To kick the weekend off, the Bulldogs secured a gutsy 7–6 win on Friday in the first leg of their double-header that day.  

“That win was huge for us,” sophomore center fielder Kaiden Dossa ’27 told the News. “Coming off a tough, back-and-forth game against Fairfield, we knew we had to reset and come out strong this weekend.”

Although Brown went up one in the bottom of the third, senior Alec Atkinson ’25 then reached on an error to score Max Imhoff ’25 and knot the game at three a piece. The lead then shifted hands multiple times before Dossa was able to bring home Hayden Sobecki ’25 on a sac fly to left to put Yale up 7–6 in the top of the ninth. 

“Being able to scratch across that run with Hayden’s speed at third base and come out on top helped start the momentum that carried into the rest of the weekend,” said Dossa. “As a team, we didn’t have any doubt, and that was a lot to do with a commitment to our consistent offense approach and having guys picking each other up when some guys are struggling.”

Apart from Dossa, the Bulldogs received significant offensive contributions from Garrett Larsen ’27 who had four hits in as many at-bats, plus another two from Atkinson himself. Despite being out of the lineup since March 22 with a broken hand, Atkinson was more than ready to get back in the batter’s box.

“Coming back for that first game felt similar to the first game of the season,” Atkinson told the News. “There were a lot of jitters … more so eager to see how my hand would feel. You just really don’t if you can be the same player as before, and those hits kind of validated the fact that I can.”

In the second game on Friday afternoon, first-year phenom Jack Ohman ’27 started on the mound for the Bulldogs. Three-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week, he showed once more that he is simply one of the most dominant pitchers right now in all of D1 baseball. He tossed eight innings, while only allowing one run and three hits. He also fanned 11 batters before being pulled out by head coach Brian Hamm and the staff with three outs remaining.

“I would’ve liked to go back out there for the ninth inning, but my pitch count was getting pretty high,” Ohman told the News. “In the moment, I definitely wanted to finish the game; I always want the ball in my hands. In retrospect, I think my coach made the right decision.”

While Ohman was able to completely shut down the Bears’ offense, senior catcher Imhoff and the rest of the Yale batters continued to find the barrel and helped secure a 6–2 victory. 

This season, Imhoff is batting a career-high 0.328, and he went four-for-eight with three runs batted in over the course of Friday’s doubleheader.  

“My approach has been to keep it simple, keeping my swing short and sweet,” Imhoff said.  “I always say I love hitting when there are runners in scoring position because you know what pitches you are going to get and all you have to do is hit a ball in play and you get a couple RBIs.”

After a day off on Saturday to recover, Yale bussed back to Providence to finish out the three-game series on Sunday. While Brown opened the scoring with a solo home run in the bottom of the first, Yale starting pitcher Daniel Cohen ’26 quickly settled into the game and pitched six stellar innings of two-run baseball. 

“Daniel Cohen pitching as well as he did today was huge for us,” said Imhoff. “The whole season, Danny has been an amazing competitor who has consistently delivered when he is given the ball and is a huge reason for the team’s success this season. Catching him is always a blast because I know that he is going to fill up the zone and make hitters miss.”

At the plate, Larsen continued his weekend hot streak with a triple to right-center in the third that scored two runs and put the Bulldogs ahead 3–2.  In the last two innings, sophomore pitcher Ben Winslow ’27 proved once again why Coach Hamm and the Yale staff can turn to him in big moments, as he came in and shut the door to seal a 7–4 win for the Bulldogs.

After two days of practice to start the week, Yale will head back north to face off against Holy Cross at Fitton Field in Worcester, MA. The first pitch is slated for 4 p.m. 

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On Friday, March 28, the Bulldogs fell by a score of 6–3 in Cambridge, but Yale bounced back on Saturday with two dominant victories in New Haven after weather concerns in Massachusetts moved the second-day doubleheader to Bush ’48 Field. Ultimately, after the initial defeat, the Elis returned home not just with added motivation but also with a change in mindset.

“My message to the team on Saturday morning was that we have gotten away from recognition of our identity, which is to be aggressive, to bring our energy, to be versatile, and to have proper preparation for everything that we do pitch by pitch,” Head Coach Brian Hamm told the News. “We got caught up on Friday worrying about needing to win that game because we were one and two in-conference, and Harvard had been coming off a slow start. We put pressure on ourselves. When we did that, we got rigid as a team.”

In the matchup at O’Donnell Field in Cambridge, Harvard got on the board first with a two-run home run by senior George Cooper. While Eli senior catcher Max Imhoff ’25 responded with a solo shot in the top of the fourth to cut the lead in half, Harvard was quickly able to tally two more runs in consecutive innings. In the end, the early lead proved insurmountable even for a Yale offense that is currently batting a collective .278 and has now put up at least six runs in 14 of 22 games. 

The Bulldogs seemed to undergo a complete mentality change on the bus ride southbound down Interstate 95 back to their home field. Although the pressure to win would appear even greater after dropping the first game, Coach Hamm stressed that it was an opportunity to be seized. In an interview with the News, Hamm recanted his pre-game locker-room speech to the team.

“This is what we worked so hard for throughout the course of the year to compete against our rival with the opportunity to do it at home,” he said. “This is it. Everything that you worked for basically in your baseball life, right? As a kid and youth, playing baseball through high school and getting recruited and shooting to go to Yale; all of that, ultimately, works toward the pinnacle of moments like Saturday against Harvard at home and two must-win games.”

On Saturday, the first pitch was at 2 p.m., and the Bulldogs’ bats were lively right from the start. The Bulldogs scored three runs in the top of the first and five runs in the second. Senior Tommy Martin ’25 launched a two-run homer to right field and continued his stellar 2025 season – one in which he has already surpassed his previous season-high of 11 runs batted in.

“As far as the homer, I was in a 2-strike count, so I was trying to let the ball get to me and not do too much,” Martin said to the News. “I saw it out of the hand well and just let my instincts work for me. I think a lot of the success this year has come from understanding what makes me good and not stepping away from that or trying to be someone I’m not.”

On the mound, first year Jack Ohman ’28 added to his sensational debut season as he tossed a scoreless five innings, and his start was followed by impressive outings from sophomores Ben Winslow ’27 and Chace Chaplin ’27.

Not only did Chaplin pitch a scoreless ninth inning for the Bulldogs, but he also recorded two hits and scored twice in the 17–1 win. For Chaplin, staying ready to be called upon to contribute as both a hitter and pitcher is all about preparation and keeping himself concentrated on the task at hand. 

“Baseball is a mental game, just as much as a physical one,” Chaplin said to the News. “The game of baseball is like taking a test; if you’re focused and locked in on the preparation, the more confident you will be when called upon. The best way to stay locked in is by bringing the energy. As a team, we thrive off momentum – focusing on every pitch being thrown in all nine innings without taking a pitch off.”

While Chaplin was able to contribute to the team’s momentum in a variety of ways on Saturday, sophomore Kaiden Dossa ’27 kept Yale’s energetic juices flowing between the two games. In the first game, Dossa reached base five times but had to exit late after being hit by a pitch in the head. Yet, he bounced right back for the second game and had a leadoff walk in the top of the first to keep the Bulldog offense rolling.

Despite cold and rainy weather conditions throughout Saturday night, the Bulldogs were able to put up nine runs, and Jack Dauer ’28 kept right on track in his terrific first-year campaign with three hits and two runs batted in during the second of the two games in New Haven.

“At the plate, I’m just thinking about being on time for the fastball and hitting the ball hard and low,” Dauer said. “I’m trying to keep it pretty simple and slow the game down.”

Meanwhile, junior Daniel Cohen ’26 threw six and a third innings of one-run ball, and he struck out nine. Facing subpar weather conditions, Cohen maintained consistency in his approach and that helped him find success.

“My approach on Saturday night was the same as it has been for all my previous starts: attack each hitter, throw strikes, and be efficient,” said Cohen. “The weather wasn’t ideal, but as Coach Hamm always says, it was an elements day, and that doesn’t change what I can control. I focus on keeping my routine consistent, regardless of the weather, and avoid letting outside factors influence my approach and performance.”

Next Tuesday, April 4, Yale will look to extend their win streak to three games as they face off against Fairfield University (19–7) at home at 3 p.m. They will then return to Ivy League action with a weekend series at Brown (4–16, 1–5) on Saturday and Sunday.

The post MEN’S BASEBALL: Bulldogs dominate Harvard in weekend series appeared first on Yale Daily News.

“The game plan was still the same for us and our mindset didn’t waiver after dropping those games to Citadel,” captain Colton Shaw ’25 told the News. “They were a good club that played clean baseball and we played some good baseball too but just came up a little short from a couple of mistakes. I think we showed up with a little more attitude after losing that series since we knew that wasn’t our standard of play.”

Against Siena, the Bulldogs scored six runs in the first two innings and sophomore Ben Winslow ’27 earned his first collegiate victory in a three inning shutout performance. Kaiden Dossa ’27 got Yale on the board first when he capitalized on a misplay by the Siena center fielder and turned a hard hit single into an inside the park home run. That type of aggressiveness — coupled with staying focused on the little details that lead to success — have been two of the key areas of focus for Yale baseball head coach Brian Hamm.

“We know our identity as a team and embrace it: aggressive in everything that we do pitching, offensively and defensively,” Hamm said. “One of our strengths is our preparation for everything that we do whether in practice, pre-game, or all aspects of competition. We have outstanding routines, centering practices and mistake rituals that we consistently apply, which have led to performing at our best abilities more often than not.”

Following the game against Siena on March 4, the Elis headed south to Houston to face off against Rice University (6–20) in a three-game series. On Friday night, the Bulldogs defeated the Rice Owls 8-4 and reliever Tate Evans ’26 got the win after pitching three and a third innings and allowing only one run. Yale then put up 18 runs over the weekend games to complete the sweep.

In the Sunday game, first-year Jack Ohman ’28 threw seven innings and allowed zero earned runs in just his third collegiate start. So far this season, he has not been responsible for any runs over the course of 25.1 innings. For Ohman, the winning mentality instilled by both Hamm’s staff and the older players on the team has played a large part in helping him succeed in these first collegiate outings.

“The upperclassmen and coaches here know how to breed a culture that uplifts players and calls them to be the best version of themselves,” said Ohman. “This culture allowed me to deal with failure during the offseason and still push forward and improve so that I could be ready by the time we started playing games. I think having that feeling is extremely important for young players adjusting because adjusting to life in college as an athlete, especially at Yale, is not easy. The people around you make it fun.”

After the Rice series, the Bulldogs traveled back to New Haven to take the field against Sacred Heart (11–11) on Wednesday, March 12. The Eli offense powered the team to a victory, putting up nine runs. Dossa had a monster game, and he again got the offense rolling with a triple down the right field line in the bottom of the first. Once more, the aggressive approach that Hamm has cultivated paid dividends.

“I have an approach at the plate that we’ve developed as a team that is to drive the ball hard and low the other way and to not take a single pitch off,” said Dossa. “This fall, I really focused on developing my strength and speed to elevate my game even further. Trusting this offensive approach has helped our team’s offensive identity we have built and it has heavily contributed to our early success so far this year.”

Following the midweek game against Sacred Heart, the Bulldogs had a three game series at Bush Field against Virginia Military Institute (16–9). Senior Max Imhoff ’25 tallied four runs batted in over the course of a Saturday doubleheader to help secure the first two wins.  

In the early afternoon game, Shaw pitched five innings and allowed only one run. With the team in the midst of a prolonged hot streak, it was critical for Shaw and the rest of the team to remain level headed.

“We were still focused on doing the little things right during the win streak,” Shaw said. “Our mindset was always that our record was 0-0 and that we wanted to start a new win streak even when we were in the thick of a pretty long one. As a team we know complacency will be our enemy this year so getting away from that content mentality was and will be our focus moving forward.”

On Sunday, the Bulldogs walked it off to extend the win streak to eight games. In the end, Alec Atkinson ’25 clinched the victory with a double in the bottom of the ninth that drove in both Dossa and Jake Williams ’25. While this was the tightest game of the bunch, the Bulldogs’ comeback proved that they can win a multitude of ways.

“We find different ways to win because we have a cohesive group of men with a strong team culture that cares deeply about each other, the team, and Yale,” Hamm told the News. “We take a lot of pride in the way that we play, which is very different than most teams. Our aggressive style of play is a lot of fun and puts other teams’ defenses under pressure presenting different ways to score runs.”

On Wednesday, March 19, the Bulldogs won in a 8-2 blowout of Quinnipiac (12–10–1), and the nine straight victories tied Yale’s best winning streak since 2017. They kicked off their Ivy League games the following weekend against Cornell. 

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“The main focus for us leading into this first week of games has been embracing every day we have to get better,” Captain Colton Shaw ’25 told the News ahead of the matchup. “I think we’ve done a great job of focusing on the little details that we know will get us to our end goal.” 

The team’s offseason commitment clearly paid off. 

On Friday, the Elis took the field for the season’s first game. Queens secured the first run of the game in the bottom of the 1st, which was the only inning they held the lead. During the 2nd inning, Jack Dauer ’28 singled through the right side, sending Tommy Martin ’25 to the plate and evening the score 1–1. Hayden Sobecki ’25 followed up with his own RBI, sending Garret Larsen ’27 home to start the lead over Queens. The Bulldogs would only strengthen over the remainder of the game.

In the 3rd inning, the Bulldogs extended their lead by a whopping three runs. Jake Williams ’25 singled, notching his first RBI of the game and sending Alec Atkinson ’25 home after an error by the Queens’ third baseman. Martin singled to left field, allowing Williams to add another run to the Bulldogs’ score. Larsen singled through the left side, sending Max Imhoff ’25 home. The Elis ended the 3rd inning up 5–1.

This was far from the end of scoring plays from the Bulldogs. In the 4th inning, Williams tripled to right field, netting another two RBIs with Jeff Pierantoni ’25 and Sobecki crossing the plate. Imhoff grounded out to the shortstop but snagged an RBI, with Williams making it to home plate. The Bulldogs held a commanding 8–1 lead.

In the 5th, Pierantoni sent Larsen home, securing a 9–1 lead in the middle of the inning. Queens responded with a home run and an RBI but would not score again. Going into the 6th, the score was 9–3.

The Bulldogs tallied two more runs in the 7th, with Pierantoni scoring on a throwing error and Williams netting his third RBI of the game by sending Atkinson home. The Elis held a strong 11-3 lead. 

In the 8th, Larsen sent Martin home on a flyout, Kaiden Dossa ‘27 scored on a Dauer single, Atkinson tallied two RBIs with both Sobecki and Dauer crossing the plate and Williams netted his fourth and final RBI with Pierantoni scoring. 

After the inning concluded with no runs from Queens, the mercy rule was implemented, finalizing a 16–3 Yale win. Starting pitcher Shaw pitched 6.0 innings and picked up the win on the mound.

The victory was monumental in many ways. The Bulldogs scored their most runs in a season opener in more than 15 years, as well as stealing ten bases over the course of the game — the most the Queens program has ever given up.

Game two took place on Saturday. The Bulldogs trailed the Royals at first, with Queens taking an early 2–0 lead. Dossa doubled in the 2nd, sending Imhoff home and putting the Elis on the board. In the 4th, a double from Larsen brought Martin home and evened the score at 2–2. 

Queens retook the lead during the bottom of the 4th, and held onto it until Williams notched his fifth RBI of the weekend, tying the game 3–3. In the top of the 9th, Dauer secured the Bulldogs series victory with a two-out solo home run to left field. The Elis topped the Royals with a final score of 4–3. The pitching staff saw impressive results from four relievers, with Jack Ohman ‘28, DJ Peterson ’28, Ethan Lewis ’26 and Tate Evans ’26 combining for five shutout innings, and Lewis picking up the win.

The third game was another high-scoring one for the Yale team, with seven runs scored in extra innings. Williams opened up scoring with a sac fly in the 1st, with the Bulldogs taking an early 1–0 lead. Martin extended the lead with a solo home run down the right-field line. The score would remain 2–0 until the 6th inning when the Royals put a run on the board. 

In the 8th, Queens took the lead with two runs, forcing the Bulldogs to score or lose as they headed into the top of the 9th. A series of mistakes from the Royals allowed Martin to advance to second, and a single from Dossa sent him home to tie the game 3–3. The Bulldogs held the Royals off in the bottom of the 9th to send the game to extra frames. 

In the 10th inning, the Elis came alive. Dossa reached on a fielder’s choice, sending Dauer home for an unearned run. Chace Chaplin ’27 followed up by doubling to left center, sending three Bulldogs, Larsen, Dossa and Williams, across the plate for a 7–3 lead. Pierantoni singled up the middle to send Colin Sloan ’27 home. Pierantoni and Imhoff advanced to second and third base, respectively, after an error from a Queens’ outfielder. Dauer’s subsequent single through the right side sent both Pierantoni and Imhoff home to give the Bulldogs a 10–3 lead. Mick Kelley ’25 picked up the win on the mound with a scoreless 9th inning, and Peterson closed out the game for the Bulldogs

The sweep of Queens meant that the Elis won the first three games of the season for the first time since 2010.

“Each day and even each inning is almost its own game to go win,” Mark Capell ‘25 told the News. “The vibes are definitely really good in the locker room right now, but given our experienced lineup, we are locked in on the day-to-day environment and schedule. [We] are ready to go out and take care of business this weekend as if it were game one all over again.” 

This upcoming weekend, the Bulldogs travel to Charleston, South Carolina, for a three-game series against The Citadel. 

The post BASEBALL: The Bulldogs win three opening games appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Yale men’s baseball (13–19, 7–8 Ivy) competed in seven away games over the last week. This included a three-game series against Columbia University (19–14, 12–3 Ivy) last weekend, a midweek game against Fairfield University (20–19, 10–2 MAAC) and a weekend series against Cornell University (13–14, 10–5 Ivy). 

The results were a mixed bag for the Bulldogs who ended the away stretch 4–3, but the team saw stellar performances from multiple players and showed key signs of overall improvement towards the end of the regular season. 

Traveling to New York, the Elis faced the Columbia Lions in three tightly contested games, winning the series 2–1 for the first time since 2017. The first game of the Saturday doubleheader boasted an impressive comeback for the Bulldogs, guided by strong showings from both Ivy Co-Player of the Week Alec Atkinson ’25 and Davis Hanson ’26. The Lions maintained an 8–0 lead through the seventh inning before the Bulldogs struck back. Hanson ignited the momentum with his fifth home run of the season, also sending Jeff Pierantoni ’25 home. This cut Columbia’s lead to 8–2 after the eighth inning. In the top half of the ninth inning, the Bulldogs exploded for eight runs, with hits from eight different players. 

The team took advantage of several sloppy plays from the Lions, including a run from Max Imhoff ’25 on a passed ball, Chace Chaplin’s ’27 run on a fielding error and a thrilling play from Colin Sloan ’27, who stole home. 

“Last year as a freshman I saw a much higher percentage of fastballs but this year I’m seeing much more offspeed,” Hanson wrote to the News when asked about his approach at the plate this season. “So, I’ve had to be much more selective at the pitches I’m swinging at and focus on being more patient at the plate.” 

In the second game of the day, the chips fell less favorably for Yale, with the Lions defeating them 10–3. Colton Shaw ’25 started on the mound for the Bulldogs, striking out 11 batters over six innings. Yale’s team scored three runs through the sixth but went scoreless to the end. Despite the less-than-favorable result, Atkinson continued to shine, stealing his 15th base of the season.

In the final game on Sunday, the Bulldogs excelled offensively. Columbia put a run on the board first, but not without an answer from the Bulldogs in the third inning. Imhoff tied the game with a solo home run before Yale put up four more to take the lead on a two-RBI single from Tommy Martin ’25, who has consistently been hitting well this season, and a double from Kaiden Dossa ’27 tacking on two more runs, giving Yale a 5–1 lead. Columbia answered with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, cutting the lead to 5–4. In the fifth, Dossa reached on a fielder’s choice to add a run for the team from New Haven. 

The Bulldogs lost the lead in the fifth on a three-run shot from the Lions, trailing for the first time since the bottom of the first. In the sixth, the back and forth continued, with Yale reclaiming the lead with a dominant five runs in the inning. Jake Williams ’25 reached on a fielder’s choice, sending Pierantoni home before a triple down the left field line from Atkinson sent both Williams and Hanson across home plate. Garret Larsen ’27 sent a double down the same line, sending Dossa and Atkinson home and reinstating the Bulldog’s lead to a commanding 11–7.

The Lions attempted to fight back in the home half of the sixth, scoring two, but the Bulldogs tacked on another run from Hanson in the seventh due to an error from the home team. Yale punched through an insurance run by Pierantoni in the top of the ninth on a wild pitch, and Columbia could not come back, cementing the 13–10 win for the Elis. 

“Challenging ourselves in the practice environment and staying true to who we are as players have been two of the biggest factors in our team being able to punch back under pressure,” Pierantoni wrote. 

The wins were crucial to the Bulldogs, and the offense did not slow down when playing a non-conference game against Fairfield on Wednesday.

In their midweek matchup against the Fairfield Stags, Yale delivered an electric offensive performance to secure a 12–3 victory. It was their first win against Fairfield since 2018. 

Chaplin started on the mound for the Bulldogs, but it was Carter Kessinger ’24 who took the win, pitching three innings and allowing two hits. After taking a 4–0 lead in the second inning, the Bulldogs kept their foot on the gas. The runs came off a bunt from junior Hayden Sobecki ’25, who advanced to second after an error from the defense, sending Dossa across the plate. Hits from Pierantoni, Chaplin and Atkinson sent Robert Ciulla ’25, Sobecki and Chaplin home respectively.

Fairfield tallied two runs in the bottom of the third, but Yale answered commandingly in the fourth, breaking the game open with five runs. The inning featured a series of successful bunts by the Bulldogs, with all five runs resulting from these plays. Five Yalies scored, bringing the score to 9–2. The Bulldogs continued to roll on Fairfield, racking up three more runs through the end of the game, off of Hanson’s sixth homer of the year, and a single from Dossa which sent Martin and Atkinson home. 

When asked about the bunt plays in the game and his own run from Martin’s bunt, Hanson said, “We’ve spent a lot of time this year practicing little things like base running tears and bunting and that has made us very successful translating to the games. We got the sign, and as soon as I saw the ball going into the ground I took off.” The win was a high point before Yale faced off against second-ranked in the Ivy League Cornell over the weekend.

To end the seven-game week, Yale’s team traveled to Ithaca to face Cornell in a three-game series. The first game featured a strong comeback from the Big Red, who forced the game into extra innings despite an early lead from the Bulldogs. Senior captain Reid Easterly ’24 pitched a stunning game, throwing seven shutout innings, before being relieved by sophomore Tate Evans ’26. Yale took the lead off of RBI singles from Dossa and Larsen in the second, before a homer from Martin increased the lead to 4–0 in the fourth, with Ciulla driving in another run to increase the lead to 5–0 to start the fifth. Atkinson doubled home a pair of runs and took advantage of a Cornell error to pad their lead. The game turned sour for the Bulldogs in the eighth, with Cornell tallying seven runs to close the gap to one run. The Big Red tacked on another run in the ninth, sending the game to extra innings. The Bulldogs responded in the top of the 10th with a sacrifice hit from Pierantoni that sent Ciulla home, but fell to the home team after they responded with two runs in the home half of the inning, losing 9–10.

The second game of the doubleheader was another hard game for Yale. While they were first to score, off of a double RBI from Atkinson, the Bulldogs remained scoreless for the rest of the game. Shaw started on the bump and pitched seven innings with seven strikeouts before being relieved by Josh Richardson ’24. The Big Red put up eight runs over six innings with two home runs, ending the game with an 8–2 loss for Yale. 

The series resumed on Sunday, with Williams leading the team to a 6–3 road victory. Sophomore Daniel Cohen ’26 began on the mound for Yale, and when asked how he approaches games during a hard series, said, “I try to keep my mindset as simple as possible. Trust in my pitches and the work I have put in as well as trust in my guys behind me. Don’t worry about anything out of my control and just attack each hitter with a purpose.” 

His focus paid off, pitching 7.1 innings, striking out eight, and picking up the win. The Bulldogs scored first, off a bunt from Larsen, which sent Dossa home before Cornell tied the score in the bottom of the same inning. Williams came alive in the third, taking a breaking ball the other way for a single, allowing Pierantoni to score. He came through once again in the fifth, sending Pierantoni across the plate for a second time. The Bulldogs led by two after the fifth. In the seventh, the Bulldogs added three runs, with William’s third RBI on a sacrifice fly. Hanson drew a walk with bases loaded to tack on another run. Relief pitcher Evans ended the game with two strikeouts in the home half of the ninth to end the game with a 6-3 victory over Cornell.

Despite losing the series to Cornell, Yale has recently been much more explosive on offense. Over the first 19 games, the Bulldogs only scored 60 runs, but they have since turned things around, crossing the plate 99 times in the last 10 games. 

“As the season has progressed, our hitters have grown in that they not only have more experience and failure to learn from, but guys are starting to have a better understanding of who they are as players,”  Pierantoni wrote. “Emphasizing the importance of not trying to do too much at the plate and relishing the genuine fun we have when playing together has allowed us to take pressure off of ourselves, allowing our offense to reset, then rise to the occasion whenever we meet a new challenge.”  

Easterly mirrors this sentiment. The pitcher has consistently played well, helping to allow the recent offensive hot streak to count for more. 

“Offensively, guys have really done a good job just sticking to their approach,” the captain said. “Again, when we got off to the tough start as a team, each guy just kept working and trusted that we would come out of the slump better for it. Now, everyone on the team has confidence that every guy in the lineup, one through nine, is going to come through at the plate and get whatever job needs to be done.” 

This jump in confidence is crucial for the Bulldogs at this point in the season, with the Sunday win improving their standings to 13–19 overall and keeping them firmly in the hunt for a conference tournament appearance. 

Currently tied for fourth with Penn in the Ivy standings, the Bulldogs will face Stonehill College (11–21, 7–11 NEC)  at home on Tuesday, before continuing Ivy play against Brown (8–24, 3–12 Ivy) at the George H.W. Bush ’48 Field at home in New Haven.

The post BASEBALL: Yale men’s baseball finishes away stretch, looks to get back to New Haven appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The baseball season began in Jacksonville, Florida on Feb. 23 where the Bulldogs suffered their first loss of the season. After that game, the Bulldogs were bested seven more times collectively holding a 0–8 streak. However, their luck changed once they finally gained their first win at Towson University on March 10. The Bulldogs described their mentality through this period at the beginning of the season.

“We got off to a slow start but since the past couple of weeks we have definitely picked it up,” said infielder Chace Chaplin ’27. “We are playing a lot better as a team and we are competing a lot better. Ultimately, we have been winning more games as a result.”

About two months into the season, the Elis have had their fair share of highs and lows but they collectively seem to agree on one specific moment this season where they all worked together to bark back against their opponents.

The weekend of March 30, the Bulldogs outplayed the Princeton Tigers, beating them 2–1 in the series. A defining moment in this series was the incredible win on Saturday, where the Yalies crushed the Tigers completing 22 runs compared to Princeton’s mere two runs.

“A high was putting 22 runs up on Princeton and winning the series after they beat us last year,” said infielder Davis Hanson ’26. 

Currently, it seems as though the Bulldogs find comfort in playing ball in their home territory. Their home record stands at 5–5 compared to their away record of 4–11. 

They attribute their success at home to their close-knit bonds fostered on and off the field.

“I’d say our team is a really tight group of guys and are relatively young, so happy with how we’ve been doing and I’m excited for the future of the team,” said pitcher Teo Spadaccini ’27.

Even though the end of the baseball season is in sight, the Bulldogs still have more than a month left to play. The team shared their future goals and what they are looking forward to most this season.

“I’m really looking forward to the Columbia series coming up this weekend. We lost all of our games by 1 run against them last year and they are first in the Ivy League currently so it will definitely be a great series,” said Hanson.

The Bulldogs face the Columbia Lions for the first time this season in New York this Saturday.

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In 2009, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article calling Breslow “the smartest man in baseball, if not the entire world.” Indeed, his accomplishments both on and off the field speak for themselves. 

Craig Breslow was born at Yale New Haven Hospital and grew up in Trumbull, CT, less than a 30-minute drive from Yale’s campus. Although Yale was close to home, Breslow said that proximity was not why he decided to become a Bulldog. 

“Yale was always this elite institution that I would never be able to go to,” Breslow told the News. “But my academic achievement merited consideration from Ivy league schools and pretty early on [Yale] became the most aggressive recruiters. Ultimately when it came time to make the decision it felt like it was important to use baseball to pursue the best education I could.”

Breslow arrived at Yale in 1998 as a student-athlete with the intent of studying medicine and continuing his baseball career. From the age of 11, Breslow knew that he wanted to study medicine — his sister, 13 at the time, had been diagnosed with pediatric thyroid cancer. The experience had a lasting impact and motivated him to study molecular biophysics and biochemistry while at Yale, and ultimately to think about pursuing a professional career in medicine after graduation. 

While an undergraduate at Yale, Breslow pitched for the Bulldogs on the men’s baseball team. He had an impressive four-year run, and notably as a senior, had the lowest ERA in the Ivy League with a 2.56 Earned Run Average, or ERA. 

Still interested in pursuing a career in medicine, Breslow applied to medical school and was accepted into New York University Medical School and planned to attend after graduation. His medical school plans were interrupted, though, by his dream of becoming a professional baseball player. 

Breslow told the News he consulted with teammates and family members about his decision to continue playing baseball after Yale or pursue a career in medicine. Matt McCarthy ’02, a teammate at Yale, gave him lasting advice.

“I remember asking him, ‘How did you know you were done?’ and he said it was really easy,” Breslow recounted. “‘I could turn on a TV and be like, yeah, that was fun when I played, but if you ever turn on a TV and think that could be you out there, then you are not ready to give it up.’ And that really really hit me. I just felt like I could still contribute.”

Breslow made his decision. He headed to Milwaukee.

In 2002, Breslow was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers and began his career in MLB. He would go on to pitch for 12 seasons with the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks and Miami Marlins. At one point while pitching in MLB, Breslow was the only Yale alum playing major-league baseball. 

While pursuing his career as a professional athlete, Breslow started the Strike 3 Foundation in 2008 with the mission of raising money and awareness for pediatric cancer research and treatment, while also staying involved in the medical world, even though he decided to no longer pursue medicine as a career. 

“I had always thought my impact on the medical community would be as a physician,” Breslow told the News. “But as my baseball career took hold and I realized that pursuing medical school and a career in the medical profession was getting pushed further out, I wanted to remain connected in some way.” 

The Strike 3 Foundation’s primary fundraiser is a wiffle ball tournament at Little Fenway in Vermont, which they host each fall. Little Fenway is made up of replica Fenway, Wrigley and Field of Dreams wiffle ball stadiums. 

In 2008, the Strike 3 Foundation also pledged to give $500,000 over the span of five years to Yale New Haven Hospital, which, according to the website, was used to found a Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation Program, the first of its kind in Connecticut.

In 2009, in a Wall Street Journal article titled “Who Has the Brainiest Team in Baseball?” the WSJ called Breslow the “smartest man in baseball, if not the entire world.” The article tried to understand if there was a correlation between education and victories by looking at players who went to four-year U.S. colleges or universities and seeing which of them graduated. Players who attended elite schools were ranked more heavily. 

“In a field like professional sports where Ivy League grads are not commonplace, there is this stigma for better or for worse that attaches itself to you. Athletes get all kinds of nicknames and if ‘smartest man in baseball’ was the one that people wanted to come up for me, I could do far, far worse,” Breslow said. “I try to embrace it with all appropriate humility.”  

After his playing career as a pitcher, Breslow shifted to the front office where he now works as the Chief Baseball Officer at the Red Sox. Chief Baseball Officer puts him in the position to direct all of Red Sox baseball operations. Breslow takes over for another Yale graduate, Chaim Bloom ’04, who held the position before him.

Breslow is familiar with the Red Sox organization, as he pitched for the Red Sox for four years in 2006 and again from 2012-15. He helped the team win the World Series in 2013. 

Craig Breslow has had a very successful career with Major League Baseball on and off the field, giving some of the credit to his time at Yale. 

“The network, community, and relationships I built at Yale, like Theo and others, as well as the diversity, world view and perspective you get at a place like Yale, drove me to be eminently curious and introspective,” Breslow said, speaking of former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein ’95, when asked how his Yale experience has helped his work in the Red Sox front office. 

The Red Sox will begin Spring Training this year in February at their spring training camp in Fort Myers, Florida. Opening Day will be held on April 9, 2024 against the Baltimore Orioles at home in Boston at Fenway Park.

Correction, Feb. 6: A previous version of this article called molecular biophysics and biochemistry a double major; it is one course of study commonly referred to as MB&B. 

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Vincent Jr.’s father, Francis Vincent Sr. ’31, was captain of the baseball and football teams during his time at Yale. Vincent Jr. ascended to the role of MLB commissioner following the death of Angelo Bartlett Giamatti ’60 GRD ’64 — Yale’s 19th president — and resigned three years later after facing criticism from Major League team owners for his handling of labor issues. 

The endowment will assume the costs from Yale paying for the baseball head coach’s salary. According to Yale’s For Humanity capital campaign site, which outlines minimum gift levels for endowed funds, a minimum of $1,500,000 is required to endow an athletic coach’s position. 

“We are grateful for the generous gift that Fay Jr. ’63 made,” Victoria Chun, the director of athletics, wrote to the News. “This will not only provide great support for Yale Baseball but honors the memory of Fay ’31 and his tremendous legacy as a Yale athlete and student.”

Baseball head coach Brian Hamm pointed to the Vincent family’s “rich history in the baseball community,” lauding the endowment as a “tremendous honor.” 

Hamm added that the endowment allows Vincent Sr.’s legacy to be “embedded into the roots” of Yale’s baseball program.

“Fay Jr. ’63 wanted a way to honor his father’s leadership, commitment, and love for Yale, and with this gift, Fay ’31 and his legacy will live on through the Yale Baseball program,” Hamm wrote.

Vincent Jr. attributes the seeds of his present-day donation of  “several million dollars” to a moment that occurred about 30 years ago when, after delivering a talk about former renowned Yale swimming coach Robert Kiphuth, then-undergraduate student and baseball player Thomas Hutchison ’94 approached him to seek mentorship.

After graduating from Yale Law School, Vincent Jr. went on to become the president and chief executive officer of Columbia Pictures in 1978. When the company was acquired by the Coca-Cola company in 1982, he later became the senior vice-president of Coca-Cola as well as president and CEO of its entertainment sector. According to Vincent Jr, it was his ownership of a large sum of Coca-Cola stock that allowed him to endow the baseball coach position at Yale.

Vincent Jr. added that the plan was cemented after Hamm and Hutchison visited his home in Florida last month and pitched him the idea.

“This is about a son trying to do something that would memorialize his father,” Vincent told the News. “And I’m doing it for my father in a way that I think combines his great interest in sports with the fact that he was a poor kid who had a scholarship at Yale and turned out to have a very fine life and career.”

According to the University’s For Humanity capital campaign site, Yale has endowed 20 head coaching positions in the past few years.

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The Bulldogs fell to the Bobcats 11–4 in a run-packed game. Over the weekend, the Blue and White then continued Ivy play with games against the University of Pennsylvania, 23–12, 11–4 Ivy, at Meiklejohn Stadium in Philadelphia with a double header on Saturday and a game on Sunday. 

“We are showing so much progress in areas that we have worked on all year,” Coach Brian Hamm wrote to the News. “Our pitching was outstanding this week, credit goes to our veteran pitchers for their leadership and our pitching coach Chris Wojick for developing our pitchers and putting together an effective plan against opponents’ hitters.”

Bryant Reese ’24 started on the mound for the Bulldogs in their midweek game against the Bobcats. Quinn Cleary ’23, Ethan Lewis ’26, Josh Richardson ’24, Jimmy Chatfield ’24 and Jamis DeKay ’24 all pitched for the Elis on Wednesday. 

Scoring didn’t get started until the top of the fifth when the Bulldogs scored off an error by the Bobcat’s third baseman. Max Imhoff ’25 brought in the run for the Blue and White. In the top of the sixth Jeff Pierantoni ’24 singled to left center, which brought both Davis Hanson ’26 and Jake Williams ’24 home, bringing the score to 3–0. 

In the bottom of the sixth, the Bobcats brought in five runs, bringing the score to 5–3 to start the seventh. In the top of the eighth, the Bulldogs brought in their fourth and last run of the game after AJ Gaich ’23 stole third and then was able to come home off an error by the Bobcats’ third baseman. 

However, the Bobcats then brought in the last six runs of the game in the bottom of the eighth, securing the victory. The ninth inning remained scoreless and the final score of the game was 11–4.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs started the morning with a 4–0 win over the Quakers, but fell in the afternoon in a close 1–0 loss. 

In their match in the morning, the Blue and White scored the first run of the game in the top of the first after Chatfield doubled down the left field line, bringing Gaich home. The Bulldogs brought another run in after Swank doubled down the left field line, which brought Alec Atkinson ’24 home.

The score stayed 2–0 throughout the game until the top of the eighth when the Eli’s brought the last two runs of the game in. Gaich brought in the third run and Chatfield brought in the fourth after stealing home. The Quakers remained scoreless.  

“Game one was definitely the highlight of the weekend,” Reese wrote to the News. “Seeing our hitters score a couple of runs early against Penn’s formidable pitching staff and then watching our own staff shut them down for 9 innings gave the whole team energy.” 

In the second game on Saturday, the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the ninth when the Quakers sneaked a run in off a wild pitch to win the game 1–0.

Colton Shaw ’25 started on the mound for the Bulldogs and threw eight scoreless innings in the afternoon.

In their last game of the series, the Quakers got the scoring started in the bottom of the first, bringing seven runs in. The Bulldogs brought their first and only run of the game home in the top of the fourth after Williams doubled down the left field line, which brought Gaich home. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Penn brought in three more runs, making the score 10–1. Penn then scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth, bringing the game score to 11–1.

Shaw expressed his excitement about the team’s upcoming games against Princeton on Apr. 29 and 30.

“This is obviously a big one for us so I’m looking forward to how we compete,” Shaw wrote to the News. “We have been competing these past couple of weeks and some things haven’t been going our way, but that hasn’t seemed to stop us. We are going to bring that same intensity and I’m excited for this next challenge.”

Looking ahead, the Bulldogs will host Princeton University (18–17, 5–2 Ivy) in a three-game series at the George H.W. Bush ’48 Field at home in New Haven.  

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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. 

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