BASEBALL: Bulldogs rally to win game against Hartford on Wednesday, sweep Dartmouth in three games
On Wednesday, and then again over the weekend, the Yale baseball team defeated Hartford and Dartmouth as season play continued.
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Last Wednesday evening, the Bulldogs competed in a game at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford and beat the Hawks in a back-and-forth game.
The Yale men’s baseball team (13–16, 7–5 Ivy) competed in a mid-week game against the University of Hartford (2–24, 0–0 CCC). The Bulldogs beat the Hawks in an 8–4 win. The Bulldogs then got back on track in Ivy play against Dartmouth College (1–27, 0–12 Ivy) with a three game sweep against the Big Green.
“Getting the sweep this weekend was exactly what we needed,” player Tommy Martin ’25 wrote to the News. “Hopefully we can use that momentum for our midweek at [Quinnipiac] and for the Penn series this weekend.”
On Wednesday, in the bottom of the first, the Hawks scored the first run of the game with a homer to right field. In the top of the third, the Bulldogs tied it up with a run from Ben Metzner ’23 off a single to center field from Davis Hanson ’26. In the bottom of the third, the Hawks brought another run in, but in the top of the fourth, the Blue and White brought in three runs off Metzner, Max Imhoff ’25 and Martin to bring the Bulldogs to a 4–2 lead.
In the top of the fifth, Carson Swank ’23 singled to left field which brought Jeff Pierantoni ’24 home. In the top of the sixth, Martin brought in his second run of the game off a single from Jake Williams ’24 to left field. In the bottom of the seventh, the Hawks brought in two runs, but the Bulldogs were still ahead 6–4. The Bulldogs scored the last two runs of the game in the top of the eighth off a homer from Hanson which brought Hayden Sobecki ’25 home.
Mick Kelley ’25, Josh Richardson ’24, Ethan Lewis ’26, Mark Capell ’25 and Jimmy Chatfield ’24 pitched for the Bulldogs on Wednesday.
Over the weekend, the Bulldogs kicked off their three game series against Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire with a double header on Saturday. In their first game on Saturday, the Bulldogs won in a run-packed game, beating the Big Green 16–3. In their second game, the Blue and White rallied to win 7–2.
“We need to continue the approach and systems that helped us be successful in the Dartmouth Series,” coach Brian Hamm wrote to the News. “Our approach has helped us succeed in a number of ways to put us in the mix to make the Ivy Tournament and now we are performing more consistently. We were so close to getting results out of the Columbia series and we made adjustments and stuck with our approach and were rewarded with three wins against Dartmouth.”
In the morning on Saturday, Reid Easterly ’24 started on the mound for the Bulldogs. In the top of the second, the Blue and White started the scoring for the game with a run from Pierantoni and Williams off a single from Milner. In the top of the fourth, Martin brought a run in for the Blue and White off a triple to right center from Metzner.
The Big Green scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the fifth from a homer to left field. In the top of the sixth, the Blue and White brought in two runs to make the score 5–1 off of a double from Pierantoni, which brought Hanson home, and a homer from Martin to right field.
In the bottom of the eighth, Capell relieved Easterly on the mound. The Bulldogs did not score any more runs until the top of the ninth when the Blue and White brought in 11 runs, bringing the final score of the game to 16–3. Atkinson, Milner, Chatfield, Hanson, Williams, Pierantoni, Martin and Metzner all brought in runs for the Bulldogs.
In their second game on Saturday, the Bulldogs beat the Big Green 7–2. Scoring did not get started for either team until the bottom of the sixth when Dartmouth brought one run home. In the bottom of the seventh, the Big Green brought in their second and final run of the game off a dropped fly by the second baseman which brought Zackarie Casebonne home.
The Bulldogs scored their first run in the top of the eighth after Williams singled to center field, which brought Sobecki home. In the top of the ninth, the Bulldogs tied it up after Metzner scored on a throwing error by the third baseman. The game stayed tied into the bottom of the ninth and continued into extra innings.
In the top of the tenth, the Blue and White brought five runs in, winning the game with a final score of 7–2.
In their final game of the weekend on Sunday, the Blue and White rallied to win a low scoring 1–0 game. The first and only run of the game came after Hanson walked, Williams advanced to second and Chatfield advanced to third, which brought Atkinson home.
“I think my personal highlight of the weekend was our pitching staff’s performance in Sunday’s game, throwing a shutout,” Capell told the News. “It showed how far we have come from where we began this year and it is something that is amazing to be a part of. Couple that with having a beautiful 75 degree and sunny atmosphere, and getting the weekend sweep, the feeling was unmatched. As a whole, it puts us in a position to control our own destiny for the Ivy League playoff which is one step closer to our team goal.”
Daniel Cohen ’26, Bryant Reese ’24, Richardson, and Capell were on the mound on Sunday for the Blue and White. All four of them helped prevent any tying runs for the Big Green with their solid defense.
Looking ahead, the Bulldogs will compete against Quinnipiac University (13–19, 7–5 MAAC) on Wednesday in Hamden, Connecticut and continue Ivy play in a three game series against the University of Pennsylvania (20–11, 9–3 Ivy) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania over the weekend.