Dartmouth's baseball team, having pulled itself into first-place in the Red Rolfe Division this weekend, traveled to Chestnut Hill yesterday to take on the Boston College Eagles. Despite a solid pitching performance from Kevan Graves '03, the Big Green lost 4-1 to fall to 11-13 overall.
Dartmouth drew first blood in the second inning when Josh Cushman '03 singled to left with two out and then advanced to second on a passed ball. Third baseman Eddie Lucas '04 then singled to right to bring home Cushman for a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles responded in the home half of the third. Jeff Mackor opened the inning with a single off of Graves and then Scott Lemone walked.
Josh DiScipio laid down a great sacrifice bunt before Joe Kealty smacked a double into the gap in right-center scoring two. After walking Mike Hubbard, Graves got out of the jam with a soft grounder to first and a fly out to Daniel Becker '02 in center.
BC knocked Graves from the game in the sixth inning after putting runners on the corners with one out and Jarett Mendoza at the plate. Bryn Alderson '03 relieved Graves and got out of the pickle when catcher Michael Levy '01 tagged Rosado out at home on a squeeze play.
The Eagles added two insurance runs off of Alderson in the seventh. With two out, DiScipio singled to right and then stole second and third on catcher Andrew Cronin who replaced Levy at the beginning of the inning.
Kealty then doubled in his third run of the game with a shot down the right-field line. Hubbard bounced a single up the middle to score Kealty putting BC up 4-1.
Dartmouth threatened a comeback in both the eighth and ninth innings against relievers Erik Olson and Matt Elfeldt.
After coming in for starter Matt Lederhos and pitching two solid innings, Olson allowed the leadoff hitter to get on in the eighth when Derek Draper '02 pinch hit for Becker and smacked a single into right.
Olson got Cooper Chapin '04 to bounce into a double-play and then struck out Scott Shirrell '04 after Joe Rockers '01 singled to right.
Elfeldt had similar troubles in the top of the ninth. After getting Mike Mileusnic '03 to fly to center, Elfeldt allowed a ground ball single to right to pinch hitter Jason Dacosta '03.
Cronin walked, to bring up Cushman. Elfeldt struck the left-handed hitter out before inducing a ground ball from Lucas which allowed Cronin to be forced out at second to end the game.
Both teams pitched well, as neither squad could manage more than seven hits. The key for BC was holding Levy and Shirrell, who are among the nation's top hitters with batting averages of .451 and .422 respectively, to one hit in seven at-bats.
Rockers was the only Dartmouth player with multiple hits, going 2-3 as Dartmouth was held without an extra-base hit in the loss. Graves record drops to 2-2 on the season while Lederhos improved to 3-2 for BC (18-16).
Dartmouth will travel to Yale on Saturday at 12 p.m. to take on the Elis. The scheduled game for today against Plymouth State has been rescheduled for May 1.
