Any baseball fan will tell you, getting lots of "ducks on the pond" (or runners on base) and timely hits are key to scoring bunches of runs, and therefore, winning ball games.
A case in point was the Dartmouth baseball team yesterday afternoon, which struggled getting its share of "ducks on the pond" home in a 6-3 loss against powerhouse Maine at Red Rolfe Field.
"We need to get more timely hits, and take more advantage of guys in scoring position," Coach Bob Whalen said on the loss.
Maine did much of its damage in the second inning, scoring three runs on three hits off starter Matt "T.W." Tarver-Walquist '98. The tall, lanky southpaw pitched decently after that, finishing with five earned runs allowed and four strikeouts in six innings pitched.
"In all fairness to T.W., we didn't play real well on defense today," Whalen said about his young starter's performance. Dartmouth did make four errors in the field today, but only one resulted in a run for the Brown Bears.
The Big Green scored their first run in a late-inning rally in the first. With two outs, centerfielder Andrew Spencer '97 walked, setting up third baseman Jake Isler '96, who doubled, bringing Spencer around to score.
After the first inning, however, the Dartmouth batters couldn't find a hole in Maine's defense, with a number of hard hit balls, but only one base hit to show for it for the next four frames.
In the sixth, Spencer led off with a line drive smash to left field. Maine's left fielder Rex Turner did an about face and full sprint to the outfield wall, where he plucked the ball off the ground, after it hit about four feet from the top of the fence, and fired the ball in to second, where Spencer stood waiting.
Two outs and a fielder's choice later, co-Captain Todd Seneker '95 scored Spencer on an infield single, for the only run of the inning.
The Big Green struck one last time in the seventh. After a walk by Mike Armstrong '97, Greg Gilmer '96 singled just beyond the reach of a diving Maine second baseman. Two outs later, Isler came through again, ripping a liner to center, scoring Armstrong.
That brought the final score to 6-3 in favor of Maine, dropping the Big Green to 7-12 on the season overall.
Dartmouth will not sleep on this loss for long.
The team, 3-5 in the Ivy's, opens a crucial four-game Red Rolfe Division series with Brown (2-6) today, beginning with a noontime doubleheader today at home. Tomorrow, the Big Green play two more against Brown starting at 12:00.
The games will be vital to Dartmouth if it intends to compete for the division title against current leader, Yale, which has opened up a sizable Ivy League lead early in the season.
"They are clearly very important," Whalen said on the upcoming games against Brown. "If we get consistent pitching we will get ourselves in a position to have a chance to win."
