Dartmouth Leads Ivy Baseball

It was supposed to be easy. Like playing the Los Angeles Clippers, or the Florida Marlins. For the Harvard baseball team, four games against Ivy League cellar-dweller Yale was supposed to be a walk in the park.

Instead, the Elis won their first Ivy league games, shutting out the Crimson twice, 8-0 and 4-0. Then Harvard rallied behind junior pitcher John Birtwell to take out Yale on Sunday, 6-1.

Not only did Yale boost its abysmal winning percentage, it also turned things topsy-turvy in the Red Rolfe division of the Ivy League (Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown and Yale). The Big Green swept Brown to move into first place in the Ivy League.

Dartmouth-Brown

Dartmouth was a game behind Harvard going into the opening round of Red Rolfe division play. A stellar effort on both offense and defense gave the Big Green four wins last weekend in Providence against Brown.

In Game 1, the teams went into extra innings before Dartmouth scored three in the top half of the eighth to win 7-4. Freshman Mike Mileusnic hit a single and ran all the way around to score on a defensive error by the Bears' infield. Dartmouth then creamed Brown in the nightcap, 14-0.

On Day 2, Dartmouth continued the rout. After a relatively easy 6-3 win, the Big Green once again used late-inning heroics in the second game. Brian Nickerson hit a single with two out and men on first and third to drive in the winning run. Dartmouth then held on for the win and the sweep.

The Big Green now stand at 10-2 in the Ivies, with an 18-11 record overall. Brown drops to 4-8 in league play and 13-23 overall.

Penn-Cornell

Over in the Lou Gehrig division, Penn, Princeton and Cornell were tied last week at 4-4 in league play. The Quakers and Big Red faced off in Philadelphia for four games over the weekend.

The league records are misleading, as Penn has eight more wins than Cornell in overall play. The Quakers showed off their skill by taking three out of four.

On Saturday, strong pitching was the magic pill for Penn. Mike Mattern threw a complete game shutout in the first game, striking out eight in a 4-0 win. In the second game, freshman Ben Otero pitched seven solid innings in a 6-2 win.

Michael Nemeth hit a game-winning single in the seventh to give Cornell its only win of the weekend, a 5-3 victory in Sunday's first game. In game two, Penn exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning, and the rain came none too soon for Cornell as the Quakers finished them off 10-2 before a rain delay, ending the game, was called.

Penn moved up to 7-5 in league play and 17-14 overall. Cornell fell to 6-18 in overall games played and 5-7 in the Ivies.

Princeton-Columbia

The Tigers' bats were en fuego over the weekend, starting with a 13-1 drubbing of Columbia. In Game 2, both teams stayed close throughout, but Princeton edged it out, 9-8. On the day, Princeton had a total of 25 hits.

Junior Andrew Hanson made Princeton history on Sunday, having one of the best offensive efforts ever for the Tigers, garnering him the Ivy Player of the Week honor. Hanson went 6-for-6 in the second game, hitting for the cycle in a 16-6 win. His seven runs batted in tied the school record, as did the two home runs he put in the Harlem river.

In Game 1, Princeton won 7-1. The weekend sweep put the Tigers in first place in the Gehrig division with an 8-4 league record. It also pushed them above .500 at 15-13 overall. Columbia fell even farther into last place, with a 3-9 Ivy record and 6-27 overall record.