HANOVER, N.H. — It wasn’t a surprise that pitching
dominated on this day with the temperature in the high 30s and a brisk
wind blowing from right to left Wednesday afternoon. Knowing hits were
hard to come by, Dartmouth (6-16) utilized some daring base running to
steal a 2-1 victory from Holy Cross (11-19) at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi
Park, snapping a four-game losing streak.
With the score tied at
one in the bottom of the seventh, the Big Green put runners on first
and second with one out thanks to singles by seniors Nick Ruppert and Adam Gauthier.
Holy Cross turned to the bullpen in the form of Hanover native Joe
Cravero to subdue Dartmouth, but on his second pitch, Ruppert and
Gauthier took off on a double steal. The throw to third sailed high and
into left field, allowing Ruppert to score an unearned run for a 2-1 Big
Green lead.
Junior right-hander Chris Burkholder
(1-0) returned to the mound in the eighth for his third inning of
work
and quickly set the side down in order, finishing with a flourish by
pumping a third strike past a Crusader hitter for the final out. In the
ninth, sophomore closer Patrick Peterson
climbed the hill to close out the victory. Although he surrendered an
infield single to start the stanza, he was able to retire the next three
batters for his first save this season. His strikeout of Thomas Russo
to end the game as snow started to fall left the tying run stranded at
second for the ninth punchout of the day by the four Dartmouth hurlers.
The first Big Green run also scored after a thrilling steal of third base. Freshman Mike Brown
led off the sixth inning with his second hit of the day — the only
player for either team with two knocks — and took second on a sacrifice
bunt. He was still standing there with two outs when he got a walking
lead and easily swiped third, putting the tying run just 90 feet away.
Senior Thomas Roulis provided the clutch hit, dumping a liner down the left-field line for an RBI single.
The lone Holy Cross tally of the day was an unearned run in the fifth. Sophomore reliever Sam Fichthorn
had retired the first four Crusaders he faced after entering at the
start of the fourth inning, but Josh Hassell hit a liner into the gap in
right-center. Ruppert valiantly dove for the ball but came up short,
and the right fielder Brown was there to back him up, but kicked the
ball away, allowing Hassell to reach third on his double. Russo followed
with a fly to right, and Hassell sprinted home with the game’s first
run as the throw went up the third-base line.
Neither starting pitcher allowed a run with Dartmouth’s Clay Chatham
allowing just a single to go with a pair of punchouts in his three
innings of work, and Pat McGowan yielding three singles and three walks
in 4.1 frames while whiffing three.
Danny Barlok (0-3) was stuck
with the loss for surrendering both Big Green runs, one of which was
earned, on four hits in two innings.
Holy Cross threatened to
extend its 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth when the first two batters
reached on free passes. But Burkholder came on and induced a pop up on a
bunt attempt, then allowed an infield single before a strikeout and a
routine fly to center left the bases loaded.
The Crusaders also
put the leadoff runner on in the seventh and the ninth, but both times
Dartmouth was able to work around them.
The two teams combined for just 11 hits on the cold, raw day, seven off the Big Green bats.
Dartmouth
next hosts Penn for a doubleheader on Saturday as the college will
celebrate the 150th anniversary of the varsity baseball program.
Numerous former players will be back in Hanover to cheer on the Big
Green and attend a banquet that evening. The twinbill will begin at noon
and can be viewed live on the Ivy League Digital Network with Wayne
Young ’72 calling the action.
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