On a warm, windy and sunny day at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park, the Big Green (23-6, 8-4 Ivy) controlled the game for the first seven innings as they shut out the Hawks (15-21-1, 4-8 Northeast-10), allowing only two hits and scoring 12 runs, and putting the visitors in a 12-0 hole by the top of the eighth inning. During the eighth, St. Anselm put up a fight as they scored two runs on four hits, but the game was already out of reach.
The Big Green pitchers overwhelmed St. Anselm's batting order as they threw 119 pitches in the nine-inning game to the Hawks' 160. Adam Frank '15 started the game and pitched the first three innings, earning the win.
Frank allowed only one hit and walked three batters with two strikeouts before being relieved by Louis Concato '14, who prevented the Hawks batters from ever reaching the bases for the next two innings before he was followed by Beau Sulser '16 in the top of the sixth.
Each pitcher helped with fielding as well. Frank picked off a St. Anselm runner attempting to steal second, Concato had a ground ball bounce off his left ankle and skid into the glove of shortstop Trent Goodrich '16, who was able to throw the runner out. Sulser fielded a ball hit directly at him and prevented a runner at third base from taking off for home before throwing the batter out at first. Duncan Robinson '16 pitched the final two innings of the game and surrendered two runs on four hits. Robinson also received the most fielding practice as he threw out two batters in the ninth inning, the second almost resulting in a double play.
"I think our entire pitching staff did a good job today," Concato said. "Our defense especially helped us out. I remember that during the fourth inning, the ball deflected off my foot and our shortstop did a good job staying on it. Overall, making pitches and good defense will always put you in a good spot to win."
While Dartmouth's pitchers proved up to the challenge, St. Anselm's pitchers were noticeably wild. Sophomore Ryan Cosmopulos started for the Hawks, but his day was over by the start of the third inning after giving up three runs and a pair of wild pitches. But it was the bottom of the seventh inning that epitomized St. Alselm's pitching troubles, as freshman Terrance Walsh, in 12 pitches, allowed a single before hitting three straight Dartmouth batters and walking one batter home. Walsh was pulled and freshman Paul Trabucco was placed on the mound to finish the game in the eighth. Trabucco responded by preventing Dartmouth from getting on base for the remainder of the game.
Dartmouth's batting order got on base effectively throughout the game. Led by three hits from both second baseman Matt Parisi '15 and right fielder Jeff Keller '14, every member of the Big Green's starting batting order got on base at least once.
Keller is now second in the Ivy League with a .394 batting average and improved his slugging percentage to .778.
"Everybody up and down the lineup just hit the ball hard pretty much every at-bat," Parisi said. "We scored a run every inning except the eighth and, when that happened, things got rolling and we played pretty good defense."
Catcher Chad Piersma '13 also registered a big game at the plate during one of his few extended appearances of the season with two hits, two RBIs, one run and one walk in four at-bats.
"I was really excited to be out there," Piersma said. "You take advantage of the opportunities when you can and I feel like I took full advantage of it. Our bats have been rolling and our pitching's been great."
In all, Dartmouth earned 12 hits, 11 RBIs, five walks and had only three batters strike out.
The Big Green will travel to New Haven, Conn., this weekend to take on the Yale University Bulldogs in a four-game series with doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. The last time Dartmouth traveled to Yale (8-22, 5-7 Ivy) for a four-game series, the Red Rolfe Division rival swept the series 4-0. This time, the Big Green is looking for revenge.
"You know, we're just really rolling high right now and hopefully we can keep it going this weekend when we go to Yale," Piersma said.
