Last-Inning Rally Gives Crimson Nine 6-5 Win Over Cornell for Twinbill Split

In the final inning of Saturday's doubleheader against Cornell, the few faithful people who had bothered to stay to see the last painful out were not exactly expecting to see Harvard win a game.

After losing the opener, 3-2, in ten innings, the Crimson continued to lie down before the Big Red squad, and trailed, 5-1, with three outs left in the nightcap. The loss in the second game, Harvard's third straight in the EIBL, would have virtually quashed the Crimson's hopes for another Eastern championship.

Although chances of another title are still slim, an amazing five-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning saved coach Loyal Park's spirited diamondmen from a humiliating and crushing double defeat Saturday afternoon.

The opening game of the twinbill saw a superb pitching duel between Harvard's Mike O'Malley and Cornell's Steve "The Hammer" Hamrick.

O'Malley had control problems only in the first inning, and after relinquishing one run to the Big Red in the opening frame, settled down and appeared well in control of the situation. Jimmy Thomas's double in the third, scoring Ed Durso, brought the Crimson even at 1-1.

Murderous Murdock

Cornell's leading hitter, Joe Murdock, temporarily broke things up in the sixth with a home run over the right field fence, but the Crimson's Joe Mackey responded with a clutch run-scoring single in the bottom of the inning, and the battle continued.

Harvard had its chances to win the game in the late innings. In the seventh, a two-out, bases-loaded opportunity ended when Hamrick got centerfielder Leon Goetz to ground out. The Crimson put men in scoring position in each of the extra innings, but the lost opportunities just built up, and Cornell eventually pushed across the winner in the tenth.

Trailing, 3-2, with one gone in the bottom of the tenth, Mackey again came through, this time with a double to right, setting up another chance for the frustrated Crimson. But the Hammer drove the final nails into the coffin, striking out Don Driscoll and pinch hitter John Friar to end it.

The strikeouts were fireballing lefty's 13th and 14th of the game. O'Malley, despite his strong performance, was charged with the loss.

Harvard's vanishing title hopes seemed to continue to disappear in the second game. A three-run Red rally in the fifth inning, keyed by back-to-back doubles by shortstop Chris Stocke (who had six hits in the doubleheader) and Mike Ryan, sent Cornell to a 4-0 lead and chased starter Milt Holt from the mound.

When Bill Crowell unloaded a homer in the sixth off reliever Mark Linehan, the Crimson's chances looked very poor, to say the least.

Meanwhile, Cornell's righty Ken Brink was breezing along on the mound with a two-hitter, showing no signs of letting up. He finally gave up a run in the bottom of the sixth on Dave St. Pierre's double, after walks to Leigh Hogan and Mackey, but retired Friar and captain Ric LaCivita to quell the uprising.

The 5-1 deficit in the seventh looked unpromising, as Cornell prepared to finish off the sweep. The Big Red actually began to pack their equipment as the inning got underway, and the team bus pulled up behind the field, waiting to take the happy conquerors home.

Rather than a noisy crew of twice-victorious Cornellians, the squad that boarded the bus was instead a disgruntled, somewhat shell-shocked bunch of ballplayers who had just split a doubleheader with Harvard. Five Crimson runs in the seventh had seen to that.

Durso Double

A walk followed by a double by Durso and two more walks produced the Crimson's second run of the contest, and loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly by Machey then made it 5-3.

With two outs, St. Pierre calmly stepped up to the plate and rifled a double down the left field line, leaving runners on second and third with the score, 5-4.

Ed Friar stepped up, watched two strikes go by, then smashed a line drive single to centerfield, as the overjoyed Crimson ballplayers charged onto the field, surprised to find themselves 6-5 victors.

Linehan picked up the win in relief for the 16-5 Crimson (4-3 in the EIBL), while reliever Scott Millhouse took the loss for Cornell.