The contest in Hamden, Conn., called short due to darkness, was the first for the Big Green following a 2-7 spring-break campaign in California and Washington from March 16-26, with both victories coming against nationally ranked opponents.
Against Quinnipiac, the Big Green men found themselves down early in the first inning. The Bobcats scored five unearned runs off of two Dartmouth errors, highlighted by Jeff Mainetti's two-out, three-run homer to centerfield, and added another run in the second inning on a solo shot by Tim Binkoski to go ahead 6-0.
Dartmouth soon found an offensive rhythm in a six-hit, seven-run third inning that forced Bobcats starter Ryan Walfield out of the game. The Big Green connected for five straight hits, which included RBI singles by Erik Bell '08 and Johnathon Santopadre '09 and a double by Myette that drove in Santopadre and Jason Blydell '08.
Two errors proved costly for the Bobcats as Myette was able to score from second on consecutive mishandles by third basemen John Delany and shortstop Wilson Matos. With Kyle Cavanaugh '09 on second and Damon Wright '08 advancing to third following the errors, Kyle Evans '09, the designated hitter, grounded out to first to drive in Wright. Raymond Allen '09 then hit an RBI single to left field to bring Cavanaugh home. Jack Monahan '09 hit into a 9-4-3 double play to end the frame. After Bell was caught stealing in the top of the fourth inning, Santopadre knocked a ground-rule double down the left-field line and Myette was hit by a pitch from Paul Gibson to set up a single by Wright to load the bases. Cavanaugh advanced on another error by Delany to bring home Santopadre from third and Evans drew a timely walk during the next at-bat to score Myette. His run gave the Green a 9-6 lead midway through the contest.
Quinnipiac struck back in the bottom half of the frame with a three-run outburst to knot the score. Ryan Rizzo led off the inning with a solo home run. Two singles and a hit batter then led to a two-run single for the Bobcats.
Chase Carpenter '08 left the game after giving up nine runs, four earned, and eleven hits with three strikeouts. His replacement, Ryan Marten '09, cooled off the Bobcats by striking out the last two batters to end the inning.
After Blydell scored off an error in the fifth inning to give the Big Green a 10-9 advantage, Faiola relieved Marten and worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam at the bottom of the frame to preserve the lead.
Dartmouth added two more runs in the sixth, with Wright scoring on a wild pitch after a leadoff triple to right-center field and Evans scoring from third following a fielder's choice. Faiola got two Bobcat hitters to strike out looking.
Myette added another run in the seventh on an RBI single to put Dartmouth ahead 13-9. The Bobcats began to mount a comeback with a two-run performance at the bottom of the inning, but Zeis was able to stop the damage with two strikeouts in the eighth to earn his second save of the season.
The Quinnipiac contest was the Big Green's first following a nine-game West Coast trip. After dropping a 7-6 heartbreaker to UC Santa Barbara, Dartmouth recorded its first victory of its West Coast trip on March 17 in a 3-2 eleven-inning marathon win against then-No. 26 Pepperdine.
Five days later Dartmouth downed then No. 28 Cal Poly 6-4 in the first game of a two-game series, ending a three-game skid that included two losses to Pepperdine in the final contests of the three-game series. Dartmouth ended its travels with a 7-4 loss to the Mustangs the following day and two lopsided loses to Gonzaga in Spokane, 14-7 and 13-2.
The Big Green opens up its Ivy League schedule this weekend with two away games, starting with a double-header against Cornell beginning at 11:30 a.m. in Ithaca, N.Y. on Saturday, followed by an 11:30 a.m. match-up with Princeton on Sunday in New Jersey.
