"Winning [the Ivy League Championship] again was surreal," captain Rob Young '10 said. "It showed a lot of heart by our team."
Dartmouth will likely earn another No. 4 Regional seed in the Regional tournament.
This year's team didn't start as strongly as last year's squad, which won its first 11 conference games en route to an 16-4 conference record and home field advantage in the Ivy League Championship. This year, the team started 4-4 in conference play, however, before it swept Yale University and took three of four from Brown University, allowing it to seize the Rolfe Division lead.
"It was the greatest feeling in the world," shortstop Joe Sclafani '12 said. "It was pretty special because we had all those ups and downs."
Though the team will have to wait until May 31 to find out which Regional it will be placed into for the tournament, head coach Bob Whalen has been hard at work trying to schedule games to keep the Big Green playing during the interim. Last weekend, Dartmouth beat Division III school Castleton State College at home, 14-4, before losing, to Boston College, 10-4, on the road.
Whalen said the team will also use intrasquad scrimmages in order to replicate game conditions.
"We have to find a way to try and stay sharp," Whalen said. "The big thing is finding ways to continue to compete."
The four-team Regionals will begin on June 4 and run through June 7 in a double-elimination format. The Regional champion advances to the Super Regionals, where teams will compete to play in the College World Series.
Despite losing both of its games in the Chapel Hill Regional last year, the players are optimistic that they have learned from that experience.
"Last year, in our first game we played the [No. 4] University of North Carolina," Sclafani said. "We played them really tough. We wound up losing, but that experience was pretty good for us. It showed us that we could play with anyone."
Last year's team clinched Dartmouth's first tournament bid since 1987. Though the Big Green squad played the Tar Heels close, it was eliminated from the tournament after a 16-0 loss to the University of Kansas in the second game of the Regional.
"We went up against some really good competition last year," Young said. "We were a little complacent. We had settled a little bit. Ending the season that way was not that fun."
Two years ago, Fresno State University became the first four seed to win the National Championship, which offers hope for the Big Green.
"We're going to get one of the top teams in the country," Young said of Dartmouth's possible opponents.
The Big Green already has experience against top Division I competition, dropping two games to the No. 1 University of Virginia in early March. A strong spring trip, including a hard-fought loss to Ohio State University (then ranked No. 22 in the country), contributed to Dartmouth's optimism that it can compete in this year's Regional.
"We want to impress some people and surprise some people," Young said.
If the team is to have success, it will likely need its standout players to deliver.
Last week, freshman catcher Chris O'Dowd '13 was selected as the Ivy League co-Rookie of the Year by the conference coaches, and five other Big Green players earned All-Ivy honors for their role in the League champion. First baseman Jason Brooks '11, Sclafani, outfielder Jake Carlson '12 and relief pitcher Cole Sulser '12 all received second team honors. O'Dowd and pitcher Kyle Hendricks '12 both earned honorable mention honors.
According to Whalen, in order to have success at Regionals the entire team will need to play well.
"You have to play well in all phases of the game, or you pay for it," Whalen said. "You have to be ready to play your best baseball of the year."
For the Big Green, that means throwing strikes and playing error-free defense. Dartmouth has been among the national leaders in both walks allowed per nine innings and fielding percentage all season.
The Regional tournament begins on June 4.
