Hanover
Getting 3 innings of one-hit relief from Patrick Peterson and a three-hit game from co-captain Thomas Roulis, the Dartmouth College baseball team took a 3-1 decision from Harvard in the second game of Tuesday’s Ivy League doubleheader at Red Rolfe Field to stretch its season at least one more game. The victory sends the Big Green to a one-off playoff at Yale on Saturday for the league’s Red Rolfe Division title.
The Big Green (11-9 league, 18-24 overall) needed the nightcap win after losing Tuesday’s opener, also 3-1, on the complete-game, seven-hit pitching of Crimson right-hander Kevin Stone. The win broke Harvard’s 15-game losing streak to its Ivy travel partner.
Saturday’s playoff will be the second in three years between Dartmouth and Yale, the Bulldogs getting the right to host by virtue of taking three of four from the Big Green at Biondi Park last month. A victory in New Haven, Conn., would extend Dartmouth’s reign atop the Rolfe Division to nine years and send the Big Green to Lou Gehrig Division champ Princeton for the best-of-three Ivy League Championship Series.
“It’s an awesome feeling to go on after the regular season and play some more games,” said Roulis, one of five Dartmouth seniors playing their final home contests on Tuesday. “We have a great bunch of guys on this team, and everyone did their part in that second game to get a W.”
Dartmouth scored just nine runs in four games with the Crimson (9-11, 17-24), starting with 3-1 and 2-1 wins on Saturday in Boston. The Big Green needed every one in Tuesday’s double dip, which had been postponed by rain on Sunday.
The hosts also had to overcome their own miscues in game two. The Dartmouth defense committed three errors, and shortstop Roulis contributed to Harvard’s sole run by double-clutching a throw on a fielder’s choice grounder that kept two baserunners safe on the basepaths.
“You have to earn everything you get, and we played well this weekend, but we just didn’t do quite enough to win four games,” Dartmouth coach Bob Whalen said. “I’m not going to waste any time or energy on it. I told our guys we’re going to roll up our sleeves (and) we’re going to go right back to work (today) to get ready to go to New Haven.”
Nick Ruppert tripled to open the home third, scoring on Dustin Shirley’s RBI grounder. Roulis singled to start the fourth, but was cut down at third on an unsuccessful Justin Fowler sacrifice bunt. But Dartmouth persevered, getting a Ben Socher single and an RBI force grounder from Adam Gauthier to plate Kyle Holbrook for a 2-0 lead.
Harvard’s Conor Quinn drew a run back in the sixth with a single to left, reaching second on a passed ball and third when Roulis changed his mind on a Ben Skinner grounder, throwing late to first base. Whalen called on Peterson after Drew Reid’s run-scoring ground ball cut the deficit to 2-1, and Dartmouth regained the two-run cushion when Roulis scored on a pinch-hit RBI sac fly from Rob Emery in the eighth.
“It’s tough, but at the same time we’ve got to push it behind us,” Roulis said of facing a must-win scenario in game two. “We would have loved to win that first game to take the pressure off that second game, but you’ve got to let go of it. We have a job to do in that second game: Go out, play hard for nine innings and get a win.”
Credit the unflappable Peterson for part of the success.
The Illinois native arrived on campus last year and immediately earned meaningful innings out of Whalen’s bullpen. Cole O’Connor started and went 3 innings, lefty Marc Bachman followed with an unearned run in two frames, leaving Peterson to shut Harvard down on a tandem six-hitter.
Bachman earned the win, his second of the year; Peterson notched his fourth save. Harvard stranded 12 in the nightcap.
“The kid’s never lost a game at Dartmouth,” Whalen said of Peterson. “He’s not a classic, closer-role guy. He may come in and walk the first guy, but seems to make the pitches when he needs to make them.”
Stone kept Big Green bats silent through most of the seven-inning opener. The freshman from Connecticut retired 13 straight batters between Ruppert’s single to open the home first and Holbrook’s one-out single in the fifth, eventually fanning three without a walk.
Dartmouth didn’t help its cause. Fowler ran into an inning-ending out in the fifth, apparently forgetting he had Holbrook on second base when he broke from first on an Emery strikeout. The Big Green got its run in the seventh, but ended the game with the tying runs on base.
Saturday’s playoff promises to be thick with deja vu. Dartmouth beat Yale in a one-gamer two springs back, 11-4, in a contest that saw starting pitcher Beau Sulser sustain a significant arm injury and a sophomore named Dustin Robinson step in with five innings of stellar relief.
Robinson has since won the Ivy League’s pitcher of the year award to become the ace of Whalen’s staff. The 27-year coach wouldn’t commit to tabbing Robinson his starter on Saturday, but “I don’t think it’s rocket science to figure out … if Duncan Robinson starts that game,” Whalen said.
And Sulser? All he’s done is undergo Tommy John surgery on his pitching arm, go through a year of rehabilitation and return to the Big Green rotation with the lowest earned-run average (2.87) of Whalen’s retinue of starters.
Roulis has never known a season in which Dartmouth didn’t rule over its Red Rolfe Division rivals. He and the Big Green aren’t about to give up the throne just yet.
“That’s the beautiful thing about baseball,” Roulis said. “I’m going into the weekend with nine innings to play. Knowing that we’ve got to leave it all on that field is all we could ask for.”
Fungoes: Michael Danielak threw well enough to get a win in the opener for Dartmouth, allowing two earned runs over six innings with eight hits, one walk and six strikeouts. … Mitch Klug was a combined 5-for-9 in the two games for Harvard, with two singles, two doubles and a home run. … Graduating seniors Ruppert, Roulis, Robinson, Joe Purritano and Adam Charnin-Aker received pregame recognition before the opener. Two other seniors, Sulser and Gauthier, are expected to return next year for fifth seasons, having lost previous campaigns to injuries. … Danielak is also a senior with a fifth year of eligibility available, but he has asked to be home run. … Graduating seniors Ruppert, Roulis, Robinson, Joe Purritano and Adam Charnin-Aker received pregame recognition before the opener. Two other seniors, Sulser and Gauthier, are expected to return next year for fifth seasons, having lost previous campaigns to injuries. … Danielak is also a senior with a fifth year of eligibility available, but he has asked to be listed as a junior in the Big Green’s game programs.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.
Correction
The Dartmouth College baseball team would win its ninth consecutive Ivy League Red Rolfe Division championship with a victory in a one-game playoff at Yale on Saturday. An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the number of consecutive division crowns the Big Green has won.