Against Quinnipiac, the Big Green scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning, which turned out to be all starting pitcher Louis Concato '14 needed to secure a Big Green win.
"All my pitches felt like they were working," Concato said. "We got the hits we needed."
After Quinnipiac took a one-run lead in the top of the first, the Bobcats' center fielder Brian Ruditys dropped a pop fly by Dustin Selzer '14 with the bases loaded. The Big Green scored two runs on the error and added another two more when Ennis Coble '13 and Matt Robinson '15 each tacked on an RBI.
"Any time you can get some runs early, it's a huge boost for the team overall," co-captain Joe Sclafani '12 said.
Concato responded on the mound, and the Big Green pitcher did not surrender a run over the next five innings.
"It definitely builds some confidence and allowed me to settle in," Concato said.
Concato fooled the Bobcat batters, mixing in changeups and curveballs to collect four strikeouts while surrendering only one walk. After Big Green reliever Max Langford '12 escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and found himself in more trouble in the eighth, Thomas Olson '15 was called in from the bullpen.
Olson, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week, gave up two runs before shutting the Bobcats down to collect the final six outs of the game. The save was Olson's fifth of the year.
Against BC on Wednesday, Chris England '15 turned in an effective five-inning performance in his first career start.
"Chris was fantastic today he did everything we asked of him," Sclafani said. "He threw a lot of strikes and attacked the hitters."
England was also aided by the Big Green offense, which effectively put the game away with a five-run fifth inning. Following RBI singles by Selzer and Jeff Keller '14, David Turnbull '12 knocked in two runs with a double down the line.
"It was really the turning point of the inning," Sclafani said.
By the time a base-running error by Matt Parisi '15 ended the inning four batters later, the Big Green had batted around the lineup and knocked Eagles' reliever Steven Green out of the game.
"We've been doing pretty well offensively, just keeping our same approach," Sclafani said.
The Big Green leads the Ivy League with a team .298 batting average and is second in on-base percentage at .381.
The Eagles managed to battle back in the bottom of the fifth, when BC's hitters collected three doubles off England and scored three runs to shrink Dartmouth's lead to 7-4. The lead would stand, however, as Keller's towering two-run home run in the eighth was enough to make BC's two runs in the bottom of the ninth a moot point, and the Big Green sealed the victory.
Dartmouth will use the rest of the week to prepare for its four-game series against Harvard (11-27, 7-9 Ivy League) starting on Saturday. If the Big Green advances to the Ivy League Championship Series, the team would face either Princeton University or Cornell University, which will play a four-game series against each other this weekend.
Princeton must win all four games against Cornell (27-11-1, 13-3 Ivy) to win the Lou Gehrig Division. If Princeton (17-17, 10-6 Ivy League) wins three or more games and the Big Green sweeps Harvard, Dartmouth would host the Ivy League Championship Series on May 5-6.
"We're not going to play to just win one game," Sclafani said. "We want to give ourselves every chance possible to play in the Ivy Championship at home."
Dartmouth left-hander Mitch Horacek '14 will start the first game on Saturday against Harvard while freshman lefty Adam Frank '15 will take the mound for the second game in Cambridge, Mass. The teams will then travel to Hanover and play the last two games on Sunday at Red Rolfe Field.
Horacek said he would follow his usual routine and examine scouting reports of Harvard hitters with the coaching staff on Friday.
"We like to prepare the same way so we get in a routine," Horacek said. "We really do want to win all four of them so we have a shot at home field advantage," he said.
Dartmouth's intensive off season conditioning workouts have prepared the Big Green for the critical end-of-season stretch, according to Frank.
"Everyone wants to be the pitcher that gets that last win, but looking at it as a whole, we just want to win," he said.
The Crimson offense is led by second baseman Jeff Reynolds, who was recently named Ivy League player of the week. Reynolds is hitting .336 with a slugging percentage of .473 this season. The Crimson has surrendered the most stolen bases to Ivy League opponents and the second most home runs, something the potent Big Green offense will look to exploit this weekend.
"We're just going to play Dartmouth baseball and hopefully get four quality starts from our pitchers and have our offense continue to get the timely hits," Sclafani said.
