Columbia (25-19, 14-6 Ivy) will host the best-of-three series, which begins with a doubleheader on Saturday. Game three will be played on Sunday should the teams split the first two games.
Dartmouth (23-15, 13-7 Ivy) entered the weekend series with Harvard (17-25, 10-10 Ivy) needing to win just one of the four games to clinch the Rolfe Division. The series did not start well for the Big Green, as it dropped both games in Cambridge on Saturday. It was the first time Dartmouth lost both games of an Ivy League doubleheader since 2007.
Between its 8-4 loss in game one and its 15-7 loss in game two, Dartmouth committed six errors and allowed eight unearned runs. The eight runs tied the number of unearned runs the Big Green had allowed in its 34 games prior to the Harvard series.
"When you don't do the thing that's been your mainstay, that's unsettling," manager Bob Whalen said of Dartmouth's lackluster defense.
Sunday was Senior Day for the Big Green, as Dartmouth's five seniors played their final home games at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park. College President Jim Yong Kim threw a perfect strike in the ceremonial first pitch.
Hendricks took the mound for Dartmouth in game one and was spectacular, allowing just two hits in a complete-game shutout victory. Hendricks retired 20 of the 22 batters he faced.
The only blemishes on Hendricks' record were a third-inning single by Chris Rouches (who was immediately retired as part of an inning-ending double play) and a seventh-inning single by Jeff Reynolds. Hendricks ranks second in the Ivy League with 51 strikeouts.
"Definitely the best game I've pitched at Dartmouth," Hendricks said. "In my life, it's way up there. I threw a lot of fastballs. I had some sink on my fastball today and I was hitting my spots with it."
Whalen said he was also impressed with the performance.
"I don't know how you can pitch much better," he said. "He's a special kid."
Equally impressive was the offensive performance of first baseman Brooks, who went 3-3 with three extra-base hits and six RBIs. Brooks was just a single shy of a cycle, but was denied his fourth plate appearance when Jake Carlson '12 grounded into an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the sixth inning. Brooks singled in his first plate appearance of game two. He was 6-7 overall on the day, with eight RBIs.
"Honestly, it didn't matter to me," Brooks said about the cycle. "It's more important that we won."
Brooks got started in the second inning, hitting a three-run homer his fifth of the season off Crimson pitcher Dan Zailskas, giving the Big Green a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the third, Carlson was hit by a pitch with two outs and Brooks followed by smashing a double, scoring Carlson. Brooks was unable to add to his Ivy League-leading five triples on the play, as he slipped rounding second base and was thrown out in a rundown.
Dartmouth continued its assault on the Crimson pitching in the fourth, as Sam Bean '11 hit his first career triple to drive in two runs and extend the Big Green's lead to 6-0. Brooks was at it again in the fifth, hitting a triple with runners on first and third for RBIs number five and six on the day. Dartmouth tacked on one more in the sixth, making the final margin of victory 9-0.
The Big Green took the second game of Sunday's doubleheader, 9-7, behind a go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning from Matt Peterson '13. It was Peterson's first collegiate hit.
Kyle Hunter '13 pitched six solid innings, only allowing one run while striking out seven. Junior closer Ryan Smith '11 got the win, his third of the year.
Dartmouth will seek its second consecutive Ivy League championship, and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament that accompanies it, as they take on Columbia in New York City, N.Y., on Saturday.
