The Ivy title qualifies Dartmouth for an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals tournament.
Dartmouth rookie Chris O'Dowd '13 and leadoff hitter Joe Sclafani '12 both had success at the plate in the series. In the final two games, O'Dowd collected six hits, two walks, six runs scored and five RBIs, while Sclafani went 7-11, with four runs scored and three RBIs.
Big Green relief pitcher Cole Sulser '12 picked up big outs coming out of the bullpen earning the win in game two and getting the save in game three. Sulser threw six and one-third innings in relief over the weekend, and allowed only two runs while striking out six Lions batters.
In the rubber match of the series, played on Sunday, Dartmouth got on the board early. Jim Wren '10 brought Sclafani home with a sacrifice fly in the first to give the Big Green an early lead.
After Columbia took a 3-1 lead in the fourth, Dartmouth countered with a three-run fifth to reclaim the lead. The Big Green would then hold onto the lead after a four-run seventh inning, with the help of a costly passed ball and a throwing error committed by the Lions defense.
Rookie pitcher Kyle Hunter '13 picked up the win by scattering seven hits over five and two-third solid innings while Sulser picked up the save.
"[Sulser] really hit his spots well and executed his pitches," O'Dowd said. "He went right after the hitters and kept the ball down in the zone."
After losing the first game on Saturday, the Dartmouth hitters came out swinging in the second game of the day seeing only four pitches before getting on the board. After Sclafani led off with a single to left, O'Dowd clubbed a RBI double to centerfield and put Dartmouth up, 1-0. Later in the inning, Jason Brooks '11 drove O'Dowd home with a RBI single.
"Hitting leadoff, I just tried to get on base and give opportunities to the guys behind me in the lineup to drive me in," Sclafani said.
The hitting parade continued in the second inning as Big Green right fielder Brett Gardner '10 drove a two-run home run over the center field fence, giving Dartmouth a 4-0 lead.
Big Green left-handed starter Rob Young '10 cruised through the first two innings before getting into trouble. Columbia scored two runs in the third, two in the fourth and five in the fifth to chase Young from the mound.
Dartmouth reclaimed the lead with consecutive three-run innings in the fifth and sixth, and Wren, the designated hitter, blew the game wide open with a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning.
In game one, the Lions jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Lions left fielder Dario Pizzano and shortstop Alex Ferrera hit back-to-back home runs against Big Green starter Kyle Hendricks '12 to cap off the five-run inning.
The Dartmouth sluggers responded quickly with back-to-back round-trippers of their own. After center fielder Jake Carlson '12 belted a home run to center, third baseman Zack Bellenger '13 hammered an inside fastball to left field, cutting the Lions' lead to three.
The two home runs were the only runs the Big Green scored in game one as Lions starter Pat Lowery baffled the Dartmouth hitters. Lowery only threw 113 pitches to throw a complete game, giving up only two runs while striking out seven.
"[Lowery] threw three pitches for strikes," Brooks said. "He threw a fastball, slider and split-finger and used both sides of the plate."
Columbia then produced a six-run fifth inning, which chased starter Hendricks from the game. The lone bright spot in the inning occurred when Sam Bean '11 made a back-handed grab in the shallow left and cut off another potential Columbia run with a strong throw to home plate.
Weather at Columbia's Robertson Field had a major impact on the games as rain delayed the start of the first game by more than 40 minutes and wind gusts of 40 miles per hour made every fly ball an adventure for the fielders.
"The wind had a big factor in the games," first baseman Brooks said. "If we played at our home field, a lot of the home runs would have been easy outs."
The Dartmouth baseball team will now have to wait two weeks to see which opponents it will draw in the opening round of the NCAA Regionals tournament. The Big Green squad looks to improve from last year's performance at Regionals when it went 0-2 with losses against the University of North Carolina and University of Kansas.
