HANOVER — One might think the Dartmouth College baseball team would want to ease back into things after nearly two full years without an official game.
Instead, the Big Green open their season this weekend at Louisville, which has made four College World Series appearances in the last decade, most recently in 2019.
“You always want to offer your players the best possible experience, and the biggest part of that is to get them to experience the best possible competition,” Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen said. “Historically, we’ve played top-20 and top-10 teams in the early weekends. When you play really good teams, your shortcomings show up very quickly. You can’t hide.”
As is the case for the rest of the Ivy League, only the Big Green’s seniors have experienced a full season. But while the softball team and both lacrosse teams held a few exhibition games last spring, the baseball squad did not, with Dartmouth’s fall games against Northeastern representing the only time the Big Green have taken the field against another team since March 2020.
Senior Justin Murray will be Dartmouth’s two-way leader. On the mound, Murray struggled to a 5.93 ERA in 54⅔ innings as a freshman in 2019, but he appeared on his way to a much better 2020, with a 1.38 ERA in two starts covering 13 innings before the season was canceled. He also started every game in the infield when he wasn’t pitching during his abbreviated sophomore campaign.
“You have to do a little extra work just to get as much in on each side that everybody else gets to do, so that can definitely be mentally draining,” Murray said. “But at the same time, it’s mentally freeing, because if you go out there one day, don’t have a great outing on the mound or at the plate, you get to do the other thing again the next day.”
Senior Kade Kretzschmar is the Big Green’s most experienced outfielder, and junior Kolton Freeman slugged .611 during his shortened freshman year. On the infield, senior Bryce Daniel, who started at shortstop in 2020, will be the anchor. Daniel, who went to high school with Murray at Providence Day School in Charlotte, N.C., said Dartmouth has emphasized scrimmaging in preseason practices to get its newcomers up to game speed.
“Most of our practices have been scrimmages,” Daniel said. “We’ve seen a lot of live pitching. Getting those younger guys reps with collegiate-level game speed has been the biggest difference-maker this year.”
Complementing Murray on the mound will be senior Nathan Skinner, who has been a starter since his freshman year. Another senior, left-hander Trystan Sarcone, was on track to pitch significant innings in 2020. Senior Cole Roland has not yet pitched in a game after missing all of 2019 with an injury, but he had a strong summer as a closer last year with the Vermont Mountaineers of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
Among the newcomers, Murray said freshman infielder Elliot Krewson looked good in fall ball against Northeastern. He also had high defensive praise for sophomore infielder Tyler Cox, freshman outfielder Jackson Hower and sophomore outfielder Tyler Robinson.
The Big Green were picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League in the preseason poll and last qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2010.
“This particular group has been terrific,” Whalen said. “It’s fun to go to practice with them every day because there’s an overwhelming positive vibe. Their level of energy and anticipation to play has been contagious.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.