This weekend, the Big Green walked away with a series win against Harvard University after winning one game each on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, Harvard took a 3-0 lead, scoring one run each in the second, fourth, and sixth inning. Dartmouth had six hits through the first six innings, but were unable to score.
“We didn’t have great [at-bats] at the beginning of the game,” interim head coach Blake McFadden said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “In the fifth, sixth inning, our [at-bats] just started getting a little bit more competitive.”
Dartmouth responded in the top of the 7th inning: Alejandro Puig ’28 doubled to bring Taer Rodriguez ’26 across the plate to score Dartmouth’s first run. Dartmouth added two more runs in the 8th inning on two hits by Rodriguez and Sam Andersen ’29 to tie the game 3-3.
The Big Green took the lead 5-3 in the ninth inning. A.J. Demastrie ’27 singled before Milo Suarez ’26 doubled to get the run batted in. Murray added another double to bring Suarez across the plate. Harvard did not score in the bottom of the inning to end the game and give the Big Green the victory.
Nate Kugler ’28 got the start on the mound for Dartmouth and pitched 5 ⅓ innings, giving up 8 hits and 3 runs. Trey Sejnoha ’27 and Mac Burke ’26 pitched in relief and gave up no hits or runs.
“On the mound, we did a good job of keeping them down low enough to where our offense could come back and strike,” McFadden said.
In the first game on Saturday, Dartmouth scored first in the second inning on two hits by Miller and Stefan Di Corrado ’28. Di Corrado then scored on a single by Andersen to bring the score to 2-0. Dartmouth brought the score to 3-0 in the 5th inning when Sirchia drew a bases-loaded walk, scoring Puig.
Harvard immediately responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring 3 runs on two-bases loaded walks and a hit by Cullen Stone.
The game remained tied 3-3 at the end of the 9th inning, so the game went into extra innings. In the 10th inning, Nico Bañez ’26 scored from third after Suarez hit a fielder’s choice. However, the Big Green could not hold onto this lead and gave up a run in the bottom of the inning as Max Lane scored on a single from Jordan Kang.
In the twelfth inning, Dartmouth scored two runs to take the lead. Banez and Suarez drew a pair of walks, before Murray singled up the middle to bring both of them home. The Crimson got one hit in the bottom of the inning but were unable to score, giving the Big Green the victory.
“We had some good, timely hitting towards the end of the game with men in scoring position,” said McFadden.
Nate Isler ’27 was the starting pitcher on Saturday and pitched for 4 ⅓ innings, giving up 3 runs and 3 hits. Kyle Klaric-Schell ’28 pitched the next 4 ⅓ innings, and Burke came in in the 9th inning and finished out the game. Klaric-Schell and Burke each gave up 3 hits, but together they gave up only one run to allow Dartmouth to win.
“Kyle came in in a big situation, got a couple strikeouts to make sure that we kept that at a three to three tie,” said McFadden.
Burke said the key for him this weekend was “having a lot of faith in my defense that they’re gonna make the plays behind me… and giving my all.”
Dartmouth lost the third game against Harvard on Saturday afternoon. They had a 6-3 lead going into the eighth inning, before Harvard mounted a comeback and scored 4 runs in the bottom of the inning.
The series win brings Dartmouth to a 6-9 Ivy record and a tie for 5th place with Harvard and Princeton University in the Ivy League standings.
“It was a great series win for us, just a total team effort from start to finish … it’s definitely the momentum we need as we push for a playoff spot,” Suarez said.
Dartmouth also earned a walk-off win against the College of the Holy Cross in their midweek game on Tuesday. Holy Cross went up 1-0 in the 3rd inning, but Dartmouth responded in the 4th inning with a run off of two hits. Each team had a home run in the 6th inning to bring the score to 2-2. Later in the 7th inning, two Holy Cross players were hit by pitches, before CJ Egrie singled to give Holy Cross a 3-2 lead. The Big Green scored again in the top of the 8th on Jack Espiritu-Niswonger ’29’s single to the shortstop.
Heading into the last inning, the game was tied 3-3. Puig drew a walk, and Banez was hit by a pitch. Andersen then bunted to advance the runners to second and third base.
McFadden praised both Puig and Andersen for their quality at bats.
“Alejandro Puig worked the count to three to count, and then had to spoil a couple pitches prior to getting walked,” he said. “The biggest thing that sets that inning up is Sam Anderson being able to get a bunt down and move your runners to where now a sac fly [wins] the game.”
With the winning run 90 feet away, Suarez hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Puig and give the Big Green the walk-off win.
“I was just thinking, see a fastball, get into the air, drive in the game winning run” Suarez said.
This victory brought Dartmouth’s overall record to 11-19 and their home record to 5-3.
McFadden said that the team’s midweek wins have “given us the confidence that we can play in a tight game and come out with the win.”
