Hanover
The good news is the Big Green staved off virtual elimination with a doubleheader split against visiting Yale on Sunday, losing 4-3 and winning 10-4. The bad news is the Bulldogs’ capture of three of the weekend’s four games at Biondi Park means they remain in first place at 10-6. Dartmouth is tied with Harvard for second place, both at 8-8, and third-place Brown is 6-10.
Dartmouth has four league games remaining in the regular season, broken into home-and-home doubleheaders with Harvard next weekend. The rivals clash in Boston on Saturday and in Hanover on Sunday. Yale has home-and-home doubleheaders with Brown on the same days.
To capture the division title and reach the Ivy championship series against the Gehrig Division winner, the Big Green needs to win two more games than Yale the rest of the way. Should Dartmouth and Harvard split their games and Brown were to sweep Yale, a four-way deadlock would require an as-yet unrevealed series of tie-breaking games.
“We try to treat every game in the conference the same, but these games with Harvard are four must-wins,” said Dartmouth senior pitcher Duncan Robinson, whose team two years ago won its last six regular season games to force a one-game playoff with visiting Yale for the division title.
“It’s unfortunate that we took our fate out of our hands. I’ve seen three teams go to the Ivy championship, and it’s tough not to see us in position for that right now.”
Robinson (3-5), the Big Green’s ace, started Sunday’s first game and allowed seven hits and four runs, two of them earned, while striking out seven Bulldogs and walking none. The Bulldogs opened the scoring during the second inning when a runner on third scurried in after Robinson misread his catcher’s sign, leading to a wild pitch. Dartmouth’s Nick Ruppert homered in the bottom half of the frame for a 1-1 tie.
Yale scored three times during the sixth, parlaying a bunt, a chopped ball in front of the plate that led to a throwing error and three singles into a lead it would not surrender. Dartmouth’s Joe Puritano hit a two-run, two-out home run in the bottom of the seventh, but a grounder to first ended the game.
“It’s disappointing, but I don’t think we played poorly,” said Dartmouth coach Bob Whalen. “We just didn’t do enough. We had some (offensive) opportunities but Yale was able to minimize some of our chances.
“I knew we couldn’t miss on many opportunities and we certainly didn’t in the last game, but it was a little late by then.”
That second contest featured Dartmouth first baseman Michael Ketchmark producing four hits, including two doubles and a three-run home run that broke a 4-4 tie during the seventh inning. Thomas Roulis had three hits and three RBIs and freshman pitcher Cole O’Connor allowed five hits and one earned run during 4 innings of work.
Reliever Chris Burkholder coughed up three runs in 1 innings but his successor, Patrick Peterson, allowed two hits and no runs during the final 3 innings.
Dartmouth’s hitting continues to leave something to be desired, but its team average is up to .255. Opponents, however, are batting .280 against the Big Green.
“Plenty of times this weekend we hit balls right at guys,” Robinson said. “The bats have been a struggle, but I thought, in each game, we were just a couple swings away.”
For all intents and purposes, the playoffs have now arrived for Dartmouth. Its division foes know it’s their best chance in years to snap the Big Green’s streak and the scoreboard watching in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire will be nonstop this weekend.
“I’ll take anything that gets us through to play another day,” said Robinson, who’s expected to be selected in Major League Baseball’s upcoming amateur draft. “My freshman and junior years, we were in control the whole way. My sophomore year and now, we’re clawing to stay alive. A lot of guys on this team have been through this before, so we’re hoping experience helps us out.”
Said Whalen: “I like the pressure, and I think the players do, too. We’ll do everything we can and see where we are at the end of Sunday and hope it’s enough.”
Notes: Dartmouth is 14-23 overall. … Among those in attendance Sunday was former Dartmouth football coach Jake Crouthamel, who held the position from 1971-77. Crouthamel was a standout football player for the college and the first player to sign with the NFL’s expansion Dallas Cowboys. … Nicholas Enriquez, a Dartmouth baseball assistant for eight years before leaving a similar position with San Jose (Calif.) State in 2012, has been part of the Spartans’ 12-27 campaign to date. San Jose State has failed to win as many as 20 games during any of the past four seasons. … Dartmouth hosts Siena on Wednesday afternoon. … Ketchmark’s online biography says the Texan “claims he can solve a Rubik’s cube in less than a minute.” … The Stanford softball team, led by former Dartmouth coach Rachel Hanson, is 13-26 overall and 0-14 in Pac-12 play. The Cardinal was 17-37 and 2-22 last spring.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.