Baseball Drops Three of Four at Dartmouth to Close Out Season

Forced to watch their opponents celebrate on Senior Day, the Harvard baseball team was left to rue its missed opportunities as its season came to an abrupt end.

Despite Yale losing three games and opening the proverbial door, the Crimson (17-24, 9-11 Ivy) was unable to take advantage and force its way into postseason play, losing three out of four to Dartmouth (18-24, 11-9). The Big Green will travel to Yale on Saturday for a one-game playoff to determine who faces Princeton in the Ivy League Championship Series.

Even with a pair of home runs from sophomore outfielder Connor Quinn, Dartmouth won two close, low-scoring games on Saturday before rain postponed Sunday’s games to Tuesday, in which Harvard split a pair of 3-1 contests.

“It was definitely tough,” freshman center fielder Ben Skinner said. “We were in the position where we had a chance to control our own destiny, so there’s no one one else to blame, we had it under our control.”

DARTMOUTH 3, HARVARD 1

The Crimson bats fell silent once again in Hanover, with three Dartmouth pitchers combining to hold the visitors to one unearned run. Senior second baseman Mitch Klug and Quinn picked up a pair of hits each in the losing effort.

Sophomore starter Ian Miller allowed two runs while striking out four in just three innings, with a combination of five Harvard relievers holding the visitors to just one run over the remaining five innings.

The damage, however, was done early, with runs in the third and fourth innings enough for the Big Green. After the Crimson cut the lead to one in the sixth, Dartmouth added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth before setting down Harvard in the top of the ninth.

HARVARD 3, DARTMOUTH 1

Behind yet another gem from freshman right-hander Kevin Stone, the Crimson picked up its only win of the series, its first in 15 games dating back to 2011-2012 against the Big Green, on Tuesday afternoon. The Connecticut native threw seven innings of one-run ball, with the offense scoring in the third, sixth, and seventh innings.

“I think it was just about getting comfortable,” Stone said, “Just knowing what I’m capable of doing in this league, that’s probably what got me back into my rhythm.”

Klug homered and collected three hits on the day, with the Dartmouth offense putting one across the plate in the bottom of the seventh and failing to mount a full comeback.

DARTMOUTH 2, HARVARD 1

The Big Green outlasted the Crimson in an old-fashioned pitching duel Saturday afternoon. Seniors Beau Sulser and Sean Poppen went head-to-head on Senior Day at O’Donnell Field, with the former doing just enough over seven innings to get the victory.

Poppen put in an impressive outing of his own, striking out four in six and a third innings of two-run balls, but once again the Harvard offense was out of sync. Quinn again rose to the occasion, going 3-for-3 with a consolation home run in the eighth inning, the team’s only run, but it was too little, too late.

A pair of RBI singles in the third and seventh innings were enough for Sulser, who struck out five in seven innings while allowing just one run.

DARTMOUTH 3, HARVARD 1

Despite a record-setting outing from sophomore righty Nick Gruener, the Crimson offense could muster just one run in Saturday’s opening loss. Gruener threw his seventh complete game, the most complete games a Harvard pitcher has thrown in a season since the statistic was first recorded in 2001. The Florida native fanned five while allowing seven base runners in seven innings.

“Anytime you see your pitcher going out there and giving it his all, throwing well, you definitely want to back him up with some run support, but unfortunately we weren’t able to this weekend,” Skinner said.

The Big Green got on the board thanks to a single, wild pitch, and a pair of grounders in the first before tacking on two more in the top of the sixth. Quinn’s home run in the bottom of the seventh was mere consolation for a Crimson offense, which had just two runners in scoring position in the entire game.

Staff writer Manav Khandelwal can be reached at manavkhandelwal@college.harvard.edu.