The baseball team saw its hopes for a Red Rolfe Division title slip away after losing three and winning one in two doubleheaders against Yale over the weekend. With four division games left against Harvard, Dartmouth is five games out of first.
The weekend series started with a 0-6 loss for Dartmouth, in which Yale pitcher Dan Lock held the Big Green batters to four hits. Steve Murphy '94 kept Yale to nine hits and collected five strikeouts in pitching his sixth complete game.
But Yale connected three times for home runs, twice in the third and once in the fifth. Senior Brian Eller's two hits accounted for half of Dartmouth's offensive effort..
In the second game, everything went from bad to worse. With a 1-0 lead after one inning, Dartmouth gave up five runs in the second and four runs in the third.
Going into the bottom of the fifth, Yale was leading 9-1. Dartmouth was able to get one run back in the fifth to cut the spread to seven. Unfortunately, Yale doubled Dartmouth's output in the sixth, pushing the score to 11-2.
Then Mike Armstrong '97 twisted his cleats into the dirt of the batter's box and got his pitch, sending the ball over the fence for a three run homer. Yale was able to finish the inning with no more damage to their six run cushion.
Jon Aljancic '97 retired Yale scoreless in the top of the seventh, and the Big Green needed six runs in the bottom half of the final inning to tie.
Somehow they managed to get it done. With clutch hitting, they cut the lead to four. Eller came in cold off the bench to deliver a bases-loaded pinch-hit double that brought two runs home.
The Yale lead dwindled to two runs. With runners on second and third and two out, Jake Isler '96 hit a grounder that was scooped cleanly by the Yale shortstop. The throw to first was in the dirt, however, and Isler hustled out the play, beating the throw. Meanwhile, Eller came in to score from second to tie the game.
Yale recorded the third out before Dartmouth could win, but the boys from New Haven couldn't get anything started in the top of the eighth.
Greg Gilmer '96 led off the bottom half of the inning for Dartmouth with a double, moved to third on a pitch in the dirt and scored the winning run on a wild pitch. Dave Angeramo '94 was credited with the win for Dartmouth.
Yale thwarted any surge of momentum Dartmouth picked up on Saturday by jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead in game one on Sunday.
By the middle of the fourth, Yale was ahead by a score of 5-1. From there on, Dartmouth could get no closer than within three runs of the Bulldogs and the game ended in an 8-5 Yale victory.
Scott Simon '97 pitched six innings for Dartmouth, giving up eight runs. Angeramo came in for one inning of relief and didn't allow a baserunner.
Offensively, Isler and Travis Horton '96 both hit the ball well for Dartmouth, Isler collecting three hits and Horton two with an RBI, but it wasn't enough to win.
In game two, Dartmouth copied Yale by going up 2-0 after one inning. Mike Tallman '95 controlled the game from the mound for the first two innings, then encountered trouble in the third, giving up five runs. He finished the day with five strikeouts, five earned runs and walked three in just over four innings of work.
After falling behind 5-2, Dartmouth never pulled closer than the 10-7 final score. The last two runs came off a home run by Horton, but Yale retired the side before Dartmouth could repeat Saturday's comeback.
The team plays today at Red Rolfe field against St. Anselm at 3 p.m.
