Behind an explosive offense, airtight defense and dominating pitching performances from Eric Walania '98 and Peter Sellers '98, the Dartmouth baseball team sent the Lions of Columbia packing, 13-3 and 4-0 at Red Rolfe Field yesterday.
For the first time all season, all Big Green cylinders fired in unison, resulting in a resounding message to the Lions and the rest of the Ivy League, not to mention the players themselves, that Dartmouth remains a team to be reckoned with in the Ivies.
"With the way we played Saturday it's just really nice to come back with wins like this. This is the first day that we really put it all together," co-Captain Jake Isler '96 said.
"Everybody was a little looser today; we knew we were a much better team than we showed on Saturday," said Sellers, who pitched a complete game shutout his first win of the season in the nightcap to erase the team's two tough losses to Pennsylvania on Saturday.
With the sweep, Dartmouth jumped to 4-4 in the Ivy League, and one game behind Red Rolfe Division leader, Harvard.
Dartmouth 13, Columbia 3
The Big Green starting lineup lit up Columbia pitching in the opener, totaling 15 hits and six doubles against the Lions.
Dartmouth got its first flurry of runs in the second inning. Led off by an Isler walk, Brian Mosley '98 singled, followed by a pair of walks from Mike Armstrong '98 and Jimmy Meyer '97 to score Isler and load the bases for catcher Mike Stacy '98.
Stacy, in his second game back from a knee injury, ripped a mammoth double, clearing the bases and vaulting Dartmouth ahead 4-3.
Dartmouth padded its lead in the fourth with three consecutive hits to open the inning and chase Columbia starting pitcher Brandon Holthaus from the mound. Junior Andrew Spencer's deep double over the head of a Lion left fielder sparked the four-run fourth.
The Big Green made it 11-3 in the fifth frame on Spencer's second double of the day, a hard-hit grounder that scooted past a diving Columbia first baseman.
Those four runs sparked by Stacy's key double would prove to be all the Big Green needed, however, as towering right-hander Walania shut down Columbia's batting order for the last five innings to earn his second complete game win in as many weeks.
Dartmouth 4, Columbia 0
In the nightcap, starting pitcher Peter Sellers '98 put in one of his best performances in a Big Green uniform, shutting out the Lions to earn a crucial victory in the standings.
"He was aggressive with his fastball, he also threw his change and slider very well," Coach Bob Whalen said.
Sellers deflected the credit for the victory to his teammates after the game, saying, "We played great defense and I threw my fastball for strikes. Jake [Isler] and Ron [Friedman '99] and [Brian] Mosley had great games out there today. You've got to give [catcher] Mike Stacy a lot of credit too, he did a heck of a job behind the plate."
"The pitching was absolutely phenomenal. You can't say enough about Peter," said Isler, who did his share, going 2-2 with a walk and an RBI double to lead the Big Green on offense.
Dartmouth jumped out to an early lead in the first inning of the game, after Spencer singled, Isler walked and Mosley spanked a Texas leaguer to right, scoring Spencer. With runners at the corners, Mosley then stole second, drawing an errant throw from the catcher into center field and scoring Isler.
The Big Green got two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, and then in the sixth inning, two great defensive plays by Dartmouth, a diving grab in left field by Friedman and a leaping stop by Mosley at shortstop quelled the Lion's last hope of a rally.
Dartmouth is scheduled to host Vermont and St. Anselm today and tomorrow at 3:00.
