On a blisteringly cold day with snow that forced the game to be delayed twice, Big Green baseball's offense was just as cold as the weather. The Dartmouth baseball team dropped its season opener on the road against the Bearcats of Cincinnati, 9-1. The final score suggests a blowout victory for the Bearcats, but the game was closely contested. The Big Green hung tough against Cincinnati for the majority of the game, but a late grand slam by Cincinnati's Neall French gave the Bearcats the decisive victory.
The Big Green (0-1, 0-0 Ivy) could not take advantage of the Bearcats' sloppy fielding. Cincinnati committed five errors on the day and gave Dartmouth numerous opportunities to start a scoring rally, but the lineup couldn't get hits in bunches and stranded 10 runners on base.
Although the inclement weather made things difficult for the Big Green, captain Russell Young '08 did not use it as an excuse for the team's loss.
"It was really cold and nasty out there so the conditions were bad. However, both teams had to deal with it so we can't use it as an excuse for why we lost," Young said.
The Bearcats (4-5, 0-0 Big East) struck early against Big Green starter Jeff Wilkerson '07. In the first inning, Cincinnati's first baseman Tony Campana hit an infield single and stole second to start off the game, and was driven in two batters later by a fielder's choice on a Josh Harrison grounder. Harrison scored later in the frame on a passed ball.
Cincinnati followed up in the next inning with Michael Early and French reaching base on a single and an error. Although the Big Green was able to get Early out at third on a botched bunt by the Bearcats, rightfielder Michael Obyc drove French home on a RBI ground ball later in the frame.
After the second inning, Wilkerson settled into a rhythm and engaged in a pitchers' duel with Cincinnati's sophomore ace Steve Blevins, a former freshman All-American, and the scoring stopped until the sixth.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Big Green offense scored its only run in the game. Ray Allen '09 got on base with a fielder's choice and got a free pass to second on a throwing error. After Andrew Nacario '07 grounded out to advance Allen to third, Nick Santomauro '10 drove Allen home by chopping infield single in front of the pitcher. Santomauro had a solid game in his first contest in a Big Green uniform, going two for four with a RBI.
However, that was as close as the Big Green would get, as the Bearcats broke open the game in the seventh inning. Bobby Steinsdoerfer '07, who came in to relieve Wilkerson, loaded the bases by handing out three walks. French made him pay with a grand slam that hooked around the right field pole and effectively put the game out of reach for the Big Green.
Cincinnati tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning off of reliever Miller Aldrich '10 to reach the final tally.
Blevins (1-3), cursed with poor run support up until this game, picked up his first victory of the season. The loss went to Wilkerson (0-1), despite giving up only one earned run in six innings of work.
Young commented on the difficulties in playing the first game of the season.
"The first game is always interesting, because of the jitters and everything that you have to work out," Young said. "We played pretty well, and most of the mistakes that we saw today were typical early-season mistakes. We were in the game for the most part, but it just got away from us at the end."
The Big Green and the Bearcats played in a double-header on Sunday, but the results of the games were not available at press time.
Dartmouth's next game will be during their spring break trip to the IMG Academy in Brandenton, Fla. The Big Green will open up their trip with a game against Fairfield University on Thursday, March 15.
