Dartmouth headed to Gardner-Webb
- Updated: March 4, 2022
DARTMOUTH (1-2) at GARDNER-WEBB (2-7)
March 4-6, 2022 • John Henry Moss Stadium • Boiling Springs, N.C.
On the Road Again
Dartmouth hits the road again this weekend, this time for a four-game series at Big South member Gardner-Webb. This is still early in the 15-game road trip that starts the Big Green season with eight games in Florida still to come after winter exams. All four games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Look Back at Last Weekend
• Dartmouth began its 149th season of varsity baseball by winning one of the three games at Louisville.
• Opening Day was nothing to write home about as the Cardinals jumped on the rusty Big Green in a 19-5 contest.
• Dartmouth is now 14-18 in the first game of the season under head coach Bob Whalen, who is in his 32nd season (33rd year) at the helm with a 603-593-3 record.
• The following day, the Big Green got clutch hitting and solid pitching to bounce back for a 6-4 victory, their first win in just over two years (Feb. 23, 2020 – Feb. 26, 2022).
• Cole Roland, a senior who had never thrown a pitch in college due to injuries and the pandemic, earned the win with four innings of two-run relief, retiring 10 batters in a row at one point.
• Kade Kretzschmar provided the game-winning hit with a two-out, two-run triple to cap a three-run seventh, putting Dartmouth on top by a run.
• Louisville jumped out to an early lead in the series finale and never looked back in a 16-3 Dartmouth defeat.
• The highlights from that Sunday contest were provided by Connor Bertsch and Nathan Cmeyla, both of whom hit their first collegiate home runs.
• Of the 14 runs the Big Green scored in the series, 10 came in the seventh
• Elliot Krewson hit .417 (5-for-12) with two walks for a .500 OBP in the series.
• A total of six players collected their first collegiate hits during the series: Cmeyla, Krewson, Zackarie Casebonne, Tyler Cox, Jackson Hower and Max Zajec.
• Overall Record vs. Gardner-Webb
• These are the first games between these two schools on the diamond.
• Dartmouth last played in the state in the 2019 season at the USA Baseball complex in Cary hosted by Army West Point. The Big Green won three of four games, beating Fairleigh Dickinson twice and St. Joseph’s once, to win the event.
• Not only has Dartmouth never played Gardner-Webb, it has never gone up against any current Big South team.
Scouting the Bulldogs
• Gardner-Webb has lost its last four games, all to projected regional teams in seventh-ranked Georgia Tech (3) and Charlotte.
• The Bulldogs’ two wins were 9-5 over Bellarmine and 4-2 over Carolina University (a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association).
• The bats have started slowly with a slash line of .190/.293/.286, scoring 3.4 runs per game.
• Infielder Alec Burns, a Souhegan High School graduate, is the only New Hampshire resident on the Gardner-Webb roster. He transferred from West Virginia has two home runs in 26 at-bats this season.
• Curtis Robeson leads the squad with five extra-base hits, two of which are long balls.
• The pitching staff has recorded an ominous 6.66 ERA thus far, partly due to issuing 6.5 walks per nine innings.
• The glove work has been solid, however, with eight errors in nine games (three by pitchers) for a .974 fielding percentage.
Probable Starting Pitchers
• In the series opener, RHP Justin Murray (0-1, 24.00) is looking to bounce back from a rough outing in which he walked a career-high five batters in only three innings at Louisville. His opponent on the mound will be RHP Joe Simeone (0-2, 8.00), a graduate transfer from UConn who has held opponents to a .200 average but walked nine batters in nine innings and allowed two four-baggers.
• The game ball for the first game on Saturday will go to RHP Nate Skinner (0-0, 3.60). In his first start, he contained the Louisville bats over five innings to two runs on four hits. New England native RHP Bobby Alcock (0-0, 1.80) is looking to build upon his first start in which he struck out 11 batters over five frames in a 4-2 loss to Bellarmine.
• Like Murray, LHP Trystan Sarcone (0-1, 47.25) would rather forget his season debut and wipe the slate clean, perhaps use his abbreviated 2020 stats of a 3.52 ERA in 7.2 innings. He will face RHP Lenny Washington (0-0, 1.93) who has pitched well in two relief outings spanning 4.2 innings to date.
• Sunday is a toss-up with both teams waiting to see how the first three games play out. If I had to guess, I’d say Dartmouth will go with RHP Will Shepherd (0-0, 0.00), though he’ll probably pitch out of the bullpen before that, and Gardner-Webb will send RHP Casey Young (0-1, 5.40) to the bump.
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