After a shaky start to the season, Dartmouth baseball has won back-to-back series against the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. The Big Green remains behind in the Ivy League — tied for fifth after nine conference games — as their season moves into its final month.
When Ivy League play began on March 22, the Big Green were 0-10 after a winless first month of the season. The team is now 5-15, and is looking to make a strong final push with five more three-game Ivy League series left to play.
Senior catcher Zackarie Casebonne ’25 said the team wants to “keep [their] hot streak [and], keep on winning” as conference play picks up.
Dartmouth baseball’s Ivy League season began with a three-game series against Princeton University on the Tigers’ home turf. After dropping the first game 8-5, the Big Green lost a heartbreaking game two, after Princeton picked up two runs on a walk-off single to win 7-6. Ethan Brown ’27, Casebonne and Taer Rodriguez ’26 all posted three-hit games in the loss. The final game of the series — an 8-1 loss to the Tigers — put the Big Green at 0-13 on the season.
The losing streak finally ended on March 28 when Dartmouth returned home to Biondi Park in Hanover to face the University of Pennsylvania. Brown’s three hits — including a home run — propelled the Big Green to an 8-7 win over the Quakers.
This season, Brown leads the team in every major batting category, including a .360 batting average. Brown said that he “doesn’t plan to change anything” about his approach to batting as the season continues.
Dartmouth split the final two games of the Penn series, bringing their season record to 2-14 before returning to Hanover where they enjoyed a home-field advantage. Facing UMass Lowell, the Big Green offense exploded in front of a crowd of “friends [and] professors,” Casebonne noted. 15 hits — led by Rodriguez and DeMastrie’s three hits each — powered the 11-5 win.
“We practice every day on that field,” Brown said. “We all love it there.”
The Harvard series kicked off at home last Friday with another big offensive game from Dartmouth. After an early 5-0 lead from Harvard, Casebonne broke the ice with a home run to left field, followed by DeMastrie and Axel Riess ’28 each hitting their first collegiate home runs. A six-run seventh inning pushed Dartmouth ahead for a 13-9 win.
Harvard took game two 4-1, which started Friday evening and was postponed to Sunday morning.
Game three began with another early lead from Harvard as the Crimson put a string of hits together for four runs. Still down 6-3 in the eighth inning, Rush stepped to the plate with two men on base for the Big Green. Rush crushed a fastball that carried just over the left field wall to tie the score, which was his fourth RBI of the game.
“That feeling when I connected with that, it was something different,” Rush said after the game.
A dominant top of the ninth inning for relief pitcher Kyle Klaric-Schell ’28 gave Dartmouth the chance to win the series with a walk-off. A single from Brown started the bottom of the ninth, and a hit-by-pitch from senior outfielder Jackson Hower ’25 put runners on first and second for the Big Green. After fouling off two bunt attempts, DeMastrie was given the green light to swing with an 0-2 count. Turning on an inside fastball, he hit a high fly ball that carried just over Harvard’s left fielder, sending Brown home to win the game for Dartmouth.
“It felt pretty good,” DeMastrie said. “Tough start to the day, but we figured out a way in the end.”
The late comeback sealed the series win for Dartmouth, who took two out of three games.
“We have come back and played good baseball late [in the game] ever since we have come back for the spring term,” head coach Bob Whalen said. “I’m really proud of the team.”
The Big Green is set to take on Boston College at home on Wednesday at 3:00 pm. Ivy League play resumes in Providence, Rhode Island this weekend against Brown University.
