Following a disappointing Chapel Hill regional showing in 2009 in which Dartmouth was eliminated after two losses, the Big Green earned its first victory in a NCAA regional in 23 years. The sqaud, however, failed to advance to the next round.
"It was an outstanding experience," Sam Bean '11 said. "The way we went into it was completely different. We showed that we could play with any team in the country."
In the first game, the No. 11 University of Miami stunned Big Green starter Kyle Hendricks '12 with a six-run first inning. Later powered by hits by Bean, Chris O'Dowd '13 and Joe Sclafani '12, the Big Green cut Miami's 11-2 lead to only four runs.
The late rally was not enough, however, and Miami won the game, 12-8.
Dartmouth carried the momentum from the attempted comeback into its second game, earning a 15-9 rout of Florida International University.
Zach Bellenger '13 blasted two homers and Jason Brooks '11 launched a grand slam ball to give the Big Green a 12-8 lead in the sixth inning.
Golden Panther Garrett Wittles entered the game with a 55-game hitting streak. He went 3-5 on the day, extending his hitting streak to 56 games.
Although the Big Green held a 3-2 lead going into the eighth inning of its next game against No. 22 Texas A&M University, the Aggies rallied back with two solo homeruns to send Dartmouth home.
"We had [Texas A&M] against the ropes but we ran into an All-American pitcher and had a little bit of bad luck," Bean said. "I think it prepares us to have a chance to win next year's regional."
During the interim, O'Dowd who led the team with a .384 batting average was one of two Ivy League players to be selected by Collegiate Baseball as a 2010 Louisville Slugger All-American.
Starting pitcher Rob Young '10 was selected by the Chicago white Sox in the 31st round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft over the interim. Selected 938th overall, the southpaw is the 26th Big Green player to be drafted by the MLB.
Dartmouth lacrosse players Ari Sussman '10 and Robby Pride '10 were also selected in this spring's Major League Lacrosse draft.
Sussman was selected 31st overall by the Chicago Machine. Pride followed in the eighth round as the 47th overall pick by the Denver Outlaws.
Shortly after the end of the spring term, the Dartmouth men's rugby team competed in the inaugural USA 7's Rugby Collegiate Championship Invitational, which was broadcasted nationally by NBC.
Despite shrinking its normal squad of 15 players on the field to seven, Dartmouth finished with a respectable 2-2 record after losing in the quarterfinals.
"Dartmouth has a good tradition of Rugby 7's," rugger Paul Jarvis '12 said. "The game places a lot more emphasis on skill rather than brute strength."
The Big Green started the tournament strong with back-to-back wins, but was later knocked out with a 17-7 loss in the quarterfinals against San Diego State University.
The men's heavyweight team, also active over break, rowed at the IRA National Championship in Camden, N.J.
Lined up against several Ivy League foes in the semifinals, the Big Green needed at least a third-place finish to advance to the Grand final. The top four teams finished less than a second apart, with Dartmouth missing third place by .59 seconds.
The Big Green finished second in the Petite final the following day.
