By Gilbert A. Celaya, Staff Writer

The Quinnipiac Bobcats lost their home opener to the Dartmouth Big Green by a score of 9-4 on Wednesday at home. Poor pitching and overeager at-bats were the downfall for the Bobcats as they dropped to a record of 9-12 on the season. The Big Green’s record is now 15-3.

Freshmen Kevin Sustad (Merrick, N.Y.) took the mound for Quinnipiac, but only lasted three innings. He was taken out of the game as he struggled on the mound during his performance. Despite Sustad’s outing, Bobcats manager Dan Gooley was happy with his starter’s performance.

“[Sustad] was up at 77 pitchers after three innings. But he did a good job, he kept it close, it was two nothing,” Gooley said.

Sustad pitched three innings, giving up two runs on two hits, with five walks and three strikeouts.

The Bobcats relied heavily on relief pitcher Kyle Musco (Walpole, Mass.) who worked three innings, allowing one run off of two hits. He gave up no walks and had one strikeout. Gooley was impressed with Musco taking over for Sustad.

“Then you turn around and you come in with a kid like Musco who has struggled little bit early, and he does a good job and shuts them out for three full innings,” Gooley said. “He gets you exactly right to where you want to go in your bullpen.”

Quinnipiac was able to tie the game, scoring a run in the third and a run in the fifth.  Steffen Herter (Amherst, Mass.) was able to get on base in both innings and scored both runs. In the third inning, Herter smacked a double into center field with two outs putting him in scoring position for the Bobcats’ first run of the game. He then scored from second off a base hit by Brian Ruditys (Boothwyn, Pa.).

In the fifth, Herter again found himself on second base after lifting a fly ball to right field that was dropped by Dartmouth right fielder, Jeff Keller. Herter advanced to third off of another Ruditys base hit. Herter then scored when Vincent Guglietti (East Haven, Conn.) hit a single. Herter went 2-4 on the day.

However, the Big Green proved to be too much for Quinnipiac. After three innings of work, Musco was replaced by Kevin O’Connell (Glastonbury, Conn.). O’Connell quickly allowed two runners on base who would eventually score. He ended his outing on two innings of work, allowing three runs, giving up two hits, walking a batter, with one strikeout.

Gooley gave credit where credit was due. He praised Dartmouth’s ability to swing the bats and score runs.

“You give these guys a little bit of a chance to score, and they will score a lot of runs on you,” Gooley said. “Dartmouth is a pretty good team to swing the bats they way they have all year. You give them an opportunity they can beat you up pretty good. We opened the door a little bit and they snuck in and we couldn’t catch.”

In the top of the ninth inning, the Bobcats allowed another three runs. Two runs came off a two-run homerun from Dartmouth outfielder Ennis Coble. Quinnipiac was able to tack on two more runs in the bottom half of the game, but this proved to be too little too late. O’Connell was credited with the loss.

Despite his team’s performance, Gooley focused on the silver lining for the Bobcats.

“You get something out of it because you’ve played good for a lot of the game,” Gooley said. “You play pretty good for seven innings and you’re just short an inning.”

Next on the schedule for the Bobcats is a four-game weekend series starting on Friday, April 5 when they host Sacred Heart at home at 3 p.m.