"BC is a real good team. We played right with them and we were beating them through seven innings, but their big bats finally came through," co-captain Josh Faiola '06 said.
Dartmouth ends the year with a 20-19 record overall. The Big Green finished with a 13-7 mark in the Ivy League, losing the Red Rolfe Division title to Harvard in the final day of conference play.
Princeton, the Lou Gehrig Division champion, swept the Crimson in Cambridge on Saturday afternoon, 9-3 and 8-2, to claim the Ivy League title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Up 6-3 after seven innings of play, the Big Green could not stop BC (26-21-1) in the top of the eighth, as the Eagles went on to score six runs in the final two innings to take the victory. The Eagles connected for five runs on three singles in the eighth, and tacked on the additional run on a one-run double after second baseman Johnathon Santopadre '09 dropped a fly ball to allow the leadoff batter to safely reach first.
After trading runs in the first, the Big Green scored one run in the second and two in the third inning to take the lead, 4-2. In the second, starting pitcher and designated hitter Ryan Marten '09 led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Jack Monahan '09 put runners on the corners with a one-out single, and Erik Bell drove in Marten with a single on the next at-bat.
BC responded with a run off a wild pitch from Jeff Wilkerson '07 in the top of the third. A fielding error on Raymond Allen '09's hit to Eagle third baseman Eric Campbell in the bottom of the frame with no outs drove in Tommy Myette '06 and advanced Damon Wright '08 to second base. Wright later scored on two straight walks from pitcher Ted Ratliff.
After an error by Allen at third base and a wild pitch brought BC shortstop Ryan Hutchinson from first to third, a two-out sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth cut the Big Green's lead to 4-3. Myette had a hand in both Dartmouth runs in the seventh inning, connecting for an RBI double to left-center and then scoring on a one-out single from Michael Pagliarulo '09.
The Big Green went through four different pitchers on the afternoon, combining to allow 13 hits while striking out one. The loss went to Russell Young '08, whose record fell to 3-3 after he gave up the tying and winning run to BC after entering with one out in the eighth inning.
For the season, Will Bashelor '07 led the team with a .382 batting average, 11 doubles, five triples and 41 runs scored, while finishing second on the team with 32 RBI. The junior outfielder, who collected All-Ivy first team honors in 2005, also was first on the team with a .569 slugging percentage and 18 stolen bases (on 21 attempts).
Third baseman Myette, third with a .308 average and 30 runs batted in, was tops on the squad with three home runs. Second baseman Santopadre led all freshman with 38 games played and finished his first collegiate season batting .295 and a .398 on-base percentage from the leadoff spot.
Faiola capped off his career in the Dartmouth uniform with what he called a "successful" senior year, going 6-2 in eight starts with a 2.45 ERA and 38 strikeouts to lead the pitching staff.
The Big Green will only lose five players to graduation.
"I can't begin to say how awesome my experience was at Dartmouth on and off the field," Faiola said. "It was easy to be a captain with this team because we had good leadership from Tommy and myself as well as from [Chris] Lapointe ['06] and [John] Huelskamp ['06]. I think the thing that we impressed upon the younger guys the most is the importance to work hard and to never give up."
Faiola also had a bold prediction for the young, talented squad.
"Our team was young this year and played in some big, close games and that's only going to make them better next year. Our pitchers threw great. We're going to have a great herd next year. Next year's team is going to tear apart this league; they're definitely my pre-season pick for 2007 Ivy Champs, but I might be a little biased."
