After having their five-game winning streak snapped by UMass-Lowell on Tuesday, the Big Green baseball squad looked to rebound yesterday against inter-state Division III Keene State College. Yet once again, Dartmouth's slow start in the early innings of the nine inning mid-week contest was too much for them to overcome as they fell to the Owls in the two teams' first-ever meeting, 4-3. Dartmouth is now 2-4 in non-Ivy contests since league play began.
Keene State came out swinging and jumped on the board early in the second inning. Owls' third baseman, Adam Lawrence, spanked a two-run homer off of the Big Green's starting hurler, Pete Sellers '98. It was the first homer allowed by Sellers in his last three starts.
The Big Green bats remained silent, once again, as Dartmouth was unable to score a run in the first four innings for the third straight time in mid-week play. The last time the Big Green produced a run before the fifth inning in a non-Ivy League game was on the road against Plymouth State two weeks ago. That didn't help Dartmouth's cause as Keene State plated two more runs off of reliever Jeff Dutremble '01 in the fourth inning. The runs, which came as a result of control problems, marked the first time Dutremble struggled in recent memory.
Dartmouth finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning. Catcher Jeremy McCormick '99 brought the Dartmouth offense alive with a sacrifice fly, scoring Joe Rockers '01, who had led off the inning with a rope down the left field line. All-Ivy League third baseman Mike Conway '99, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games, then reached on a walk. McCormick and Conway then advanced on a passed ball, but the inning closed with the two runners stranded on base.
A Big Green comeback looked promising once again in the sixth.
With James Little '00 standing on third and Aaron Meyer '00 on second, designated hitter Eric Anderson '99 brought home two runs on a high chopper that found its way over the second base bag and in between the Owls' Derek Bell and Ryan Lawrence. Anderson's two-out seeing-eye single cut the lead to 4-3.
But that would be the end of Dartmouth's offensive strike, as pitching took over for both teams. Although Dartmouth's closer, Dan Godfrey '98, pitched four innings of perfect ball, the Big Green would get no closer. Owls' reliever, Bill Williams matched Godfrey pitch for pitch, shutting down the Big Green for the final three-and-a-third innings, to earn his second save of the season.
Williams found his best stuff in the ninth inning when he fanned all three Big Green batters, ending the game.
The loss dropped Dartmouth to 19-11 on the season and left them with a two-game losing streak heading into this weekend's crucial set of doubleheaders with Yale. Both the Bulldogs and the Big Green are 6-6 in Ivy League play, three games back of Red Rolfe Division leader Harvard. The first pitch in the Saturday and Sunday doubleheaders is scheduled for noon.
