After a demoralizing and frustrating six game losing streak that included four straight Ivy League losses, the Big Green traveled to New York to take on Cornell and Princeton in four vital league contests. Dartmouth traveled, yet played as the home team due to the fact that the games were originally supposed to be played in Hanover, the snow capital of the Ivy League. The Green desperately needed to pick up at least three wins in order to avoid falling out of league title contention. In Saturday's doubleheader, the Big Green rose to the occasion, riding on the back of sophomore Brian Zurhellen.
Cornell could not stop the Big Green bats in the first game. Dartmouth put up 10 runs in the second inning highlighted by a grand slam home run by Zurhellen. Zurhellen was at it again in a third inning, with a three-run blast giving him seven RBIs on the game.
The Big Green continued to pour it on with Scott Shirrell '04 hitting a three-run homer of his own in the fifth. All told, the Big Green put together their finest offensive performance of the season, bashing Cornell pitchers for 20 runs. Zurhellen, Shirrell, Jeff Speights '05, Mike Mileusnic '03 and Ed Lucas '04 all contributed multi-hit games. Jason DaCosta '03 and Cooper Chapin '04 both scored three runs in the contest. Shirrell continued his assault on the Dartmouth record books, moving into eighth place in team history in both home runs and runs scored.
In the field, Josh Faiola '06 used his extensive run support and a flawless defensive effort to throw his second consecutive complete game. Faiola gave up five earned runs in seven innings of work, striking out five and walking only one.
Cornell was able to bounce back from their pounding in the first game and fought the Green tooth and nail in the tail end of the doubleheader. Dartmouth started off early, pulling a double steal in the first inning. Lucas stole second, creating a distraction that allowed DaCosta to swipe home and give the Green an early 1-0 lead. However, Cornell's offense came back and took a 4-2 lead in the top of the fourth inning. That lead soon vanished as Speights jacked a two-run blast to tie the game.
Dartmouth went back on top in the seventh via Mileusnic's RBI double that scored DaCosta who had also doubled earlier in the inning. Starter Tim Grant '04 left the game with the lead after 7 1/3 innings pitched. Grant allowed four earned runs, striking out nine and walking five. Reliever Brian Gattis '04 could not quite hold Cornell's bats the rest of the way. Cornell scored one in the top of the ninth on back to back hits to send the game into extra innings. Gattis continued to weave his way in and out of trouble, but was able to strand all base runners and keep Cornell off the scoreboard.
With the score still knotted at 5-5 in the bottom of the 11th inning, Speights singled to left and was taken our for a pinch runner. The next hitter, Zurhellen, made the substitution a mute point by cranking his third home run of the day to end the game in walk-off fashion. Although it was his only hit of the second game, Zurhellen made it count big time and the Big Green was again victorious 7-5. Lucas, DaCosta, and Mileusnic each had two hits in the game while Speights led the way with three.
Riding high after two consecutive victories, the Big Green tried to keep their momentum against the Tigers of Princeton.
In the first game, the Green were held scoreless until they erased a 3-0 Princeton lead with four runs in the third inning. Dartmouth clawed and scratched for their first four runs, scoring on an RBI single, wild pitch and twice via fielder's choice. The Big Green clung to the lead until the top of the seventh inning when a two-run homer gave the Tigers a 5-4 advantage. Once again the Green squeezed out a run when DaCosta reached on an error and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Lucas to send the game to extra innings. In the eighth, Princeton scored a run and held the Big Green in the bottom half of the inning, handing Dartmouth their first loss of the weekend 6-5.
The final game of the weekend left a sour taste in the mouths of Big Green players and fans as Princeton hitters had their way with Dartmouth pitching in a 15-5 victory. Ed Lucas led Big Green hitters with three hits, including a double and his third home run of the season. Zurhellen collected two hits, as did Shirrell who hit his fourth home run of the season, moving him into a tie for sixth in team history in career home runs.
On Wednesday, the Big Green took on the Panthers of Plymouth State in a tune-up game before a pair of double headers against Brown this weekend. Seth Emory '06 and Shirrell paced the offensive attack on the Panthers' pitching. Shirrell had two hits and drove in a game high four runs while Emory had a team-high three hits adding two RBI. Chapin, DaCosta and John Heulenskamp '06 also added two RBI apiece. Plymouth State took an early 2-0 lead and held Dartmouth scoreless for the first three innings before bursting out back to back five-run innings in the fourth and fifth. On the mound, Mike Madson '05 gave up four runs in four innings of work before being relieved by David Lopez '03, who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win. Chris Lapointe '06 earned the Big Green's first save of the season pitching three scoreless to finish the Panthers in a 13-4 victory.
After splitting the weekend's games Dartmouth has a 2-6 Ivy League record. No doubt this is disappointing to such a talented team, yet thanks to similar struggles to the rest of the Red Rolfe Division members, the Big Green is still in the hunt for the playoffs. Thus far, the Ivy League is college baseball's answer to the NBA with the Lou Gehrig Division dominating its Red Rolfe division opponents. Thus, despite a 2-6 mark, Dartmouth is only one and a half games behind division leaders Harvard, Yale and Brown, with each at 3-5. With the two wins over Cornell, Big Green baseball now has the monkey off its back and is poised to make a run for the Red Rolfe Division title.
The race for the Red Rolfe division title starts this Friday, as Dartmouth takes on Brown in a division showdown. The Bears come into Hanover hot off a two-game sweep of Maine on Wednesday. This should lead to some to some close games between the Bears and the Green this Friday and Saturday.
