With the win against Princeton on Sunday, manager Bob Whalen surpassed Jeff Tesreau as Dartmouth's all-time winningest manager. In 21 seasons at the helm, Whalen has a career record of 384-405-1.
In the first game of the weekend, a strong effort from starter Robert Young '10 was not enough to get by Cornell (6-9, 2-2 Ivy) and their ace, Corey Pappel as the Big Red prevailed, 2-0. Pappel scattered three hits over seven shutout innings, going the distance for the win. He did not allow a Dartmouth (8-10, 2-2 Ivy) hitter to advance past second base.
"When his slider's working, he's tough to hit," said Joe Sclafani '12, who had two of the Big Green's three hits.
Young (1-2) was almost as impressive, surrendering just two runs over six innings pitched while striking out five. A Frank Hager RBI single in the first inning and an RBI groundout from Nate David in the third were the only blemishes on Young's record.
"I was pretty happy with [the start]," Young said. "I made some adjustments that allowed me to get stronger as the game went on."
Whalen added that he was pleased with how his senior captain performed on Saturday, especially when matched up with a pitcher as talented as Pappel.
"It's not easy carrying the burden," Whalen said. "You're always facing the other team's top guy."
If the first Cornell game was a pitcher's duel, the second was anything but, as Dartmouth exploded for 16 runs and 15 hits in a 16-1 victory.
Although Dartmouth fell behind 1-0 in the second inning, Ben Murray '10 blanketed the Big Red the rest of the way to earn his first victory on the season. In eight innings of work, Murray gave up just five hits and walked one before yielding to Max Langford 12, who pitched a scoreless ninth.
"We needed Ben to step up and take control of the game, and that's exactly what he did," Young said. "That's probably the best I've seen him pitch since he's been at Dartmouth."
The damage began in the fifth inning, when, with the score tied 1-1, David Turnbull '12 scored when a throwing error by pitcher Matt Hill allowed Sclafani to reach second base. Two batters later, Jeff Onstott '11 singled to center, scoring Sclafani and Ennis Coble '13 to give the Big Green a 4-1 lead.
"Onstott had good at bats all day," Whalen said. "He hit some balls right on the screws."
Dartmouth used a six-run sixth inning and a five-run seventh inning to break the game wide open.
Offensively, several Big Green players had big days at the plate in the second game. Coble went 2-5 with four runs scored and two RBIs. Onstott was 2-4 with 5 RBIs, while Chris O'Dowd '13 was 4-5 with three runs scored.
Sclafani said the key was that Dartmouth was able to string hits together in game two, something the Big Green was unable to do against the dominant Pappel in game one.
"The second game we started getting some leadoff runners on and guys were getting timely hits," Sclafani said.
In the first game against Princeton, a 2-0 loss, Dartmouth fell victim to another dominating pitching performance as Zak Hermans outdueled Kyle Hendricks '12, despite Hendricks' 11 strikeouts. It is the second time this season that Hendricks (1-3) has recorded 11 strikeouts.
In the second game against Princeton (7-15, 2-2 Ivy), the Big Green rallied against a ninth-inning deficit thanks to some late-game heroics from O'Dowd to record a 5-4 win. Trailing 4-3 entering the ninth, O'Dowd hit his first collegiate home run to tie the game.
In the 10th, he doubled home Brett Gardner '10 to put Dartmouth up 5-4. Ryan Smith '11 pitched a scoreless 10th to record his second save of the season.
Dartmouth faces Williams College in its home opener tomorrow at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park, with the first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
