Tied.
But this time, the two teams have one final shot to decide which one is the best team in the Ivy League.
The Big Green rebounded from an 11-7 loss in game one to win the second game, 16-15, after Columbia rallied from an 11-run deficit in the nightcap Tuesday in Hanover.
"We didn't play our best baseball in the first game," Jim Wren '10 said. "But we had the confidence to come back and win the second game."
Dartmouth (24-15, 15-5 Ivy) and Columbia (20-24, 15-5 Ivy) ended the regular season with identical conference records, but the Big Green earned home field through tiebreakers.
Columbia broke a 3-3 tie in game one with a five-run fifth inning while the Big Green struggled to sustain rallies against the Lions' pitching. Columbia ended two innings when Dartmouth had loaded the bases.
Columbia starter Joe Scarlata earned the win in the opener, giving up four runs on nine hits and striking out five batters.
Centerfielder Nick Cox and second baseman Henry Perkins led the way for Columbia's offense. Cox was four for six hitting in the first game, scoring twice and driving in one run from the leadoff position. Perkins also scored twice and drove in a run, going four for six at the plate.
"Our guys did a real good job with the at-bats, making guys work with it and just making the most of it," Columbia head coach Brett Boretti said.
Senior lefthander Russell Young '08 took the loss, his fourth of the season. Young gave up 11 runs on 20 hits, striking out five in seven and two-thirds innings of work.
"[Russ] made some mistakes and they made him pay for it," Big Green head coach Bob Whalen, who is vying for his first Ivy title in his 19 years as Dartmouth's skipper, said. "And at the end I had to leave him out there because at that point you're playing for a three-game series."
Dartmouth, playing as the away team in the second game, came out hot, scoring six runs in the first three innings for a 6-3 lead. By the fifth inning, the Big Green had piled 10 runs on Lions starter John Baumann, who left the game in the fifth inning.
Columbia's Max Lautmann, working in relief, could not stop Dartmouth's eight-run fifth. He gave up four more runs while trying to get the third out of the inning. Eventually Joey Mizzoni came in to bring Lions out of the inning.
Despite the 14-3 deficit, the Lions did not roll over. Columbia responded with nine runs between the fifth and sixth innings to close Dartmouth's lead to 14-12, and tacked on three more runs in the seventh and eighth, tying the game at 15-15.
"At that time you just forget about the score and take it one inning at a time," Boretti said. "We finally stopped the bleeding a bit and got them to put up a couple zeros and got a few crooked numbers on the scoreboard [to] put ourselves back in the game."
Facing with the possibility of losing the Ivy League title in the top of the ninth, Dartmouth was able to prevent extra innings as Damon Wright '08 scored the winning run on a ground ball single from Jason Blydell '08.
Working in relief, Ryan Smith '11 closed out the game, inducing foul ball pop-ups to earn his second win. Smith gave up just one hit in one and two-third innings of pitching.
Starter Chase Carpenter '08 left the game in the sixth inning after giving up 11 runs on 10 hits. Carpenter walked four batters and struck out two.
Mizzoni took the loss for Columbia, falling to 0-2 on the season. He gave up two runs on two hits, walking one and striking out four in three and one-thirds innings of work. He gave up the winning run in the ninth inning before leaving without an out.
Following the two-game split, both teams claimed to have the momentum going into the deciding game three, which will take place today in Hanover at 1 p.m.
The Lions said that coming back from being down 14-3 after the fifth has given them the edge heading into the third game.
"I think we feel good about what just happened, and we're going to try to roll it into tomorrow," Boretti said after the second game. "It's just a confidence builder."
Nick Santomauro '10 disagreed, and said that Dartmouth's victory has given the team the momentum going into the third contest.
"We're confident," he said. "I think coach Whalen said it best: 'Columbia shouldn't have let us win the second game today.'"
Santomauro was four for eight at the plate Tuesday, belting three home runs and driving in five runs.
Dartmouth and Columbia will square off in the rubber game of the series at Red Rolfe Field today. Jake Pruner '11 is expected to start for Dartmouth and freshman Geoff Whitaker will take the mound for Columbia.
