"You know it's tough the morale of the team was broken," team captain Jeff Onstott '11 said. "This is what we worked for all year, to get to this point, and we just couldn't pull it off. I feel like we had another very strong team this year but baseball is a funny game."
Dartmouth struggled offensively in the first game of the series, as Princeton (23-22, 15-5 Ivy) put the first run on the board in the second inning. Dartmouth responded in the fourth with a run of its own when, with one out, Chris O'Dowd '13 drew a walk, stole second an out later and advanced to third on a throwing error from the catcher. Onstott doubled to center in the next at-bat to score O'Dowd and put the Big Green on the board.
Dartmouth scored again in the sixth inning. O'Dowd tripled to right field with one out. Brooks flied out to right but scored O'Dowd on the sacrifice. That run would be the last for the Big Green, however, and the Tigers scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead.
Princeton scored twice more in the seventh on a two-run homer. An inning later, the Tigers tacked on four insurance runs to put the game away.
"The first game and most of the second game, we lacked offensive momentum up and down the lineup," Sam Bean '11 said. "We knew we had the ability to score but we just needed a few hits in a row to really get us going."
Kyle Hunter '13 received the loss, pitching eight innings and allowing 15 hits and nine runs. O'Dowd led the team offensively with two runs and two hits.
"We were in the exact same position last year and we won the title so we knew we could still win it all," Bean said. "We were very confident with Kyle Hendricks ['12] on the mound and knew we were going to score more runs than the first game."
Princeton began the second game well, putting up two runs in both the first and second innings. The game quickly turned into a defensive battle, however, with the Tigers retiring Dartmouth in five of the eight innings.
Dartmouth finally got on the board in the seventh inning, when O'Dowd kick-started the offense with one out, reaching second on a dropped fly ball. Onstott homered an out later to narrow the deficit to two.
David Turnbull '12 singled to right field in the next inning, but Jake Carlson '12 grounded into a double play. With the top of the line up at bat, Joe Sclafani '12 doubled to right field. Bean then doubled to left center to score Sclafani and O'Dowd, the winning run, was intentionally walked. Brooks doubled, scoring O'Dowd and Bean and putting the Big Green ahead.
Dartmouth held on to get the final three outs in the ninth, evening the series at one.
Hendricks recorded the win, pitching eight innings and allowing four runs on nine hits. Ryan Smith '11 picked up his fourth save, pitching one inning and registering two strikeouts.
The Big Green has had experience in coming back in a playoff series from an opening-game loss.
"We just kept in mind that this was same position we were in last year down at [Columbia University], and that year we ended up on top in the latter two games," Onstott said. "We just remained poised and confident in our abilities as players and as a team."
Princeton started strongly in the third game and kept its offense going by playing small ball.
The Tigers scored one run in the first and second innings, before the Big Green put a run on the board in the third inning. With one out, Sclafani was hit by a pitch. Bean then singled to right field to advance Sclafani to third, and O'Dowd followed with a single to score Sclafani.
Princeton responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs.
The Big Green scored again in the fourth, when Jeff Keller '14 started the rally with a walk. Turnbull singled to right center to advance Keller to third. Carlson then flied out, but the drive was long enough to score Keller. The Tigers did not let the run go unanswered, scoring again in the bottom of the inning.
The fifth inning looked like it could have been the turning point for the Big Green. With one out, O'Dowd and Brooks hit back-to-back home runs. The rest were retired without consequence, however, and Princeton answered back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
In the eighth, Brooks hit his second home run of the game to tack on another run for Dartmouth. The Big Green failed to score again, however, and Princeton prevailed with the series win.
Mitch Horacek '14 suffered the loss, pitching 2.1 innings and allowing eight hits and four runs. Mike Dodakian '14 pitched 2.2 innings and allowed two runs, while Ryan Smith '11 gave up two runs in three innings.
The loss marked the end of several seniors' accomplished careers. The senior class which included Onstott, Smith, Sam Bean '11, Colin Britton '11, Jason Brooks '11, Brandon Parks '11, Jake Pruner '11 and Dan Ternowchek '11 ended its time at Dartmouth with 109 victories and 66 losses for a winning percentage of .623, a school record. The team also has four Red Rolfe Division titles and two League championships.
"What we have been able to accomplish as a senior class with four division titles, two Ivy titles and being the winningest class ever is an amazing accomplishment," Brooks said. "I am confident these last four years are four years we will never forget."
