Mike Levy's first-inning homerun would begin the onslaught for Dartmouth baseball yesterday as the Big Green went on to score 18 runs to defeat Babson by the score of 18-6.
Playing in their first game since the 1-10 Florida road trip, the Big Green had its offense in full force as they pounded out 20 hits including home runs by both Aaron Meyer '00 and Brian Nickerson '00.
Meyer's home run made him the Dartmouth career leader in home runs with 24 despite only entering his junior season.
The offensive show would not let up as the Big Green scored in 7 of 9 innings and gave starting pitcher Mark Swan '01 a nice cushion by putting a run on the board in the first, two in the second, and five more by the third inning.
The 6' 4" righthander would go on to toss six and one-third innings, striking out four, and giving up eight hits.
John Velosky '02, Bernard Mauricia '99, and Jon Miller '00 closed out the game yielding a combined four hits.
Nickerson, Meyer, Eric Anderson '99, James Little '00, and Joe Rockers '01 each had multi-hit games with Nickerson going 3-for-6 with two RBIs and three runs scored, and Anderson going 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored.
The Big Green's field day at the plate will give them the momentum and confidence they need to enter their first four-game Ivy League weekend of the season.
Dartmouth has a good chance to record four Ivy wins early in the season as they play doubleheaders at Columbia on Friday and Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Both opponents had losing records and finished in the cellar of the Lou Gehrig Division last season.
The Quakers finished 9-11 in Ancient Eight play a season ago while the Lions ended the campaign a dismal 5-15.
Shortstop Glen Ambrosius should prove to be a good match for All-American candidate Nickerson as he leads the team in hits with 19 and was just named the most recent Ivy League Player of the Week.
Pennsylvania and Columbia each post 2-2 Ivy records after splitting a pair of doubleheaders with each other last week.
After the Ivy opponents, the Green take on UMass-Lowell next Tuesday before the home opener April 7 against Tufts.
