"We all love playing here at home," Ryan Smith '14 said. "It gives us a lot of confidence going into games, but we try not to think about any stakes because the only game that matters is the one we play that day. I think winning 22 straight games at home just shows how focused we have been as a team this season."
Jake Pruner '11 started in his first game after a three-year absence due to reconstructive elbow surgery during his freshman year. Pruner pitched effectively in his brief two-inning appearance, allowing two hits and one run.
Chris O'Dowd '13 and Brandon Parks '11 each had three hits in the game and seven hitters collected RBIs, including O'Dowd and Parks.
Dartmouth (24-10, 10-6 Ivy) struck early in the game, scoring a run in the first inning. Sam Bean '11 and O'Dowd both singled before Jason Brooks '11 walked to load the bases. Jeff Onstott '11 then hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Bean.
Dan Ternowchek '11 relieved Pruner in the third inning, combining with four other relievers to pitch seven scoreless innings. As the game became more defensive, neither team was able to string together consistent offense until the fifth inning. The Big Green broke a 1-1 tie, however, with a five-run outburst sparked by a Parks single up the middle.
Also in the fifth inning, Joe Sclafani '12 tied Dartmouth's single-season triples record held by George McLaughlin '40, ripping his seventh triple of the season down the right-field line and scoring Parks. Sclafani will have a chance to break the 73-year-old record this weekend against Harvard.
Sclafani then scored off a Bean single up the middle and O'Dowd doubled down the left-field line, bringing Bean home.
Hawks freshman pitcher Andrew Mannello came in to relieve sophomore Tyler Corsi, but failed to shut down Dartmouth's offense. After Onstott grounded out, Ennis Coble '13 doubled to left center, scoring Brooks and giving Dartmouth a 6-1 lead.
Coble added an insurance run in the seventh inning, scoring on a single by Parks.
After Max Langford '12 held Hartford (3-30-1, 1-8 America East) scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings, Colin Britton '11 and Mike Dodakian '14 came in to pitch the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to end the game.
Dartmouth's six pitchers allowed a total of six hits in the game, compared to the Big Green's 13 on offense.
Dartmouth is currently tied for first with Yale University in the Ivy League's Red Rolfe Division standings. The Big Green will play its final regular-season series against Harvard (9-32, 5-1 Ivy) this weekend.
"We're not worried with what Yale does though," Sclafani said. "As long as we play good baseball this weekend, we will be playing in the Ivy League Championship for a fourth straight year."
The Big Green will start a home-and-away series against the Crimson on Saturday, playing the first of two home games on Saturday at 1 p.m.
