While many of their classmates baked in the sun or frolicked on vacation, the Dartmouth baseball team took their show on the road for spring break. The Big Green played 11 games in Florida in as many days and returned to Hanover with a 7-7 record and some fabulous farmer's tans.
The team's first game in Bradenton established the squad as one for the record books when the Big Green tied school records for home runs in a single game and for RBIs. Dartmouth surpassed Fairleigh Dickinson with a score of 23-9 and lifted five home runs off the Knights pitching staff. The home run record matches that from a game on April 26, 1968 and the RBI record goes back to April 21, 1967.
Dartmouth attacked early, scoring twelve runs in the first three innings and igniting a nine-run sixth inning. In the sixth, eight of the runs came with two outs.
Seth Emery '06 led the team in RBIs with six, going three for five. Jeff Speights '05 drove in five runs, going three for four, drawing a walk and scoring three runs. Captain Pat Dowling '04 recorded the win, despite giving up eight runs over five innings.
The team's second contest in Florida against Fairfield drew a win under the leadership of captain Tim Grant '04 who pitched eight scoreless innings for his first win of the season. Speights fired up the offense with his third home run in two days. Dartmouth struck early again with a RBI single from Speights with Ed Lucas '04 on third.
Dartmouth then lost a close game to Iowa 4-3. Josh Bailey '05 drove in two runs with three hits and Josh Faiola '06 got the loss despite pitching seven innings and giving up six hits and four runs, with only two earned. The Iowa pitching staff gave up 13 hits; but did not allow the Big Green to capitalize, forcing them to leave 15 batters on base.
On March 19th, Matt Daley, Bucknell's starting pitcher, stole the show with a would-be no-hitter until Will Bashelor '07 hit a double to center field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to break up Daley's bid. The Bucknell offense steadily chipped out a lead throughout the game. They broke the game wide open, however, during the eighth and ninth innings, plating five runs in each.
Fired up after a fruitless day at the plate, the Dartmouth offense hoped to get a lead early in their first game of two against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. With the scored tied 1-1 through the sixth inning Marty Hebert '05 put Dartmouth ahead, driving in Brian Zurhellen '05 with a single. Zurhellen and Speights both had RBI singles in the seventh to make the final score 4-1. Mike Madson '05 and Nick Peay '05 combined for three scoreless innings, with Peay recording his second save of the 2004 season.
In a doubleheader the next day, the team hoped to continue their success against Wisconsin-Milwaukee and got out to an early 2-0 lead through the first three innings. Wisconsin's starting pitcher, Koery Keller, was replaced by Ben Stanczyk, who the rest of limited the Big Green bats to one run and four hits. After Dartmouth scored a third run in the fourth, Wisconsin scored eight runs over the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Five of these runs were earned after the Big Green defense committed three errors.
In the nightcap, the Big Green faced Wright State. After opening up a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth, Wright State almost gave it right back to Dartmouth.
The Big Green's bid for a seventh inning comeback fell just short after Bashelor and Scott Sherrill '04 had back-to-back singles to open up the inning. Lucas loaded the bases and Speights drove in three runs with a base-clearing double. The comeback did not come to fruition, however, when Zurhellen and Bailey failed to come up with hits to continue the inning. Shirrell went four for four with two runs scored and two RBIs against Wright State.
The losing streak continued against Florida on their home turf in Gainesville on March 24. Grant gave up eight runs over five innings to the Florida offense, which would be all they would need to secure the victory. Dartmouth lost 11-6 despite a solid showing by their bullpen. Florida improved to 21-5 with their win.
Dartmouth finished up their stand in Bradenton winning two out of three games against Northwestern. In the first contest, Faiola pitched eight innings, giving up one earned run over eight hits.
The bats provided more run support than Faiola would need, scoring ten runs in the game. Faiola also received clutch defensive support from catcher Zurhellen whose throw to Lucas at shortstop caught Northwestern's Caleb Field stealing.
Dartmouth would go on to win their second game against Northwestern by a smaller margin, but with equal success at the plate. Stephen Perry '07 pitched six innings, striking out eight. Peay picked up his third save of the season with only one-third of an inning.
Tommy Myette '06, Lucas and Zurhellen all had outstanding days at the plate. Myette had a homerun and a double driving in and scoring two runs. Lucas hit three singles, crossed the plate three times and drove in one run. Zurhellen drove in three runs with a double and a homerun.
Despite the success against Northwestern in the first games against the Wildcats, the Big Green waited to late to pounce on the Northwestern pitching staff. Saving its six runs for the last three innings of the game, the Big Green was unable to overcome the five run seventh inning posted by the Wildcats against Jeff Wilkerson '07.
The offense proved its run-producing capabilities during the games in Florida with many high scoring contests. Grant also noted the importance of the positive performance by both freshmen and players who have not established themselves on the team thus far.
"The trip definitely bodes well for the season, particularly with how well our freshman did," Grant said.
The team travels to Connecticut to face Quinnipiac at 3 p.m. on Wednesday and looks ahead to a weekend of highly anticipated Ivy League competition and endless bus trips with games at Princeton and Cornell on Saturday and Sunday.
