When it went well for the Dartmouth baseball team last weekend, it went perfectly.
But when the team's play turned ugly, as it did in the third game of its four-game series with Brown, it settled for nothing less than hideous.
Fortunately for Dartmouth, the majority of the weekend focused on the former, as the Big Green, now 6-6 in the Ivy's and 10-13 overall, took three of four from Brown (3-9, 6-18) last weekend at Red Rolfe Field.
Before the weekend series, Coach Bob Whalen said, "If we get consistent pitching we will get ourselves in a position to have a chance to win."
In the three games the Big Green won, the team followed itscoach's wise words exactly.
The weekend included two complete games for Dartmouth hurlers, but there was more to the total team effort displayed by ballplayers during the three victorious games.
First, the run scoring returned in droves, with 25 runs in 21 innings, not to mention three home runs. Second, the defense got stingy, committing only a few errors and robbing more than their share of sure base hits.
Knowing it had to come up big, Dartmouth entered the series three games behind Red Rolfe Division leader Yale. According to co-Captain Greg Gilmer '96, the team rose to the challenge.
"A lot of people got fired up this weekend," he said.
Dartmouth 7, Brown 2
Dartmouth wasted no time against the Bears on Friday, scoring five runs in the first inning of each game to seal up the victory early and leave the rest to pitchers and defense.
With one out in the first inning of the first game, five consecutive Dartmouth hitters reached base safely. Then, left fielder Curtis Jones '95 came through with a mammoth bases-loaded smash to left center. Jones hustled for a triple on the play, leaving the Big Green already sitting pretty, up 5-0.
In the next inning, Gilmer added insult to the early lead. After the Brown starting pitcher hummed a high hard one directed towards the right fielder's chin, the always-grinning Gilmer promptly turned towards Brown's catcher with a chuckle. On the next pitch, Gilmer hammered a solo slam over the left field fence for his first home run of the season.
Freshman pitcher Eric Walania (2-0), who has looked more like an experienced field general than a pea green freshman in the four games that he has started for the Big Green, was spectacular, recording two runs on five hits in the complete-game victory.
Dartmouth 7, Brown 1
In a mirror image of the first game, Dartmouth was fast out of the starting gates again, scoring five runs in the first inning to dig an early hole for the Bears.
Gilmer started the rally, ripping a leadoff double. Mike Armstrong '97 then singled, followed by doubles from Andrew Spencer '97 and Travis Horton '96, and a single from Jimmy Meyer '97.
When the dust cleared, Dartmouth handed a imposing five-run lead to ace starter Scott Simon '97.
Simon (3-1), who had struggled in his previous start, took the reins from there, throwing a no-earned-runs-on-five-hits gem.
But Simon and his sharp curve ball did not go at it all alone. In the fifth, hot hitting second baseman Mike Armstrong '97, who was five for eight at the plate on Friday, made the best of a number of excellent defensive plays, to the delight of Red Rolfe Field's fans.
Armstrong dove to his right and, fully extended, swiped a sure line drive base hit from the air, ending a potential rally by the frustrated Bears.
But, according to Armstrong, the major reason for the wins were not the heavy hitting or solid defense but the solid pitching.
"We felt real good about Friday's games," he said. "Our pitchers came out and did a good job throwing strikes."
Brown 14, Dartmouth 0
The Dartmouth players may have been looking to "sweep" on Saturday after their domination against the Bears Friday, but it seemed some other team showed up to play.
The outcome was a 14-run humbling of the Big Green courtesy of 12 Brown hits, 10 walks and five Dartmouth errors.
"We didn't do anything well in the first game," Whalen said about the nightmare.
Brown took a page out of Dartmouth's playbook, scoring five runs in the first inning on two hits, three walks, and four errors. It was downhill from there, as Brown chased starter Travis Farrell '98 in the third, despite Farrell allowing no earned runs.
The most interesting part of the blowout occurred in the third inning, when Brown's third base coach got in a scuffle with the home plate umpire over an earlier aggressive slide by a Dartmouth player. The umpire ejected the irate coach, who proceeded to watch the Dartmouth-Cornell men's lacrosse game at adjacent Memorial Field for the next four innings.
Dartmouth 11, Brown 4
The sun briefly peeked out of the clouds for the start of this game, and Dartmouth's hopes fared better after the earlier forgettable loss.
"After losing the first game it could have been easy for us not to come out strong. It's a testament to our players that we did," Whalen said on Dartmouth's comeback in the finale.
In the top of the first, Brown's catcher, David Murphy, who currently leads the Ivy League in hitting with a batting average of more than .600, smacked a solo homer to put Brown up, 1-0. It would be Brown's only lead of the game.
In the bottom of the second with the score tied at four, shortstop Brian Mosley '98 led off, depositing the first pitch from Brown pitcher Mike Scarlata deep over the left-centerfield fence. The shot, the first home run of Mosley's college career, put Dartmouth up for good, 5-4.
"We knew we had to win," Mike Armstrong said about the final game, "so we tried to put the first game behind us and go hard for the win."
Dartmouth scored six more times in the game, highlighted by a clutch bases-loaded double from Gilmer and a two-run slam from left fielder Craig Pawling '96.
Whalen said another key to the victory was the pitching from veteran reliever Chris Van Vliet '96, who took over for starter Peter Sellers '98, and pitched three and two thirds innings of scoreless ball to earn the win.
"Van Vliet should get a lot of credit," Whalen said. "He threw strikes, and got a couple of tough outs that turned the momentum around."
