Brown scored in every inning of game one on Saturday, ultimately taking the seven-inning contest by a score of 20-3. The Big Green's pitching staff performed poorly but bad defense also contributed to Brown's run total, as seven of the runs were unearned.
The second half of the doubleheader wasn't much better for Dartmouth as Brown took the nightcap 10-3. Starter Jeff Wilkerson '07, trying to recover from a difficult outing against Cornell in which he gave up nine earned runs, again gave up nine runs, six of them earned.
Dartmouth's only runs in game one came in the first inning when James Wren '10 took Brown starter Jeff Dietz deep to right, bringing in Erik Bell '08 who reached base on a double. The Big Green bats were silent after that, as Dietz gave up only three hits in the final six innings while striking out 11 and walking none.
Nine of ten players crossed the plate for Brown and six had multiple RBIs. Freshman Chris Tanabe led the team with five runs batted in and hit his first collegiate home run during Brown's four-run sixth inning off Chase Carpenter '08, who relieved Robert Young '10 in the fourth.
The second game did not bring much of an improvement for Dartmouth. The Bears jumped to an early five-run lead when Wilkerson gave up three home runs in the top of the fourth. Dietz, the starting pitcher from the previous game, went deep to center.
After a strikeout, Brian Tews and Dan Shapiro hit back-to-back homers, with Tews to left field and Shapiro to right to complete the trifecta. Wilkerson hit the next batter, who later scored on an RBI double by J.J. Eno.
"My personal outing against Brown was way better than against Cornell [last weekend]," Wilkerson said. He gave up nine earned runs in four innings pitched against Cornell on April 7. "My stuff was so much better, but Brown can just mash. I wasn't missing my spots, they were just hitting everything."
Wilkerson mentioned that he did not expect head coach Bob Whelan to pull him from the ballgame after giving up three consecutive home runs and that the thought only crossed his mind after hitting the next batter.
Two innings later Tews homered again, and a fielding miscue allowed two more runs to score. When Wilkerson left the game in the seventh, he had given up nine runs, six of them earned, struck out four and walked two.
Wren scored two runs for Dartmouth, first in the fourth on an RBI single by Jason Blydell '08, and later in the seventh on an RBI double by Nick Santomauro '10. Santomauro came around to score and finished the game two for five with two strikeouts.
Wren, Santomauro and Bell are the only Big Green hitters batting above .300 so far this season. Santomauro leads the team with a .420 average in 81 at-bats. He also leads the team in strikeouts with 22 and RBIs with 18. Santomauro is second in batting in the Red Rolfe division, behind Yale's Ryan Lavarnway, who is hitting .444 in 117 at-bats.
Brown's offense continued to roll in the late innings, with one run scored in the seventh and one in the ninth. Starter James Cramphin left in the sixth inning. He struck out 10 of the 26 batters he faced, walking two and giving up one earned run to take the win.
After losing to Quinnipiac 10-2 on Wednesday, April 11, Dartmouth has given up 40 runs in its last three games. Despite the poor performance this past week, the team remains confident.
"Morale is not low. It's just we're at a point where everything is a big deal," Wilkerson said. "We're pressing, we're trying to create things out of nothing and it's just making us more stressed out. We need to relax and play the game as we know we can."
The cancellation of yesterday's scheduled game against Vermont will give the players some extra time on the practice field this week.
"As a team we just have to focus on getting the bats going and as pitchers we need to focus on staying low in the strike zone and not giving up as many hits," Wilkerson said. "We just have to do our jobs and focus on doing our own thing."
The team is scheduled to take on Holy Cross on Wednesday, April 18, at 3:30 p.m., but rain is forecasted for Worcester, Mass., through Thursday.
