After settling for a split at home in four Ivy League games over the past weekend, the Big Green baseball team was hoping to use yesterday's game against Vermont to iron out the kinks before returning to league play again this weekend. However, poor pitching in the early innings and Dartmouth's continued struggle at the plate left the Green with little hope of recovering from an early 6-0 deficit in yesterday's game against UVM. As a result, the Big Green dropped their third straight home game, falling to the Catamounts, 9-5.
Hoping to contain their losing streak to two games, the Big Green sent senior hurler Eric Walania '98 to the mound following his impressive outing last Friday against Columbia. Unfortunately, Walania was not the answer today as Vermont came out swinging, with the first three batters getting extra-base hits en route to tagging Walania for six early runs. Despite stoking the Catamounts to a 4-0 lead after the first, Walania settled down in the second, striking out two of the first three batters. However, the fourth batter of the inning, Catamount third baseman Keith Carter, put the final touches on all the runs UVM would need. Carter took the first pitch he saw and hit a towering home run that cleared the street and landed among the row of houses dotting the road behind the stadium. The two-run blast gave Vermont a 6-0 lead, a lead that would prove to be too much for the Big Green to handle.
Originally planning to have weekend starters Walania and Pete Sellers '98 split time on the mound, head coach Bob Whalen was forced to turn to freshman Jeff Dutremble to stop the bleeding, not wanting to wear out Sellers by having him pitching seven innings. Dutremble's performance turned out to be the highlight of the game as he pitched two scoreless innings for Dartmouth, not allowing a hit while striking out a batter.
Dutremble's outing gave the Big Green hope even as they were unable to muster an offensive attack against Vermont starter Brian Cain. Although Dutremble and Sellers combined to keep the Catamounts scoreless for four innings, the Big Green couldn't take advantage of the strong pitching until the sixth inning when they were finally able to get onto the scoreboard.
First baseman Aaron Meyer '00 opened the bottom of the sixth inning with a single, the third time in the game he reached first base leading off the inning. Yale Dieckmann '00 drilled a solid single to right which was followed by shortstop Joe Rockers '01 walk to load the bases. Back-to-back doubles by Chris Miranda '01 and catcher Eric Anderson '99 scored four runs, bringing the Big Green to within two runs, 6-4. However, that would be the closest Dartmouth would get all day as both Anderson and pinch-hitter Conor Brooks '00 were stranded on base, two of nine runners the Big Green left on base throughout the afternoon.
The teams then traded runs in the seventh inning as Vermont was finally able to score on Sellers. Dieckmann answered in the bottom half of the inning with a solo homer to left, his team-leading fifth of the season to make the score 7-5, but that would be all Dartmouth could manage.
Once again, Dartmouth's weak performance in the early innings contributed to their downfall, continuing a pattern that has emerged throughout the course of the season, especially during midweek non-Ivy League games. During the game, Whalen criticized the team for their lackadaisical play, saying they were "sleepwalking through the game and playing dumb baseball." Evidence for the coaches chiding's were the five errors committed by the Big Green in the field, an uncharacteristically large amount for Dartmouth.
The loss dropped Dartmouth to 14-9 on the season as they prepare to face St. Anselm College on the road today. The Big Green then travel to Brown for four crucial Ivy League games.
If they continue the poor play, most notably in the early innings, they demonstrated today over the weekend at Brown, their chances at an Ivy League division title will suffer the same result as the Big Green did today.
