April 29, 2006

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score |  Photo Gallery

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Yale baseball team concluded the 2006 season by dropping both ends of a doubleheader against the Brown Bears on Saturday afternoon. The Bears won the opener 8-6 and the nightcap 2-1. Senior Adam Barrick (Freeport, N.Y.) set an Ivy League record by making his 69th career appearance.

Brown jumped on Yale starter Chris Wietlispach (Crystal Lake, Ill.) early in game one, plating a run in the first inning and two more in the second. The sophomore, working on just two days rest, was touched for three runs and was taken out after two innings. He struck out two.

Yale matched Brown's run in the first inning, scoring without the benefit of a hit.

Josh Cox (Gainesville, Fla.) led off with a walk and moved to third base on successive ground balls to the right side. He then scored on a passed ball to tie the score at 1-1.

Brown went back on top in the second inning, scoring a pair on RBI hits from Paul Christian and Danny Hughes to go up 3-1. The lead grew to 4-1 in the third inning when Devin Thomas scored after Ryan Lavarnway (Woodland Hills, Calif.) mishandled a Bryan Tews hit in the outfield, allowing Thomas to score all the way from first.

The Bulldogs rallied for a run in the third to get within two at 4-2 before knotting the contest in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from John Janco (Cannonsburg, Pa.) and a RBI double from Lavarnway.

The game remained deadlocked into the seventh inning. With Matt Fealey (Queens, N.Y.) on in relief, the Bears scored four unearned runs, capitalizing on a fielding error by Charles Bush (Jackson, Miss.) that would have ended the inning.

Jake Doyle (Wilmington, Del.) launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh, but that would be all Yale could get as Rob Hallberg came in to close out the game.

By pitching one-and-two-thirds scoreless innings, Barrick established a new Ivy League record by making his 69th career appearance. Rob Monnes of Brown held the previous record of 68.

Game two was a pitchers' duel, pitting Jeff Dietz of Brown against the combination of Mike Elias (Alexandria, Va.), Steve Gilman (Annandale, N.J.) and Brian Irving (Hamden, Conn.) of Yale.

The Bears scored first, taking a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single from Hughes.

From there neither side would budge, as Dietz and the duo of Gilman and Irving traded zeroes into the ninth inning.

Brown extended the lead to 2-0 in the top of the ninth, taking advantage of another error by the Bulldogs. Matt Nuzzo was the beneficiary, reaching to lead off the frame. He then stole second on a close play to move into scoring position. After a passed ball he was on third with only one out.

Irving, working his fifth inning of relief, then induced a grounder to the drawn in infield to keep Nuzzo at third, but Robert Papenhouse singled past the glove of a jumping Dan Soltman (Evanston, Ill.) to give the Bears a 2-0 lead. Brett Rosenthal (Irving, Texas) was then summoned to end the inning by striking out Tews.

The Bulldogs didn't go quietly in the bottom of the ninth, and eventually had the winning run on base.

Marc Sawyer (Largo, Fla.) led off the inning with a double to left to get things rolling. Three batters later he scored on a Lavarnway single to bring Yale to within a run at 2-1 and finally chase Dietz from the contest.

Ethan Burton and Hallberg, however, were able to get the last two outs of the contest, stranding the tying and winning runs at first and second respectively.

Yale ends the season at 26-19 and 11-9 in Ivy League play. Brown finishes at 15-23 and 12-8 in conference play.

There was a ceremony honoring the eight graduating seniors on the Yale baseball team between games. Barrick, Zac Bradley (Alexander, Ark.), Elias, Fealey, Jon Hollis (Jacksonville, Fla.), Janco, Eric Rasmussen (Brewster, Mass.) and captain Alec Smith (Turlock, Calif.) each were honored during the ceremony.