Facing elimination from the Red Rolfe Division pennant race, the Big Green baseball team ironically turned to the number four. No, All-American shortstop Brian Nickerson '00, who sports number four on his uniform, did not return to action. But the Big Green did win four crucial games over the Brown Bears in Providence thanks to the power of first baseman Aaron Meyer '00, who belted four homers in the four victories.
Dartmouth's impressive sweep of the Bears helped set up what promises to be an exciting Ivy finish. Despite entering the weekend 2-6 and alone in last place, the Big Green's play, combined with a weekend split between Harvard and Yale, enabled Dartmouth to move into a second-place tie with the Bulldogs. Wait, it gets better. Those very same Bulldogs come to Hanover this weekend to play, you guessed it, four games, against the Big Green.
It almost was not to be though. Five innings into game one on Saturday, the Big Green found themselves down, 8-4. Dartmouth was able to add another run by the seventh, but still trailed by three runs entering their final at-bat. The Big Green, sensing their season in danger, responded with four runs, the final two coming on a base-clearing double by center-fielder James Little '00.
However, just like last weekend against Penn, sophomore Conor Brooks' bid for the win was dashed by a two-out, two-strike hit to rightfield. Brown shortstop Dan Kantrovitz eventually came around to tie the game.
From then on, it was the pitching of senior co-Captain Dan Godfrey '98 that left Brown scoreless until freshman Michael Levy's double brought home the winning two runs to give the Big Green an 11-9 victory in 11 innings.
The win was the first time in Ivy League play Dartmouth had held on to win a close game, having lost to both Princeton and Penn in extra innings in Game One consecutive weekends.
"The first game is obviously a very big one because it pretty much sets the tone for the whole weekend," co-Captain Mike Conway '99 said. "Winning the first one gave us a big lift and we were able to ride its momentum throughout the weekend."
The second game on Saturday saw the Big Green fall behind 3-0 before batting Bears pitching around for 10 runs in the following three innings. The biggest hit of the rally was Meyer's third homer of the year that helped to break the game wide open as Dartmouth went on to win, 10-6.
Sunday morning saw the Big Green go on an offensive binge that saw Dartmouth pound out 16 hits en route to an easy 11-4 victory. Among those 16 hits, however, three stood out not only for their distance but their place in Dartmouth history. Meyer connected for three home runs against Bear pitcher John Sunderdick to become the first Big Green player ever to sock three round-trippers in a game.
"Aaron simply put on an awesome display of power," second baseman Chris Miranda '01 said.
The Big Green took the final game of the weekend, 7-5.
