After a poor offensive performance against Cornell University and Princeton University last weekend, Dartmouth exploded for 26 runs, including four home runs from Joe Purritano '16, to sweep four games against Brown University and vault Dartmouth (22-6, 8-4 Ivy) into first place in the Red Rolfe Divison by three games. The Big Green has two weekends left in the regular season.
The four-game series against Brown, which began Saturday morning with an impromptu snowball fight between players and ended on a cool but upbeat Sunday afternoon, was marked by the resurgence of Dartmouth pitching, most notably from co-captain and ace Cole Sulser '12.
Sulser, who started the first game, pitched a complete and dominating seven innings, while co-captain Jeff Keller '14 and Purritano each added RBI singles to give the Big Green a 2-0 win in the opener.
Sulser repeatedly drove his fastball in on righties while tailing off-speed pitches kept the Brown offense off guard all afternoon.
"We realized we had to mix it up a bit more," he said.
Sulser said he gave Brown more changeups and off-speed pitches, increasing the effect of his fastball.
With only one left-handed batter in the lineup and two batters hitting above .300, the Bears offense finished 3-22 against Sulser.
Sulser faced more than the minimum three batters in only two innings.
In the fourth inning, the Bears had the bases loaded with one out but Sulser struck out the next two batters looking. In the fifth, the Bears once again got two men on the bases before Sulser induced a double-play.
"Cole made exceptional pitches, pitch to pitch, even within the at-bat, to get to a double-play situation with strikeouts," head coach Bob Whalen said.
Sulser finished the day with eight strikeouts and one walk.
"I was happy for him and for the team, but mostly for him, because of the level of respect I have for him, and the level of respect the team has for him," Whalen said. "I think everybody was ecstatic for him, because he, more than any other guy, feels that burden of carrying the team."
While Browns' ace Anthony Galan also pitched well, the Big Green did just enough to put two runs on the board and squeak out the win.
In the second game, Dartmouth's offense jumped on Bears starter Kevin Carlow, who gave up seven earned runs and seven hits and lasted less than two innings in Dartmouth's 11-3 victory.
The Big Green scored three runs in the first, four runs in the second, three runs in the fourth and tacked on a final eighth-inning run in a 12-hit barrage lead by Purritano's three hits, including two home runs and a triple with five RBI's.
"He is a very good hitter, and he has ability to be a middle of the order run producer, he just hadn't really done it yet," Whalen said. "It certainly came out today."
Up 3-2 heading into the bottom of the second, astinging double down the left field line from Matt Parisi '15 and Purritano's two-run triple chased Carlow from the game.
Parisi, the second-baseman, finished the day 5-5 with three doubles, which was the first time a Big Green player has had a five-hit game since shortstop Joe Sclafani '12 in 2011.
Keller doubled in the first inning to start the scoring and currently leads the nation in doubles per game. Keller has 18 doubles on the season, just three short of Dartmouth's all-time single-season record.
Yet it was Purritano's two monster home runs that had Dartmouth's bench, and coach Whalen, excited about the offensive performance.
"The two balls that he hit today, neither of them hooked," Whalen said. "They both went straight the whole way out of the ballpark. That's when you know guys are staying on pitches."
Starter Kyle Hunter '13 entered the game with a 0.98 ERA and did enough to limit the Bears' bats, pitching six innings with two earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts.
In the third game of the series, the Big Green once again received a complete game performance this time from Mitch Horacek '14 while a home run from Keller and two RBIs from Ennis Coble '13 gave Dartmouth a comfortable 7-0 win.
After a poor performance against Cornell last weekend, the Big Green's offense has now scored 46 runs in the past five games.
"Everyone has just been real determined to get back out there and get up at the plate and attack it with the best swings they can," Sulser said. "It's really paid off for us."
Dartmouth's three runs in the first inning were more than enough, as Horacek struck out six without walking a hitter to pick up his team-best fifth win of the season.
In the final game of the series, Purritano added two more home runs his third and fourth of the series while Coble's two-run shot capped a five-run third inning, more than enough runs for pitcher Michael Johnson '13 to give Dartmouth the series sweep and a 7-2 win.
"It was a special one, definitely one to remember," Purritano said. "Bonus when you play well, but the really great thing is to get four wins."
This past weekend, Purritano studied film and decided to tighten up his stance and work more on a balanced swing, two changes that made off big this weekend.
"I just felt like I was seeing the ball and let my hands fly," he said.
Lombardi extended his hitting streak to nine games, his second longest of the season.
"It's all about confidence and consistency and it can be contagious," Whalen said. "We've started to put better at-bats together."
Whalen said the players focused on shortening their swing and driving the ball to the other field this past week, which gives players more time to see a pitch.
"Before you know it, you start using the whole field and you're much more likely to have success," he said.
Johnson finished the day with seven innings pitched and one earned run, lowering his team-best ERA to 1.52.
Dartmouth next faces St. Anselm College this Wednesday before an intra-divisional four-game series at Yale University over the weekend.
"We went down there two years ago, my freshman year, and we lost four to them, so we got a little revenge on the mind," Selzer said. "First things first is Tuesday's practice, just one day at a time, and of course we'd love to win four, but that's way down the road from here."
