BASEBALL
The 1969 baseball season reached its peak at Hoy Field in Ithaca on May 24 as Chuck Seelbach pitched a three-hitter and struck out 13 Cornell batters to generate the Indians to a 5-1 victory and their eighth Eastern Intercollegiate League championship, including their fifth out-right crown.
The triumph gave Dartmouth a 6-2 EIBL record and a half-game margin over Cornell in the title race. It also propelled the Green into the NCAA District One Tournament the following week.
That entire week was one which Coach Tony Lupien would just as soon forget. The Indians traveled to Vermont for their last regular season contest and were shut out, 5-0. Then, in the opening game of the tournament at Amherst, Mass., Dartmouth played a nightmarish game with Boston University that lasted nearly four hours (in sweltering heat) and closed with BU winning in 11 innings, 13-10. Twelve bases on balls by four Dartmouth pitchers and six Indian errors contributed to the holocaust and were hardly offset by Captain Terry Light's home ran and some timely hitting by relief pitcher Jim Bell, a sophomore, who was instrumental in two late-inning rallies that nearly brought the Green to victory.
The price of losing the tourney opener was a return engagement that afternoon against Massachusetts, the eventual champion. The Redmen won, 5-2, although Light hit another homer and sophomore Bill Saumsiegle turned in six excellent innings of relief pitching.
The final overall record was 16-14. Bruce Saylor, the rightfielder from West Caldwell, N. J., was elected captain for 1970, succeeding Light, and repeated as Dartmouth's individual batting leader with a .325 average. He hit .371 as a sophomore. Saylor also tied the record for runs batted in during a season (31) set by Mike Nyquist in 1962 and took honors for most hits (39), doubles (8) and home runs (5, including two grand slams).
On the mound, Seelbach had a 3-1 record and 66 strikeouts in 58-plus innings while Bell (5-3) and Oz Griebel, another sophomore, turned into the biggest surprises of the season. Griebel posted a 4-0 record.
Seelbach and second baseman Bob Mlakar (who hit .281) were named to the EIBL's all-league first team while Saylor and sophomore third baseman Craig Conklin made the second team.
The freshman baseball team produced a fine 12-3 record, due primarily to the strong right arm of Pete Broberg, son of Dartmouth's outstanding pre-World War II basketball star, Gus Broberg. Pete had a 6-0 record that included two no-hit games, a one-hitter, and a pair of two-hitters. Charlie Janes, also a highly regarded pitching prospect, had a 4-1 record for the freshmen.
