Coming off a desolate run in a baseball marathon against Harvard and a mid-week split, the Yale baseball team will face division leader Dartmouth in four games this weekend.
The two double-headers will begin at noon on both Saturday and Sunday at Yale Field. After a travel-filled week that included two trips to Boston and a rainy, cold layover in Cambridge, the Yale team (11-17, 4-6 Ivy) is looking forward to the prospect of good weather and the home-field advantage.
With a team .305 batting average, Dartmouth (15-10, 11-1 Ivy) will be a tough offensive competitor. The team has had 308 hits in 907 at bats, and continues to power the league with a solid lineup throughout.
This weekend, the Big Green are coming off a weekend at Brown where they won three of the four games played. Their mid-week game against Vermont was a 13-3 win.
The Bulldogs are coming off a weaker week of play. They lost three of four games against the Crimson, and split a doubleheader against Fairfield. Game one was an 11-inning marathon.
Stefan Schropp ’09, Trygg Larsson-Danforth ’10 and Andy Megee ’11 lead the Eli offense. Danforth hit his sixth home run of the season against Harvard.
On the mound, Brandon Josselyn ’09 continues to lead the bullpen with an ERA of 4.97. Joe Castaldi ’10, Vinny Lally ’11, Pat Ludwig ’12, Eric Shultz ’12 and Robert Gruber ’10 fill out the rest of the schedule.
“It will be good to be home and to get some fans out there,” Schropp, the team captain, said. “They’re a very solid squad and it’s going to take a lot.”
Despite Dartmouth’s stunning record coming into the Yale series, members of the baseball team are confident they have what it takes to get ahead.
“We want to prove to the Ivy League right now we can play,” shortstop Matt Schmidt ’12 said. “They’re in first place, and we think we can match them.”