On Saturday, April 29, despite falling behind in the two first games against Brown University, Dartmouth was able to preserve through the third and take their first Ivy League win with an extraordinary pitching performance by Clark Gilmore ’24. With their weekend win, Big Green baseball ended their 27 game losing streak.
Head coach Bob Whalen was happy that his team took a win away from the past weekend.
“Me and the staff of course were proud of them,” Whalen said. “We were able to continue to play a little bit better through the weekend and I was pleased that they were reinforced with a win.”
The Big Green entered their series against the Bears with a 25 game losing streak. In hopes of turning the tables, captain Trystan Sarcone ’22 took the mound on Friday, as the game had to be moved up due to the weather conditions.
The Bears started the series of swinging as they put up 10 runs by the end of the fifth inning. Most of those runs came in during the bottom of the second inning as Brown hit a homer, double and three singles. A solo home run came in the third and back-to-back triples in the fifth.
Elliot Krewson ’25 did the heavy lifting for the Big Green as he slapped a single into left center field in the sixth to bring in Tyler Robinson ’24 for the first run for the Big Green. He added another run onto the scoreboard in the eighth as he smashed his first career home run.
Captain Kolton Freeman ’23 batted in the only other run for the Big Green as the final score was 11-3.
Heading into Murray Stadium the next game, pitcher Devin Milberg ’24 started his fourth game of the season.
Milberg pitched three scoreless innings to start off the second game. Even though he had an easy 1-2-3 first inning, he pitched his way out of a bases loaded jam as he struck out the next two batters.
The Big Green were the first to get on the scoreboard this time, as Milo Suarez ’26 scored on the throw to catch Connor Bertsch ’23 stealing second in the second. Robinson scored on a double play in the sixth to give the Big Green a 2-0 lead.
However, a four-run seventh inning for the Bears put the Big Green in a position they could not come back from as Brown took the second game 4-3.
Facing the chance at a 28 game losing streak, Gilmore took the mound and put on a marvelous performance that stunned the crowd.
Gilmore pitched his first collegiate complete game and was the first Big Green pitcher to do so this season. He gave up no earned runs and did not even think about giving up a walk.
Krewson’s bat was already heated up from the previous games against Brown and was able to bring in the first run for Dartmouth in the first to give his starter some leeway.
After giving up a double to the leadoff hitter in the first, Gilmore got the next three outs with two of those being strikeouts.
Gilmore was putting on a show in the second inning as he caught two behind the back balls on back-to-back pitches. The first one was a groundout that made the Sport Center Top 10 that day and the other was a hard-hit liner that showcased Gilmore’s fast reflexes.
“It’s something I have been doing as a kid,” Gilmore said. “It just so happens that it’s now become natural.”
In the fourth, Gilmore forced Brown to waste a lead-off triple. However, the Bears scored one run in the fifth that was unearned in order to tie the game 1-1.
The Big Green refused to leave their pitcher high and dry as Robinson was hit by the pitch in the seventh with the bases loaded to get the Big Green back on top.
Working with a 2-1 lead, Gilmore had an easy 1-2-3 seventh. The Big Green tried to add more in the eighth as they loaded the bases but the strong Brown pitching staff prevented them from doing anymore damage. Gilmore continued his brilliant performance in the eighth as he forced the Bears to leave two men stranded on the bases.
With 98 pitches, Whalen believed in his starting pitcher to finish the game and end the Big Green’s slump.
“Clark really helped himself by minimizing the number of runners on base,” said Whalen. “That was what allowed him to keep his pitch count reasonable which allowed us to extend him more than he’s ever gone before.”
Falling behind 3-0 on the first batter, Gilmore got him to pop-out and was then granted a fast out with a flyout to Robinson. The Bears were down to their last out, but the next batter singled to keep their hopes alive. However, Gilmore shut that down fast as Robinson caught the final out to give the Big Green their first Ivy League win of the season.
Gilmore totaled five strikeouts and threw 109 pitches in order to bring a win for the Big Green.
“I had a smile from ear to ear,” Gilmore said. “I pumped my fist a few times and gave my catcher, Zackarie Casebonne, a big hug.”
Teammates Zackarie Cassebone ’25 and Jackson Hower ’25 were very impressed with Gilmore’s performance.
“It was exciting that we were able to put a complete game together,” Casebonne said. “We were proud of Clark, he really gave us a shot.”
“I don’t think anybody was surprised how he pitched,” Hower said.
This past weekend, the Big Green competed in a series against Cornell University at Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park to celebrate Senior day. Paralleling their matchup against Brown, Dartmouth lost the first two games, while winning the third game of the series 3-2.
Dartmouth is now 3-36 overall. They will play their last two games of the season this weekend in Fairfield, Conn. against Sacred Heart University starting on Saturday, May 13 at 11:30 a.m.
