the victory to improve to 1-7 on the season. Gilmore surrendered just two hits and a solitary run, which came in his fifth and final inning while walking one and striking out a batter. Metzger scattered six hits over the final four frames, getting touched for a run in the seventh, and left a runner at second in the ninth by punching out the final hitter, his third whiff of the afternoon.

The Big Red got a one-out single in the first, but Gilmore proceeded to retire the next 11 batters in a row. Meanwhile, the Dartmouth bats threatened to dent the scoreboard in two of the first three innings against lefty Noah Keller, but a double play grounder in the first and two outs on the bases in the third kept the game scoreless.

T-Rob comes up clutch! We take a 3-2 lead into the eighth … watch on @ESPNPlus: https://t.co/kIYaaBXyjE #GoBigGreen | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/fBZ7iAo4Cn
— Dartmouth Baseball (@BigGreenBasebal) May 7, 2023

In the fourth, the Big Green had the making of a big inning, but after a Peter O'Toole leadoff triple, he was double off third on Jackson Hower's liner to short. Ryan Schwartz followed with his first career triple, and Max Zajec lined a double into the left-center gap for a 1-0 advantage.

Cornell got that run back in the fifth, however, as T.J. Swidorski lined a two-out, RBI single to center to score Joe Hollerbach, who was hit by a pitch to start the stanza.

Keller was chased from the mound in the sixth after giving up back-to-back one-out singles to Hower and Schwartz. Another left-hander, Josh Gerfen induced a grounder to third, but after getting the force at second, the relay to first was wide and got away, allowing Hower to scurry home for an unearned run and a 2-1 lead.

Again the Big Red had an answer, this time against Metzger. With Jakobi Davis on first with two town, John Quinlan beat out a grounder to the hole at short, and that throw to first trickled away, giving Davis the opportunity to take third. It did not matter in the end as Max Jensen lined a single right past the face and glove of Metzger into center for an RBI single, knotting the game against at two.

Dartmouth immediately clapped back in the bottom half as Zackarie Casebonne greeted reliever Von Baker with a double just inside the left-field foul line and Robinson grounded a 2-2 pitch back through the box into center field to score the Big Green catcher.

Metzger retired the side in order in the eighth on seven pitches, then needed just three more to retire the first two batters in the ninth. But Swidorski brought some drama to the affair by launching a blast to deep center field that one-hopped the fence for a double. With the tying run on second and John Quinlan at the plate — who already had six hits in the series — Metzger reared back and fired a shoulder-high fastball past the Big Green nemesis to close the door on the victory.

This is how you end a ball game with the tying run in scoring position! Great way to end the home slate.#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/chHMJkhhUw
— Dartmouth Baseball (@BigGreenBasebal) May 7, 2023

O'Toole and Schwartz each had two of Dartmouth's 10 hits in the game, the first career multi-hit game for the latter, and Casebonne had a perfect day at the plate, going 1-for-1 with a pair of walks.

Dartmouth will play its final games of the 2023 season next Saturday, May 13, in a doubleheader at Sacred Heart (20-26) for the first games between the two schools on the diamond. Fans can listen to an audio broadcast online through the Pioneers website at shubigred.mixlr.com with live stats available through DartmouthSports.com, the official website of Dartmouth Athletics.

Notes: Dartmouth's 13-game losing streak at home is the longest ever in program history … the Big Green's two wins in conference play are the fewest for any Ivy League team since the Ancient Eight began playing at least 20 games in 1993 … Metzger, who entered the weekend among the top 10 nationally in fewest walks per nine innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio, did not issue a free pass and lowered his walk rate to 0.9 per nine innings (six walks in 60.0 IP) … Gilmore has pitched in each of the three Big Green victories this season, earning the win in the other two.