Dartmouth (4-13-1, 1-3 Ivy) traveled to the Big Apple on Saturday to face a Lions team that it has not lost to since 2004. Columbia (10-13-1, 5-3 Ivy) started its league schedule last weekend, taking three of four against Penn in a home and home series.
The Big Green loaded the bases in the first inning of game one on a single by Erik Bell '08, followed by two walks by Columbia starter Bill Purdy. Purdy got out of the jam by striking out Michael Pagliarulo '09 and inducing a ground ball out to the shortstop.
The bats remained quiet until the bottom of the third when the Lions scored two runs. Freshman Jason Banos had an RBI triple, and later scored on an error at third by Ray Allen '09.
A single and consecutive doubles in the bottom of the fourth further widened Columbia's lead, before Banos drove in another run on a fielder's choice, then scored from second on an error by Bell.
Dartmouth finally got on the board in the sixth with a home run over the right-centerfield fence by Damon Wright '08, his first of the season.
In the team's last chance at the plate in the top of the seventh, Dartmouth loaded the bases on hits by Jack Monahan '09 and Jason McManis '08, and Bell reached base after being hit by a pitch. Nick Santomauro '10 drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. After a walk, the game ended when Pagliarulo grounded out to third.
Dartmouth starter Robert Young '10 went on the complete game and took the loss, falling to 0-3 on the year in three starts. Columbia's starter, Purdy, took the win and improved to 3-2. Purdy gave up only one fewer hit than Young with seven. Dartmouth's fielding miscues certainly played a role in the final score, with two of Columbia's six runs coming unearned.
"Young was pitching in his first conference game ever. He threw a lot of strikes, but found too much of the strike zone against an offensively powerful team," head coach Bob Whalen said.
Dartmouth's offense turned around in the second half of the doubleheader. Both teams kept the same lineup except for a substitution at the DH spot by Columbia. Jeff Wilkerson '07 went the complete game and led the Big Green to victory with five innings of scoreless pitching.
The game began as a fierce pitchers' duel, and nobody reached third base until the Dartmouth half of the third when Wright singled, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Andrew Nacario '07 then opened the scoring with an RBI single to score Wright.
The Big Green's offense came to life in the fifth with a two-RBI double by Santomauro, who then scored on another two-RBI double by Pagliarulo. Nacario tried to score from first on the hit but was thrown out from right field to end the inning. Santomauro was 2-7 against Columbia with three RBIs.
Dartmouth added insurance runs in the sixth and ninth innings, and Wilkerson held the Lions to three runs, with one coming in each of the sixth, eighth and ninth innings to close out the victory.
"Wilkerson was outstanding," said Whelan. "He dominated the game. He put us in a great position to have a chance to win." Wilkerson had seven strikeouts and one walk in nine innings pitched.
After the split with Columbia, Dartmouth traveled to Philadelphia, Pa., to face the University of Pennsylvania. After splitting a series with Harvard on Saturday, Penn improved its record to 10-11 (4-4 Ivy) by taking both ends of the doubleheader from the Big Green.
Southpaw Russell Young '08 started for the Big Green in the first game of the two-game series, retiring the side in order in the first inning before giving up three runs, one of them unearned, on three hits and two errors in the second.
Dartmouth got on the board early in the first inning with a leadoff single by Bell, who scored on a double by Jason Blydell '08 after advancing into scoring position on an error by freshman Penn starter Todd Roth. This would be all the offense that the Big Green could muster, as Dartmouth had only four base runners total on the game.
Roth threw a five-hit gem, striking out ten of the 28 batters he faced and only walking one. He took the win for the game, improving to 3-1. Young fell to 1-2 in five starts.
"[Young] did very well. Not playing great defense behind him put additional pressure on us where he needed to be exceptional to keep us in the game," said Whelan. Dartmouth had four errors in the seven-inning contest.
"I threw the ball pretty well," Young said, "but there was two innings where I need to do a better job limiting the runs that were scored. We didn't get a lot of run support but that's going to happen."
In the second game, righthander Chase Carpenter '08 took the hill for the Big Green and pitched two scoreless innings before Penn opened the scoring in the third with an RBI triple followed by a sacrifice fly by senior Josh Corn to score junior Jarron Smith.
The score remained 2-0 until Dartmouth tied the game in the sixth. Wright drove in Blydell on a sacrifice line drive, and Santomauro scored on a Nacario double. The tie was short lived, however, as Penn added three runs in the bottom half of the seventh.
After giving up a double and hitting a man, right-handed reliever Kyle Zeis '08 replaced Carpenter. Zeis gave up two sacrifice flies that scored two of the base runners he inherited from Carpenter, then gave up a single to sophomore Tim May. Two of the runs were charged to Carpenter, and one was unearned after an error by Bell.
Dartmouth was unable to muster any more offense in the game, and Penn scored again in the eighth on a homer by freshman William Gordon, the first of his career.
The Big Green takes on Siena in its first home games of the season, a doubleheader Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Red Rolfe Field.
