Two outs. Bottom of the ninth. Tie game. Christian Butera ’28, Brown’s lone baserunner, stood on first base. In the dugout, Head Coach Grant Achilles called Logan Meusy ’26 — an outfielder who had yet to play in Saturday’s contest against Dartmouth — to pinch hit and do one thing: Bring Butera home.
To the Bears’ delight, Meusy delivered. With Bruno down 0-1 in the count, Meusy drove a ground ball past third base into left field, sending Butera home and leading Brown to win the game 3-2.
Saturday’s contest was the final of a three-game series between the Bears (7-21, 3-9 Ivy) and the Big Green (7-18, 5-7 Ivy) on Attanasio Family Field at Murray Stadium in Providence. On Friday, the teams played a doubleheader, with Dartmouth winning the first game and Brown winning the second. But Saturday’s contest — the series finale — was undoubtedly the most exciting of the three.
The Bears set the tone on Saturday with their pitching. Right-hander Luke Trout ’28 started on the mound for Brown and pitched seven innings. Trout was flawless throughout the first three, allowing zero runs and giving the Bears’ offense room to work.
While Trout kept the scoreboard clean, Brown’s offense attacked. At the bottom of the second inning, Brandon Chang ’27 ripped a single to center field and followed up by stealing second base. The Bears’ next batter, Mark Henshon ’26, capitalized on some inaccurate balls from Dartmouth’s starting pitcher Nate Isler and earned a walk to first. Then, Isler threw a wild pitch, throwing the ball beyond his catcher’s glove and advancing both Chang and Henson a base.
With two runners in scoring position, Butera drove a single to right field to bring Henson to third base and Chang to home plate, giving Bruno an early 1-0 lead. Jack Edmunds ’28 hit a sacrifice fly out to center field, bringing Henson home and propelling the Bears to a 2-0 advantage.
The Big Green struck back in the fourth inning, capitalizing on a hit by pitch from Trout and hitting subsequent back-to-back singles that scored two runs and tied the game.
Despite the turmoil in the fourth inning, Trout weathered the storm and persevered, giving Bruno another three innings. After seven, Trout allowed just two runs on four hits, with one walk and three strikeouts.
The batters went silent for both the Bears and the Big Green in the game’s later innings. At 6’6”, Isler had a towering windup that Bruno struggled to decipher. But the Bears were revitalized when Dartmouth made a pitching change in the seventh inning, switching in reliever Joseph Chambers and, in the ninth inning, Danny Will.
With two outs in the final inning, Will threw four balls to Butera, who walked to first. Then, Meusy headed to the plate in lieu of Luke Sidwell ’27. He drove a ground ball to left field and headed to second base, watching Butera head home and win the game. As Butera crossed home plate, the Bears stormed the field and erupted in triumph.
With a 3-9 in-conference record, the Bears still hold last place in the Ivy League. But, Saturday’s thrilling victory brought Brown within one game of Harvard (6-21, 3-8 Ivy), indicating that there is still room for movement in the standings in the coming weeks.
Cooper Herman is a senior staff writer covering sports. He is a sophomore from Alexandria, Virginia studying Economics and International and Public Affairs.
