Siena (13-26) matched the Big Green’s seven hits, getting RBIs from Dan Swain, Jordan Bishop and Fred Smart, but the Saints could not overcome a three-run Dartmouth third inning.
The Saints took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first after sophomore starter Jack Fossand quickly retired
the first two batters. But Jordan Folgers doubled to the right-center gap and Smart blooped a double that landed on the right-field foul line to drive in Folgers.
John Nolan issued just one walk during the first two innings to the Big Green lineup before control issues in the third caught up with him. Senior Nick Ruppert and freshman Mike Brown drew consecutive one-out walks, then moved up on a passed ball. Ruppert then scored on sophomore Dustin Shirley’s sacrifice fly to center before senior Joe Purritano lined an RBI single to right for a 2-1 lead. After another walk, this time to junior Michael Ketchmark, Roulis dropped a ball just between the center fielder and shortstop, then hustled into second for a double as Purritano crossed the plate.
In the fourth, Siena had a man on second with one out, but he was gunned down trying to take third after a pitch briefly squirted away from freshman catcher Rob Emery. That base running mistake proved costly as Nick Duarte followed by poking a double just inside the first-base bag. Sophomore right-hander Sam Fichthorn came on to replace Fossand and pumped a called third strike past the first hitter he faced to end the inning without a run scoring.
The Saints did touch Fichthorn for a run in the fifth when Max Goione led off with a single, took second on a tapper back to the mound, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a routine grounder to first.
A two-out fly ball in the bottom of the sixth proved troublesome for left fielder Dan Lowndes, who had just entered the game as a pinch hitter the top half of the frame. He battled the sun and appeared to have the ball tracked, but it smacked into his glove and came out, allowing sophomore Justin Fowler — who had just doubled — to score from second to make it a 4-2 Big Green lead.
Duarte started a Siena rally in the seventh by drawing a four-pitch walk to start the inning against left-hander Marc Bachman. Two outs later, he was on second base when Swain lined a single into left-center allowing Duarte to score easily, cutting the Saint deficit to one again at 4-3.
Dartmouth nearly completely ran itself out of an inning in its half of the seventh. First, Shirley was thrown out trying to take third on a grounder to short before Roulis roped a single to left-center, putting runners on the corners with two out. Roulis was then picked off first, but he was able to get into a rundown long enough to allow Ketchmark to score from third before being tagged out to end the inning.
Armed with a 5-3 lead, Bubala took the mound to start the eighth and set down the first two batters before walking the next two Saints on nine pitches. When he went to 2-0 on pinch hitter Ryan Stefaniak, head coach Bob Whalen made a visit to the mound to settle the right-hander down. The talk apparently did its intended job as Bubala zipped three straight strikes past Stefaniak to end the threat.
Bubala made quick work of the Saints in the ninth, fanning the last two hitters to finish off his first career save.
Fichthorn (1-1) picked up his first career win in relief of Fossand, allowing one run on one hit over two innings while striking out three.
Nolan took the loss for yielding three runs on two hits and four walks with just one strikeout in his three-inning start.
Dartmouth will complete its regular-season schedule this weekend with a pair of doubleheaders against Harvard. Both teams are 8-8 in the Ivy League, two games behind Yale in the Rolfe Division. Saturday’s twinbill will take place in Cambridge and be streamed live by the Ivy League Digital Network and on ESPN3 beginning at 1 p.m. The games on Sunday will also be streamed on the ILDN at 1 p.m. as Dartmouth will honor its senior class beforehand.
Notes: The Big Green are 7-2 against Siena all-time and have won four straight, all in Hanover … Purritano’s RBI single in the third inning was the 100th of his career, making him the 19th player to reach the milestone in program history … Dartmouth, which began varsity play 150 years ago, needs two more victories to reach 1,900. The overall record is 1,898-1,869-24 (.504).
No comments:
Post a Comment