There was no joy in Mudville this weekend.
The Dartmouth baseball team lost two ugly ones to the Quakers of Pennsylvania in New Hampshire's sloppy spring conditions at Red Rolfe Field.
In their Ivy League home opener against last year's Ancient Eight Champion and sole representative to the NCAA College World Series tournament, the Big Green barely showed a heartbeat, compiling seven hits and one extra base hit -- a two-run dinger by rookie right fielder Nick Ratliff '99 -- in both games.
"Penn's a good team and they can put alot of runs on the board and do it quickly," Head Coach Bob Whalen said.
He also said his team's layoff due to poor weather hurt them against the Quakers. "We can't make any excuses but baseball is a game you have to play all the time, and we'd gone almost eight days between games, and with only one real practice [outside]. You can't even take a ground ball on dirt."
Dartmouth fell to 2-4 in the Ivies, while Pennsylvania raised its record to 8-2 in the Ancient Eight.
Pennsylvania 9, Dartmouth 0
Pennsylvania opened the first game against the Big Green with its ace pitcher, leading hitter and senior co-captain, Mike Shannon.
The right-hander not only stifled Dartmouth's lineup with a complete game two-hit, five-base runners win, he also went two for three at the plate with four RBI's and a two-run homer in the seventh.
"That kid is one of the top two pitchers in the league and he showed it. He has an outstanding slider," said Whalen.
Dartmouth starter Scott Simon '97 did not fair as well, giving up nine runs, seven earned, on seven hits and a walk. Simon pitched the distance in the losing effort, however, falling to 1-5 on the season.
Pennsylvania kicked off its afternoon with a triple and two doubles in the third, scoring two runs against Simon. The Quakers, boosted by two home runs, tacked on two more runs in the fourth and three in the fifth to put the game out of reach for Dartmouth.
Pennsylvania 17, Dartmouth 4
Looking for a spark, Head Coach Bob Whalen mixed up the lineup in the nightcap, moving last week's emergency catcher and co-Captain Greg Gilmer '96 back behind the plate, while putting Ratliff in right field and lanky left-hander Matt Tarver-Wahlquist '98 on the mound.
And for the first few innings, Whalen looked like a genius.
Tarver-Wahlquist '98, coming off a solid victory over Cornell last weekend, was in command in the opening frames, allowing only one run off a bad hop that skipped over senior third baseman Jake Isler's glove.
At the plate, Gilmer set the pace for Dartmouth with a bunt for a hit to open the game. In the second inning, Ratliff hit a towering two run blast into the trees in left field, giving Dartmouth its only lead of the game.
"I just got the sense that he was just about due... and he had a couple of times [in batting practice] where he was hitting well, so I got the sense that he was ready to go in there," Whalen said on the move to start Ratliff.
Dartmouth loaded the bases with one out after the dinger by Ratliff, but the Big Green could not manage to break the inning open.
Dartmouth self-destructed in the third inning with the first of six errors on the day, a dropped pop fly by first baseman Jimmy Meyer '97, to open the door for Pennsylvania. The Quakers took the opportunity, scoring four runs in the inning to take a 5-2 lead.
Pennsylvania reloaded with five runs in the fourth inning and seven more in the sixth.
Weather permitting, Dartmouth will play yesterday's scheduled doubleheader against Columbia this afternoon at Red Rolfe Field. The Big Green are also scheduled to host Vermont and St. Anselm on Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.
