The Dartmouth baseball team laid its best hand on the table against Ivy League and Red Rolfe division leader Yale this past weekend.
For the most part, the team played virtually errorless ball, scattered the field with hits, and the young staff pitched like veterans.
Yale, champions of the Ivies for three years running, matched the Big Green's best offer, resulting split of the four games between the division rivals.
"We have no regrets. We left everything we had on the ballfield," said co-Captain Greg Gilmer. "We played to the top of our capabilities."
Dartmouth, now 12-16 overall and 8-8 in Ancient Eight, remains in second place, three games behind the division-leading Bulldogs (21-15, 11-5), with four Ivy games remaining in the season.
Dartmouth 7, Yale 6
With its backs against the wall in the standings, the Big Green stepped up their level of play on Saturday, and came within one strike of sweeping the Bulldogs.
In the first game, Dartmouth rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the fourth inning to win, 7-6, on one run in the fifth, and five in the sixth. Gilmer smacked the game-winning RBI in the sixth.
Number one starter Scott Simon '97, who got his fourth win of the season, pitched extremely well in the crucial momentum-setting opener.
Yale 8, Dartmouth 7
Dartmouth came from behind in the second game as well. Down 5-4 in the seventh, shortstop Brian Mosley '98 came to the plate with two outs in the inning and two runners on base. With two strikes, Mosley came through, launching a clutch two run double off the top of the outfield wall to put Dartmouth ahead 7-6 with only a half inning to go.
David Stefanowicz '97, who had already pitched in the first game, got the nod in the seventh for the Big Green in favor of starter Peter Sellers '98. After two easy outs, and two-strike counts on two other Bulldog hitters, Yale still managed to avoid a second straight Dartmouth victory, scoring two runs to retake the lead for good.
The hard fought-loss was a major blow to Dartmouth's playoff chances, as a win would have left the Big Green only one game down from the Bulldogs.
Dartmouth 8, Yale 5
In the opener, the score see-sawed from a early 4-1 Dartmouth lead to a 5-4 Yale comeback in the sixth. Dartmouth got the last laugh in the final frame, behind a two-out tater from left fielder Craig Pawling '96. Later, Curtis Jones '95 followed with a pinch hit double to ice the game, 8-5.
Dartmouth hacked out 15 hitsincluding a three-run dinger off the bat of designated hitter Travis Horton '96, and three-hit games from Pawling, Mike Armstrong '97 and Jimmy Meyer '97.
Starter Eric Walania '98 pitched impressively, raising his record to 3-0 on the season.
Yale 10, Dartmouth 2
In the final game, Yale's starting pitcher Dan Thompson, who also went 12 for 16 at the plate for the Bulldogs on the weekend, outmatched the Big Green, allowing only six hits in the complete game victory. Dartmouth's hard-luck starter, Travis Farrell '98, fell to 1-4.
"No one incident led to the loss in the two games," Gilmer said on the loss. "The whole team played pretty well. I thought we were the better team this weekend until the last game."
Dartmouth's two victories against Yale guarantee that the team will have a shot for first place through the final weekend of the Ivy League season, which finishes May 1st.
Dartmouth hoststwo non-league games at 3:00 on Tuesday against St. Anselm and Wednesday against UNH. The team plays a Ivy League doubleheader with Harvard at 1 p.m. at Red Rolfe Field on Saturday.
