So Close ...

Call him the big one that got away.

The young Dartmouth offensive line gained some experience last fall. It gained some size and strength since last winter. And it gained a new coach this spring.

It had a chance to gain something else heading into the summer. An "alpha hog."

Darris Sawtelle, a 6-foot-6, 320-pound offensive lineman who didn't fit into new coach Lane Kiffin's plans at Tennessee, apparently thought about transferring to Dartmouth before landing at Division II Grand Valley State according to this story. Now, before you say Grand Valley Who, consider that out of high school the graduate of Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield, Mich., was offered by Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska and Arizona State as well as Tennessee. And that when he decided to transfer schools like Alabama, Michigan State and Wisconsin were on his radar.

On the other hand, so was Harvard. How serious that dalliance was may never be known. Harvard is supposed to have a moratorium on transfers, although there may be an exception or two for quarterbacks and such.

For a little more background on Sawtelle, find his scout.com profile here.

Yale has released its Class of 2013 recruits and, like Cornell, it has a player coming in from Belen Jesuit in Miami. The Yale and Cornell freshmen will join with Dartmouth co-captain Peter Pidermann and sophomores Athony Diblasi and Diego Fernandez-Soto to swell the number of Belen Jesuit products in the Ivy League to a whopping nine. In addition to the Big Green trio there will be two at Yale, two at Princeton and one each at Columbia and Cornell. For a list of Belen Jesuit players in the college ranks, click here.

Perhaps trailing only Belen Jesuit for most Ivy League players next fall might be Brophy Prep in Phoenix. Dartmouth alone will have three Brophy products in Shane Peterlin, Brock Middleton and incoming freshman Mike Tree. Brown has one and while Columbia is graduating one it is bringing one in.

Former Dartmouth tailback Chad Gaudet is the subject of yet another story for his exploits with the Virginia lacrosse team. A piece that deals a little more with his football background and injury appears in the Washington Times.

Congratulations to the Ivy League champion Dartmouth baseball team for having essentially a full lineup – nine players – recognized by the conference with postseason honors. From a Dartmouth release:

Dartmouth junior outfielder Nick Santomauro (North Caldwell, N.J.) was selected as the Ivy League Player of the Year, headlining a group of nine Big Green student-athletes to earn All-Ivy honors, more than any other school in the league. Also taking home one of the top awards was freshman shortstop Joe Sclafani (Palm City, Fla.), who was tabbed as the conference Rookie of the Year.

Speaking of Dartmouth baseball, Big Green alum Brad Ausmus' work as a Yoda for Los Angeles Dodgers' starting catcher Russell Martin is chronicled in the Los Angeles Times. From the story:

"It's just like doing homework with a buddy," Martin said. "It's brutal when you do it by yourself. But if you have somebody to do it with, it makes it a lot better."

... Especially when that somebody is an honor student who has taken the class before -- which, in baseball terms at least, is a description that fits Ausmus, an Ivy League graduate who has played more than 16 seasons in the major leagues.

The 2009 season is coming and while it's not Dartmouth and not the Ivy League, if you want to feel your blood start to pulse, check out this evocative 1:19 video promo for the upcoming home Penn State football schedule. They played this on the scoreboard at the Blue-White Game last month and the kicker at the end regarding one final opponent was well-received. It's powerful stuff.

And finally, our Little League baseball team, the Green Machine, played last night in the local Three-Pitch Tournament. I mention it only because it's such a great concept and the kids love it. Here are some of the key rules:

• Batters come to the plate with a two-ball, one-strike count and face a maximum of three pitches.
  
• A foul with two strikes is a strikeout. (That one is rough, but it is true to the three-pitch concept.)
• Pitchers can throw two innings per game only.
• Games are five innings or one hour maximum.
• An inning is over when a team scores three runs – except for the bottom of the final inning when a team can score as many runs as it needs to tie or win the game.

Our team is scheduled for four games and if we make it out of pool play we could play as many as eight games.

Teams from up and down the Upper Valley are in the tournament and the games go by in a hurry. Innings are short, games tend to be close and everyone has a blast with non-stop action.