The stage was set for a disastrous end to a frustrating season.
The Dartmouth baseball team, which was down to Cornell, 6-0, in the first game of its Saturday doubleheader before even taking its first swing at the plate, had the look of a team searching for a place to hide.
Clark Khayat '93 surrendered as many earned runs in the first inning as he had in the first half of his season, and Coach Bob Whalen watched helplessly as six of the first seven Cornell batters paraded across home plate.
Nothing in the way Dartmouth played foreshadowed the gutsy comeback that led the Big Green to an 8-7 victory in the first game or the brilliant pitching performance from Mike Tallman '95 that keyed a 4-1 victory in the second. The Saturday sweep pushed Dartmouth's final record to 14-19 overall, 8-12 Ivy and locked up third place in the Red Rolfe Division.
As game one unfolded, Khayat settled down and showed the form that made his ERA one of the best in the nation for much of the season, but Dartmouth's hitting lacked punch as it managed only one hit over the first four innings.
Of course, the Big Green weren't exactly knocking the stitching out of the ball in their five-run sixth inning. Dartmouth had only one hit, a single from Greg Gilmer '96, and scored more on willpower than on swinging power. Five walks, an error and a hit batsman later, and the Big Green tied the score at seven heading into the final inning.
Cornell third baseman Dave Armanini led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a ground ball to the right side, but couldn't make it the final 90 feet for the go-ahead run.
At the bottom of the inning, Gilmer collected Dartmouth's only hit and Cornell's pitcher couldn't find the plate or the infield as he walked four men and the winning run.
Dartmouth didn't need an inspiring comeback or 11 bases on balls to win game two, just Tallman's fastball and biting curve on the mound.
The 6-foot, 1-inch sophomore surrendered just three hits and didn't let a single runner reach third base through his first five innings of work.
At the plate, John Clifford '95 spotted Tallman a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when he drilled a tremendous blast for his third home run of the season.
Cornell scored its only run of the game in the sixth when two hits and a walk with two outs scored Matt Snider, who reached on a throwing error by Mike Hommeyer '93.
Dartmouth answered in the bottom of the inning with a three-run, three-hit rally that included an RBI-single from Joe Tosone '93 and a triple to the gap in left off the bat of Todd Marker '93 with two outs that scored Clifford from first.
Dave Angeramo '94 came on for Dartmouth in the seventh for his third save of the season to ice the win.
