Call them the Big Green Grit if you want, because with their backs up against the wall, they are all heart.
The Big Green rallied in their last two at-bats to rip victory from the hands of the Tufts Jumbos (yes, there is a worse mascot than Green), giving Dartmouth its second straight come from behind victory, 8-7.
With Dartmouth down by two runs in the bottom of the last inning, Jimmy Meyer '97 led off with a scorching rope to center field, landing him at first base with number three hitter Andrew Spencer '97 coming to the plate. And when the team needed it most, Spencer delivered.
"I've been swinging pretty well the last few days, and I just wanted to hit the ball hard and make them do something with it," Spencer said.
Spencer did hit the ball hard, but there was nothing that Tufts could do with it but watch and wave.
Call it a tater, a dong, a dinger, whatever, the point is, it was gone. Way gone. And after it had stopped bouncing around and off the roof of Leverone Field House and the scoreboard had been changed to 7-7, it seemed that for the Big Green victory was only a matter of time.
But first, with two outs in the inning, shortstop Brian Mosley '98 had to tag a shot over the third base bag for a single.
Then Mike Armstrong '97 set the table, executing a perfect bunt to get the speedy shortstop to second. In came Craig Pawling '96 to supply the heat, and beat Tufts' top-rated pitcher (and hitter), Matt Lyman.
Pawling did just that, launching a deep line drive to the gap in right center, bringing Mosley home, and sending the deflated Jumbos to the showers.
"Beating UNH was big yesterday but even bigger was coming back with a win today," Pawling said, just after Head Coach Bob Whalen embraced his veteran left fielder after the game. "We didn't start off great today, but we came back and found a way to win, and that's really what we've been trying to do all season, finding a way to win."
Spencer agreed. "It feels great to get a win like that. It's really big to come off that win yesterday and come back today and do it again."
Down 7-3 in the sixth, Dartmouth rallied for two runs to shorten the Jumbo lead to two. Spencer was key in that inning as well, leading off with a bunt for a hit.
Up came the not-so-speedy co-Captain Jake Isler '96, who smoked one to right field for a monstrous triple. Mosley came through in the clutch as well, pulling a frozen rope to left to score Isler.
"It wasn't exactly a masterpiece, but for the first time this year we've gone out and made the most out of our opportunities," said Whalen. Dartmouth struggled early in the game, and was forced to use four pitchers to tame the Jumbos. Scott Simon '97 got the win in relief, pitching a scoreless seventh.
"We were scrambling today with midterms, and we had some guys out of position. And it made it difficult to get going ... A lot of guys clutched up," Whalen said.
Dartmouth will need all this clutch hitting and more over the weekend, as the Big Green (5-7 in the Ivies) host Yale (6-6), currently tied for first place in the Red Rolfe Division of the Ivy League and one game ahead of Dartmouth.
With the two comeback wins, and the smell of momentum finally in the air, Whalen feels the team is ready.
"The kids are going to be really psyched for the games, it's just a matter of us being able to play to the level of our abilities," he said. "These two wins have really helped to build team confidence."
The four game series with the Elis begins at noon on Red Rolfe Field on Saturday, with a doubleheader scheduled for noon on Sunday as well.
"This coming weekend pretty much makes or breaks our season." Spencer said. "You couldn't ask for a bigger game than Dartmouth-Yale out there."
