Tag Archive: Baseball

  1. BASEBALL | Elis seek revenge against Quakers, Lions

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    The baseball team (13–10, 2–2 Ivy) will hope to carry the momentum from its 3–2 victory over Sacred Heart (12–14) on Wednesday into this weekend’s Ancient Eight contests against Penn (13–10, 4–0) and Columbia (11–12, 2–2). The Quakers and the Lions finished at the top of the Lou Gehrig Division last year, and Penn is currently undefeated in conference play.

    “We didn’t need motivation for this weekend,” captain and third baseman Andy Megee ’11 said after the win against Sacred Heart. “We owe these guys from last year.”

    Last season, the Bulldogs began the Ivy season 0–4 as a result of dropping two games against Columbia and then two games against Penn. That poor start to conference play ultimately hurt the Elis going forward in the season.

    “It honestly devastated us,” Megee admitted. “It ruined our season. In Ivy league baseball, due to the weather and other factors, you work for 11 months and for a one-month season. When we lost those games, everything we had done to that point became basically meaningless. It put us in an extremely difficult position.”

    The contests against Columbia were close. The first game last season went to extra innings, but the Lions scored two runs in the pivotal eighth, winning 5–3. The Bulldogs did not fare better in the evening game as they dropped it 5–4.

    Megee, then a junior, had a strong showing in the games against Columbia despite the losses. He notched six RBIs and went four-for-eight, including a home run. This year, he is one of the top hitters on the team with a .327 batting average, 32 hits and 18 RBIs on the season. Brook Hart ’11 has gotten off to a strong start with a 1.95 ERA through 32.1 innings pitched.

    The Lions offense will be led by Nick Cox and Dario Pizzano who have .409 and .405 batting averages, respectively.

    The Bulldogs will also have to overcome a Dartmouth team that boasts a powerful bullpen. Big Green pitchers Stefan Olson and Harrison Slutsky both have ERAs less than 1.75.

    “Columbia’s been good since I’ve been here,” Megee said. “They play really solid fundamental baseball. They hit and pitch very well.”

    Penn had an easier time with the Bulldogs than Columbia last year. The Quakers defeated the Bulldogs in the first game 5–2 and went on an offensive storm to capture the second game easily, 12–4.

    The Quakers are led by Jeremy Maas, who has a .424 hitting average and 18 RBIs to date. Vince Voiro and Paul Cusick, who have combined to pitch 71.2 innings, both have ERAs under 3.

    “Penn is a pretty standard Ivy League team,” Megee said. “They’ve done well so far so we need to halt their momentum.”

    The Bulldogs’ doubleheader against Penn is set to begin Saturday at noon. The Elis will then return to action against Columbia on Sunday in another doubleheader that is also slated for a noon start.

  2. BASEBALL | Elis sacrifice their way to victory

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    The baseball team got back to its winning ways after having dropped two consecutive games against Princeton over the weekend.

    The Elis (13–10, 2–2 Ivy) defeated Sacred Heart (12–14) 3–2 on Wednesday as they edged out the Pioneers with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly by Trey Rallis ’11 broke the 2–2 tie.

    It was the first Yale game this week, after the Tuesday contest against Northeastern was canceled.

    “It was just one of those days where we didn’t hit great,” captain and third baseman Andy Megee ’11 admitted.

    The teams were deadlocked and strong pitching performances did not allow either team to gain an advantage. Yale was the first to strike in the second inning, capitalizing on Sacred Heart’s mistakes.

    The Pioneers hit the second batter, Ryan Brenner ’12, giving him a free pass to first base. After a wild pitch, Brenner advanced to second base and was in scoring position. A single to center field brought Brenner home and Yale took a 1–0 advantage.

    But Sacred Heart was quick to respond, scoring in the bottom of the third. A team effort brought the Pioneers’ M.J. Schifano home.

    A combination of poor hitting, smart pitching, and good defense explained why neither team was able to score in the fifth or sixth innings.

    “The pitching was pretty solid,” pitcher Brook Hart ’11 said. “We walked a few more than we would’ve liked but we made pitches when we needed to and the fielders picked us up.”

    The Pioneers struck again in the sixth inning to put the Bulldogs in a 2–1 hole going into the final three innings.

    But Yale was not rattled, and the Bulldogs responded in the next inning with a run of their own, as Charlie Neil ’12 scored on a squeeze play by Gant Elmore ’11.

    Megee, the captain, played a critical role in the Bulldogs’ final run. He started the inning with a double and followed it by stealing base after the next batter flied out to right field. Rallis brought Megee home for the deciding run.

    Rallis and Megee are both having a strong final season in their Yale uniforms. Rallis is batting .333 and has 17 RBIs on the season while Megee leads the team with 30 hits and is tied for the most home runs with two.

    Cale Hanson ’14 secured the victory for Yale in the ninth inning, allowing a single and a walk before closing out the game. Currently, Hanson has a 0.00 ERA on the season, through 6.1 innings.

    “It wasn’t pretty but I survived,” Hanson said of containing the Pioneer offense.

    The game was not atypical of the Bulldogs’ battles against Sacred Heart. Last year, the two teams split the series, with Yale winning the first game and losing the second one in a 5–4 loss.

    So as to save their pitchers’ arms for the weekend, nine different pitchers combined for the effort against the Pioneers, with only Kevin Fortunato ’14 pitching more than one inning.

    The Bulldogs will return to conference play this weekend with a doubleheader against Penn on Saturday and another doubleheader against Columbia on Sunday. Penn has gotten off to a hot start to the Ivy season with an undefeated record, including two wins over Dartmouth, the team that has won the Ancient Eight crown for the past two seasons.

  3. BASEBALL | Yale splits weekend, still atop Red Rolfe

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    The baseball team’s seven-game winning streak came to an abrupt end this weekend as the Bulldogs had a hot-and-cold start in their first weekend of Ivy League action.

    The Elis (12–10, 2–2 Ivy) started Ancient Eight play with two wins against Cornell (3–17, 1–3) and then dropped two consecutive games against Princeton (9–13, 4–0). However, Ivy foe Dartmouth (12–6, 2–2), who has won the conference title for the last two years, was swept by Penn (12–10, 4–0), keeping Yale tied for the top spot in the Red Rolfe division.

    “We feel lucky to still be tied for first,” captain and third baseman Andy Megee ’11 said. “As well as we played yesterday [against Cornell], that’s how badly we played today [against Princeton].”

    Heading into the games against Cornell, Yale was riding the momentum of five straight victories. Yale’s offense picked up where it had let off against Quinnipiac, scoring more than four runs for the 14th and 15th times this season.

    The bullpen also set the tone against the Big Red, allowing only 13 hits in the two games combined.

    In the first game, Vinny Lally ’11 hit all corners of the strike zone as he struck out 10 Big Red batters en route to his second complete game of the season, leading Yale to a 7–2 win.

    The second game was a combined effort from the pitching staff. Pat Ludwig ’12 began the afternoon on the mound and struck out six batters. Eric Shultz ’12 stepped up in the ninth to seal his third save of the season, giving the team a 5–3 victory.

    Shultz’s pitching was critical as the Big Red were on the verge of making a comeback in the second game with batters in scoring positions. After Cornell scored a run in the ninth inning, Kevin Fortunato ’14 walked a Big Red player that put the tying run on base with two outs. Shultz then came into the game and forced a ground out to end the contest.

    “We hit great, played solid defense, and our pitching was phenomenal,” Megee said following the victories.

    For the freshmen, the games were their first time playing against Ivy competition. In his debut, Cale Hanson ’14 had three runs in the doubleheader against Cornell.

    “My first Ivy game felt like I was playing in the playoffs,” Hanson said. “Every run, hit and out felt so important. It is a loud atmosphere to play in and it makes winning feel all the better.”

    But the situation was much different when Yale faced Princeton. The Tigers have struggled thus far in the season, however, none of those struggles were apparent as Princeton came out, hitting and pitching better than it had in its previous games.

    In the first game, the Tigers scored five runs in the first three innings. Two more runs in the sixth inning ensured victory for the team. Yale scored a run in the seventh inning, but that would be it for the Bulldogs who went on to lose 7–1. The loss ended the team’s seven game winning streak, its longest since the 2005 season.

    Megee said the team struggled on both the mound and at the plate in its defeats to Princeton. Brook Hart ’11 pitched the entire game and was unable to find the form on the mound that had gotten him off to a hot start this season. He had a 1.07 ERA through 25.1 innings pitched before the weekend, but allowed seven runs, four of which were earned, in six innings pitched in the game.

    “I struggled to put people away,” Hart said. “They were just solid at the plate and took advantage of their opportunities.”

    The Bulldogs got off to a better start in the second game but still could not notch a win against the Tigers. Yale held a 3–1 advantage going into the bottom of the seventh, but then allowed Princeton to score five runs.

    The Elis were unable to respond and did not score a run for the remainder of the game, but not due to a lack of opportunity. The Elis had two runners in scoring positions, but were unable to get a hit to bring them home.

    “We didn’t execute in big situations,” Lally said. “Defense had a few lapses, pitching walked too many and we weren’t able to get the big hit when we needed it. If we cleaned up our pitching and defense, those two games could have completely different outcomes.”

    The team will be back in action early this week with a game against Northeastern on Tuesday and again against Sacred Heart on Wednesday.

    “We just [need to] keep doing what we’re doing,” Megee said. “We just [need to] try and minimize the mistakes.”

  4. BASEBALL | Bulldogs hit the road

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    The baseball team (10–8) will take a five-game winning streak into this weekend as they begin Ancient Eight play against Cornell (2–14) and Princeton (5–13).

    Last year, the team had an 11–6–1 record before the Ivy League season began against Columbia. However, the team went 0–4 during that first Ivy weekend, and will hope for a better start this year.

    “We need to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” captain and third baseman Andy Megee ’11 said. “It all starts with pitching and defense.”

    Yale will face the Big Red in a doubleheader this Saturday. The Big Red have gotten off to a rough start this season, losing their first five games before finally defeating Saint Joseph’s University. Cornell only has two players with a .300 batting average or better: Mickey Brodsky and Marshall Yanzick. The team’s record has been suffering in part because its bullpen has a 6.20 ERA compared to its opponents’ 3.88 ERA.

    The Bulldogs defeated Cornell both times last year, but those wins did not come easily. In both games last year, the team trailed the Big Red 2–0 but was able come back. In the first game, a walk-off home run by Trygg Larsson-Danforth ’10 secured the victory for the team 4–3 in extra innings. The second game was still close, but the Bulldogs won by a two run margin, 7–5.

    The Bulldogs will travel to face Princeton on Sunday. The Tigers have yet to play a game at home and have had a poor start to the season as well with a 5–13 record. The team has had difficulty on offense with a .241 batting average. The highest average on the team is Alec Keller’s .302 hitting percentage. Similar to Cornell, the Tiger bullpen has struggled with a 6.69 ERA while its opponents have averaged a 3.83 ERA.

    The Tigers and the Bulldogs were neck and neck in their two games last year. The teams split the doubleheader, with Yale losing the first game 7–8 and winning the second contest 6–5.

    In the first game last year, the team lost a heartbreaker after overcoming a 0–7 deficit. However, a Tiger run ended Yale’s hope for a comeback win.

    The Elis pulled off a successful comeback in the second game. Brook Hart ’11 was critical for securing the win for the Bulldogs in that game. Hart, after pitching for the entire first game, came back to throw the last two innings of the second game to close the contest against the Tigers, earning him his first career save.

    “My mindset going into this week is to get geared up for the real thing,” Hart said. “Everything we have done up to this point means nothing if we don’t come out and execute what we’ve learned so far. I think the games prior have been good tune-ups to get the kinks out and knock the rust off. And now it’s go time.”

    Hart has been critical for Yale’s success early this season. He has the second-lowest ERA on the team with 1.07 ERA through 25.1 innings. Freshman Cale Hanson ’14 has a 0.00 ERA through 5.1 innings.

    The Bulldogs have had little batting problems in their games this season, scoring four or more runs in 13 out of their 18 games. The team has scored 14 or more runs in each of its last four games.

    The Elis’ strong freshman class has been an important part of that strong offensive output. Hanson and Jacob Hunter ’14 have combined for 22 RBIs and are both batting over .300.

    “It’s been pretty remarkable,” Megee said. “I hardly look at them as freshmen anymore. On and off the field they’ve fit in so well. We’ve gotten so much more from them than we thought we would.”

    On Saturday, the Elis will travel to Cornell for its doubleheader slated for 12 p.m. The team will then go to Princeton for its doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. on Sunday.

  5. BASEBALL | Bulldogs continue winning streak

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    The Bulldogs took an early lead against Quinnipiac on Wednesday afternoon and never looked back.

    In its last game before the start of Ivy League play, the Yale baseball team (10–8) used its momentum from last weekend’s sweep of Hartford and cruised to a 14–0 win over the Bobcats. Quinnipiac was coming off its best start in the program’s Division I history with an 11–6 record coming into its game against Yale, but the Bulldogs did not allow them a single run en route to their fourth shutout of the season.

    “It was the fifth win in a row and gives us a lot of momentum going into Ivy play,” captain and third baseman Andy Megee ’11 said. “Everyone pitched and hit well.”

    The Elis got off to a quick start with three runs in the first two innings. Quinnipiac, which has only been shut out one other time this season, was scoreless in the first two innings and for the rest of the game.

    With the 3–0 lead, the Bulldogs ran away with the game in the fourth inning with four runs. Another five runs in the seventh and eighth innings sealed the Elis’ fifth consecutive win.

    “I think this game was a perfect example of everyone coming to the field ready to contribute to a win,” infielder Cale Hanson ’14 said. “No one player really stood out today because everyone found a way to do [his] job well. Everyone was ready to play.”

    The victory was a very different story from last year’s battle against the Bobcats, which Yale lost 19–18. The Elis came back after trailing 9–2, 13–9 and 16–14 and led Quinnipiac 18–16 going into the bottom on the ninth. But a walk-off three-run home run shattered that comeback and gave the victory to the Bobcats.

    Hanson had a big game on Wednesday with three runs, two hits and an RBI. Megee added three hits and two runs.

    Megee has helped the team score runs in all of its games. He has a .316 batting average and is tied for the most home runs this season with two.

    All six pitchers in the game had strong performances, not allowing a single run.

    “The pitching looked very good,” pitcher Brook Hart ’11 said. “We had a collaboration of young, old, and guys back from injury and everyone pounded the zone, which was what we had been missing.”

    Hart did not pitch in the win against the Bobcats, but has a 1.07 ERA in 25.1 innings pitched. Pitcher Vinny Lally ’11, who has pitched the most innings on the team, added that the game today was “phenomenal” because the Bulldogs did not allow any free base runners and threw strikes.

    Last year, the team had a 6.22 ERA, but the Bulldogs, with an improved bullpen, have a 5.49 ERA thus far this season.

    The Elis will begin Ancient Eight play at Cornell in a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. They will then travel to Princeton on Sunday for 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m games.

  6. BASEBALL | Elis take four straight over Hartford

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    After a six day hiatus due to weather, the Yale baseball team (9–8) broke .500 for the first time this season with a 4–0 weekend against Hartford (1–15–1).

    The Bulldogs travelled to Hartford on Saturday for the first of its back-to-back doubleheaders, winning both games 4–0 and 14–0, respectively. In its second doubleheader, played at home, Yale narrowly defeated the Hawks in the first game, 15–14, but had a decisive victory in the second game, 17–1, to complete the weekend sweep.

    “We just hit the ball really well,” captain Andy Megee ’11 said. “Brook was awesome in game two and we [just] battled.”

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    Pitching, which has plagued the Bulldogs so far this season, was strong in the team’s games on the road.

    Pitcher Vinny Lally ’11, who is 2–0 this season, only allowed two hits in the first game and no runs. He also notched ten strikeouts. In the afternoon game, five pitchers worked together to allow just three hits and no runs.

    “The pitchers pounded the strike zone and challenged Hartford’s hitters,” Lally said. “We didn’t walk many, worked down in the zone, and let our defense work.”

    The Bulldogs’ offense was strong on the road as well.

    In the first game, seniors Trey Rallis ’11 and Gant Elmore ’11 combined for two scores. Rallis hit a double in the third that brought Elmore home for the game’s first run. A Rallis single in the fifth then sent Elmore home again to put Yale up 2–0. At the top of the ninth, the Bulldogs scored two runs to secure the victory, 4–0.

    The afternoon game saw an offensive explosion from the Bulldogs, something that the team has not seen all season. Yale scored 14 runs on 16 hits and took the game 14–0. Prior to that contest, the Elis’ highest scoring output was seven.

    On Sunday, the Bulldogs then returned home for their first game of the season at Yale Field.

    And it was a battle.

    After Hartford was shutout in the previous two games, a rejuvenated Hawk team took a quick 6–0 lead over the Bulldogs through three innings. Yale scored five runs at the top of the third, but Hartford quickly answered back with a six run fourth inning. Through six innings, the two teams were tied 14–14 and were scoreless over the next four. Yale finally broke the tie and took the win after Matt Schmidt ’12 sent Megee home in the eleventh with a sacrifice fly to center field.

    “We were really excited for our home opener,” freshman Cale Hanson ‘14 said. “Even when we got off to a rough start in the first game, our intensity was high and we were able to have a few big innings and keep ourselves in the game.”

    Hart allowed just one run in the second game of the doubleheader and had six strikeouts. The offense continued to hit away, scoring 17 runs for the victory.

    “[This weekend] gives us a lot of momentum going forward,” Megee said. “Hopefully, we’re reaching our peak at the right point.”

    The Elis will take on Quinnipiac on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Yale Field.

  7. BASEBALL | Yale hopes for another strong start

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    With spring break around the corner, the Yale baseball team is preparing for its first games of the season.

    The team finished in last place in the Rolfe Division last season for the second consecutive year with an 8–12 Ivy League record, 21–22–1 overall. Despite that weak overall season, the team had a strong spring break last year, 9–4–1, and will look to repeat that performance when it hits the road and starts its season at the RussMatt Invitational on Saturday.

    The team will play Lehigh, Xavier, Miami (Ohio), Toledo, Bowling Green, Michigan State, and Ohio State in successive days at the tournament. They will then play Central Conneticut State and Navy to wrap up the break. The Bulldogs will see their first Ivy League action against Cornell on April 2.

    “We have never looked better in my years here,” pitcher Vinny Lally ’11 said. “We are trying to take everything from last year and build on it.”

    Pitching has been a problem for the last two years. Last year, the team recorded a 6.22 ERA, a slight improvement on its 6.82 ERA in the 2008–’09 season. Lally said that the team needs to focus on improving its pitching and defense if it wants to have a better season.

    The team will be heading into the new season with six new freshmen that are capable of helping on both defense and offense.

    “Guys are getting older, more mature, and it’s really about refining everything from last year,” pitcher Pat Ludwig ’12 said. “We don’t have any reason not to be successful.”

    This year’s core pitching staff will include Brook Hart ’11, Vinny Lally ’11, Ludwig and Christopher O’Hare ’13. Lally led this year’s returners with a 4.37 ERA last season. Captain Andy Megee ’11 said that the pitchers gained additional experience by competing over the summer. He also added that the team is more experienced this year, with at least one year of experience at each spot.

    “I think we will be able to handle the highs and lows of the season,” Megee said. “We did not handle our slump well last year.”

    Megee will look to lead the team on the offensive side after a strong season last year. He batted .310 last season and was one of three players that competed in all of the Bulldogs’ games last year. But he said all of the top nine hitters on the team will be critical to the team’s success this year and that any of them could have a big season.

    The team has only competed against itself and is eager to get back into collegiate competition. Ludwig said that the team wants to use the RussMatt Invitational as an opportunity to see how they size up against other teams.

    Megee added that the starting lineup for this weekend has yet to be determined, but that the coaches would let the players know on their way to Florida. According to Ludwig, all of the freshmen have been on the mound and could find themselves on this year’s pitching staff.

    “The freshman class will be able to contribute,” Lally said. “They are talented and are ready to compete now.”

    Columbia was the run away winner in the Lou Gehrig Division last season with a five game lead over the second place team. Dartmouth, who won the Rolfe Division for the third consecutive year and the Ivy title, had the highest overall winning percentage in the Ivy League last year. The Big Green won the division last year with a three game margin over Harvard and Brown. The Bulldogs had a 0–4 record against Dartmouth last year, and may have trouble with the team again this year. Kyle Hendricks and Kyle Hunter return this year to the Big Green pitching staff, one that led the country in fewest walks per nine innings last season.

    The Bulldogs will kick off their season on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the RussMatt Invitational in Winter Haven, Florida.

  8. BASEBALL | Bulldog bats come alive in split

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    Even though the baseball team split its doubleheader with Harvard on Wednesday, the vibe around the Yale clubhouse made it seem as if the Bulldogs had swept their rival.

    Hours after nearly coming back from being down 13–0 in their 14–12 loss in the first game, the Elis took a commanding 7–0 lead, en route to an 8–3 victory over the Crimson (15–23, 8–8 Ivy) in the nightcap.

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    Yale (18–21–1, 5–11) has now scored eight runs in each of its last four games, a feat it has not accomplished since the first week of the season when the Bulldogs started 4–1.

    “After we lost our first four games in the Ivy League [on April 3 and 4] I think we were focusing too much on the fact that our backs were up against the wall,” designated hitter Trey Rallis ’11 said. “We just kind of psyched ourselves out. We eventually got back to the basics and letting the chips fall where they will.”

    Rallis went 4-for-7 on the day, and his double in the sixth inning of the first game broke the Yale single-season record of 17 two-baggers.

    Head coach John Stuper said he noticed a return to form for the offense, too.

    “They’re going back to doing what they did early in the season — hitting the ball where it’s pitched and not trying to pull everything,” he said. “When we were swinging, we were swinging with some violence.”

    Things did not look good for the Bulldogs at first, though.

    Pitcher Pat Ludwig ’12, the team’s ERA leader, was pulled after throwing for just two-thirds of an inning. In that time frame, Ludwig allowed five runs on five hits and three walks.

    His reliever, captain Joe Castaldi ’10 did not fare much better, allowing eight

    runs in two innings of work.

    Finding themselves down 13–0 in the bottom of the third, the Bulldogs strung together eleven unanswered runs in three innings to make it 13–11, heading into the sixth inning. Cam Squires ’13 got it started for the Elis with a two-run triple. Yale’s fourth inning was highlighted by a two-run home run from Matt Schmidt ’12, while the fifth featured another two-run bomb — this one coming off the bat of first baseman Trygg Larsson-Danforth ’10, who extended his hit streak to 18 games.

    After the Crimson got a run back in the top of the sixth, Larsson-Danforth went deep again to make it 14–12. It was his 10th homer of the season. Rallis followed the solo homer with a record-breaking 18th double, but was left stranded after Charlie Neil ’12 struck out swinging for the third out.

    Yale had runners on first and second with one out in the seventh but a groundout and a fly-out ended the game, leaving Yale’s improbable comeback bid short.

    “We got behind by so much and that was very disappointing to me,” Stuper said. “I didn’t think we had the energy that we needed to have, but they battled back like crazy and we had a couple of chances to tie it or go ahead.”

    Buoyed by a strong performance from pitcher Chris O’Hare ’13, the Bulldog offense carried its momentum into the second game, winning 8–3.

    RBI singles from Ryan Brenner ’12 and Andrew Kolmar ’11 as well as a fielder’s choice groundout from Squires gave the Elis a 3–0 lead in the top of the second.

    The next inning, Yale extended its lead by two runs with a RBI groundout from Neil and another Brenner RBI single. Then, in the fourth, Gant Elmore ’11 laid down a successful safety squeeze bunt, and Andrew Megee ’11 hit a solo homer over the left field wall, making it 7–0 after the fourth inning.

    The Crimson, who had had just two hits through four innings, hit a solo homer in the fifth and two RBI singles in the sixth. With Harvard having runners at the corners, O’Hare was able to get out of trouble with a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

    “They started to hit the ball in the later innings, but I just kept trying to throw strikes,” O’Hare said. “Earlier in the year that would happen and I’d start to try to nitpick and throw the perfect pitch, but today when they got on base I was just looking for some ground balls.”

    O’Hare pitched six and a third innings, giving up three runs.

    Megee’s RBI double in the sixth made it 8–3, and pitcher Chris Finneran ’10 shut out the Crimson in the game’s final two and two-thirds innings.

    Although Larsson-Danforth reached base three times on walks, the senior slugger went 0-for-1, ending his18-game hitting streak.

    “He’s a marked man in our lineup and for him to put up the numbers that are even better than his numbers from last year, I’m pretty proud of him,” Stuper said. “I hope [a Major League team] gives him a chance.”

    Yale will end its season this weekend with a doubleheader at Brown on Friday and a doubleheader at home against the Bears on Saturday.

  9. BASEBALL | Elis end losing streak

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    It looked like it would be more of the same for the slumping baseball team midway through its doubleheader against Harvard on Saturday, but the Bulldogs responded emphatically to end the day on a high note.

    After a 7–4 loss to Harvard (14–22, 7–7) increased Yale’s losing streak to six games, the Bulldogs (17–19–1, 4–10 Ivy) responded later in the afternoon with a 15–1 demolition of the Crimson in the nightcap.

    “It was great to win,” pitcher Vinny Lally ’11 said of the second game against Harvard. “We’d been struggling, but we put everything together. It’s always nice to get back on the right track and start moving in the right direction again.”

    Led by designated hitter Trey Rallis ’11 and shortstop Matt Schmidt ’12 — who each had two doubles — Yale combined for 16 hits, including five in the Elis’ seven-run first inning.

    But given Lally’s performance, the Elis didn’t need all that much.

    Lally threw a gem, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and ended up allowing three hits and one run in seven innings of work. Lally now leads the team with six wins this season.

    “That second game was our most complete effort of the season,” head coach John Stuper said in a press release. “Vinny was outstanding on the mound, and we hit a lot of different pitchers.”

    In the first game, Yale fell behind after captain and pitcher Joe Castaldi ’10 allowed six runs in three and two-thirds innings. A late, three-run comeback in the seventh inning fell short, as the Bulldogs lost 7–4.

    Already holding a 3–1 lead after the third inning, the Crimson doubled their total with a three runs in the fourth.

    Castaldi began the inning struggling with his control. He hit the second batter, Kyle Larrow, with a pitch and then allowed Larrow to reach second on a wild pitch. Larrow promptly scored on an RBI-single to left field. From there, an RBI double and another RBI single gave Harvard a 6–1 lead and prompted Stuper to replace Castaldi with Christoper O’Hare ’13.

    O’Hare pitched the rest of the game for the Elis, allowing one run in three and a third innings.

    Down 7–1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs racked up five hits for three runs, but lost with the tying runner at home plate. Right fielder Andrew Kolmar ’11 struck out swinging with runners on first and second to end the game 7–4.

    The Bulldogs carried the momentum of the last inning into the second game, as they leapt out to a 7–0 lead in the first inning.

    It was not until the Elis had gone through their first six batters that Harvard pitcher Conner Hulse recorded his first out of the game. Down 4–0 at that time, Hulse was pulled after a two-out, two-run double from Schmidt scored Rallis and Kolmar to make it 6–0.

    Yale tacked on two more runs in the third, one in the fourth and three in the fifth for a 13–0 lead.

    Meanwhile, Lally was having the best performance of his season, no-hitting the Crimson through five innings. Lally said his concentration increased as the innings progressed.

    “A no-hitter is one of those accomplishments that doesn’t happen often, so I wasn’t necessarily expecting to get it done,” he said. “But I was definitely concentrating a lot more on making my pitches to try and prevent the hit.”

    In the fifth inning, shortstop Schmidt made a diving play up the middle to keep Lally’s streak alive.

    “Defensively, we were very solid, and Matt Schmidt made as good a play as you’ll see at shortstop,” Stuper said in a press release.

    Lally’s no-hitter, however, came to an end with one out in the sixth inning, when a ground ball got through the right side of the infield. Last year Lally had a perfect game through six and one-third innings against Princeton.

    Lally went on to allow a run and two hits in the seventh, but it was too late for the visitors.

    Yale scored its final two runs in the bottom of the seventh when pinch hitter Chris Piwinski ’13 singled in two teammates. Pitchers Robert Gruber ’10 and Eric Shultz ’12 threw the final two innings for the Bulldogs.

    Rallis and Schmidt led the team in batting, finishing the gamethree-for-three andfour-for-five, respectively.

    Yale will continue its four-game series against Harvard on Wednesday with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m at Yale Field. The games were originally scheduled for Sunday, but were pushed back to Monday and then postponed again to Wednesday because of the threat of inclement weather.

    The Bulldogs will take on Holy Cross at home on Tuesday before holding their final two games against Harvard.

  10. BASEBALL | Big Green complete sweep

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    It was a long, frustrating weekend for the baseball team.

    After getting out to a 10–10 start in regular season play, the baseball team lost four games to Dartmouth in two days, including two on Monday, dropping their Ivy League record to 3–9, the worst in the Ancient Eight.

    The Bulldogs completed the four-game series in Hanover, N.H., on Monday after a postponement due to rain on Saturday.

    “We’re frustrated right now because we know how well we can play as a team and we know what kind of results we can have when we play that way,” second baseman Gant Elmore ’11 said. “We just haven’t been making it happen right now.”

    Pitcher Brook Hart ’11 started Monday’s first game with six runs allowed in just two and one-third innings. That put the Elis in a 6–0 hole through the sixth inning and fell 8–2. Hart, who began the season well with a 2–2 record, has seen his numbers drop over the course of the last few weeks. He now has a 4.91 ERA for the season — second on the team.

    “I’ve been feeling pretty good out there but I just haven’t been getting the breaks,” Hart said.

    The Elis had trouble with Dartmouth leftfielder Jim Wren, who knocked home two RBI in the bottom of the fifth against pitcher Joe Castaldi ’10, who replaced Hart in the third. The only Bulldog runs were scored on a pair of doubles in the top of the seventh. Leftfielder Andrew Moore ’11 doubled in rightfielder Andrew Kolmar ’11 before shortstop Trey Rallis ’11 cashed Moore’s hit in with two outs.

    After three tough losses, the Elis made a strong showing against the Big Green in Monday’s second game.

    The Bulldogs held a 2–1 lead through the eighth inning, their first lead in the series. Rallis scored in the third on a ground out after singling to center. Later, designated hitter Charlie Neil ’12 reached on a fielders choice before stealing second and scoring on a Moore single to give the Elis the lead.

    Yale’s starting pitcher Christopher O’Hare ’13, had better luck than Hart did in the first game, going five and two-thirds innings with just one earned run. It was O’Hare’s first appearance on the mound since Yale’s 6–5 win over Princeton on April 11.

    “O’Hare pitched phenomenally for us,” Elmore said. “He was throwing a lot of strikes and getting ahead of hitters. The bounces didn’t go our way this time, but we put ourselves in a position to have a chance to win.”

    But the Bulldogs’ success was short lived as they allowed the Big Green to even the score at two when Sam Bean walked and later scored on a single.

    The Ivy foes geared up for extra innings with a pair of new hurlers, Greg Lyons ’10 and Big Green closer Ryan Smith each saw one and one-third innings of action.

    The Bulldogs recorded three quick outs in the top of the 10th on a pair of strikeouts and a line out to left field.

    That was the last chance the Elis had as the home team cashed in on small ball yet again as Sam Bean singled with one out and scored an RBI single two batters later to send the Bulldogs back to New Haven without a win.

    Yale head coach John Stuper said he and the team look to keep working hard the next couple of weeks after falling back in conference standings.

    The Bulldogs, after losing these four matches, only have two more conference series left in the regular season against Harvard and Brown.

    “It’s a game of ups-and-downs and you’re going to have peaks and you’re going to have valleys, and right now we’re stuck in a valley,” Elmore said.

  11. BASEBALL | Bulldogs Drop Two

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    The baseball team’s struggles with Ivy League opponents continued Sunday, when the Bulldogs were swept in their doubleheader at Dartmouth.

    The Big Green (15–12, 6–4) shut out the Elis (16–15–1, 3–7 Ivy) 3–0 and then took the second game 7–4, as both teams opened up play in the Rolfe Division of the Ivy League.

    “We hit the ball pretty hard, but we didn’t string any hits together and we didn’t have clutch hitting with runners on base,” relief pitcher Robert Gruber ’10 said.

    Despite the fact that Yale’s overall record would place them in third in the Ivy League, the Bulldogs’ record against the Ivy League puts them in last place.

    “Overall we’re pretty disappointed about [the] standings,” left fielder Andrew Moore ’11 said. “Those numbers don’t reflect how well we started off.”

    The two teams were scheduled to play four games over the weekend, but Saturday’s doubleheader against Dartmouth was postponed until Monday afternoon. The team learned of the postponement on Friday, six hours before the Elis were scheduled to drive to Dartmouth. The team instead traveled to the Big Green’s campus on Saturday evening and stayed there overnight on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

    In Sunday’s first game, a complete game, 10 strikeout-performance from pitcher Pat Ludwig ’12 was overshadowed by an even more dominant complete game from Dartmouth hurler Robert Young. Young, who had been 1–3 entering the contest, threw seven innings of shutout baseball to earn his second win of the season.

    “He was consistently throwing strikes the whole game and didn’t walk anyone,” Moore said of Young. “We put the ball in play a lot — we only had two strikeouts — but we were hitting them right at guys, and we weren’t making the best contact either.”

    Dartmouth got its first run of the game in the second inning, as a double to center field was quickly followed by an RBI single through the left side.

    Still down 1–0, the Bulldogs had their best chance to score in the top of the fifth inning, when two consecutive singles gave them runners at first and third with two outs. Third baseman Andy Megee ’11 grounded out to the shortstop to end the inning, though.

    The Bulldogs reached third base only twice, and both times were with two outs.

    The Big Green got insurance runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to put them ahead 3–0. In the fifth, first baseman Jason Brooks doubled to left center and then scored two batters later on a single up the middle. The next inning, a walk, a dropped fly ball, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single added up to Dartmouth’s third run of the game.

    Yale went hitless in the seventh inning, ending with six hits and no walks in the 3–0 loss.

    In the second game of the afternoon, the Bulldogs found themselves in a five-run hole after the first inning and were never able to come back.

    Vinny Lally ’11 earned his second loss of the season, allowing seven hits, seven walks and seven runs in six and one-third innings.

    The Big Green exploded with five runs in the first inning with all five coming off two swings — a three-run home run and a two-run blast.

    The Elis earned two runs back in the third inning after a solo homer from right fielder Andrew Kolmar ’11 and a triple from shortstop Matt Schmidt ’12, who would later score.

    The teams then alternated runs for the rest of the game. Dartmouth scored in the fourth off an RBI triple to make it 6–2, but the Bulldogs brought the deficit back to three runs after an RBI double from first baseman Trygg Larsson-Danforth ’10 in the sixth.

    The Big Green scored in the seventh to increase their lead to 7–3. Yale scored one run in the ninth when Kolmar’s triple knocked in left fielder Charlie Neil ’12, but that was all the Elis could muster.

    Dartmouth won last year’s series with Yale 3–1. The teams play today in a doubleheader at Dartmouth that is scheduled to start at noon. Brook Hart ’11 is scheduled to make the first start, but the second starter is still undetermined.

    “We’re going to need to work on getting more timely hitting tomorrow so that we can get more runs across,” Moore said.