Ron Stewart

He says he'd rather be a hitter.

Ron Stewart, the ace of the Harvard baseball team's pitching staff, says he would rather bang out base hits than keep the other team from getting any.

"I really despise the DH rule," the soft-spoken senior says. "I don't feel like a ballplayer if I'm not hitting. And I've always thought I was a better hitter than pitcher."

Stewart can certainly make a case for his hitting abilities. In his senior year at Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri, he batted .482 and was All-State at second base as well as on the mound.

"Harvard recruited me as a pitcher, but when I first came here I was hoping to play in the field too," the 21-year-old Stewart says. "But I've only been to the plate once in a Harvard uniform."

Stewart played two summers in the Cape Cod League and got a chance to prove himself in the batter's box one last time. He became the team's DH, after the guys who were supposed to fill the role didn't arrive on time.

In Ron's first game, the opposing pitcher threw a two-hitter and Ron had both hits. The next day he went 2-for-4 and in the following game he hit the team's first home run. But when the regular hitters showed up, he went back to the bench.

"After that, I only got to pinch hit, and I've never been a good pinch hitter," Stewart says. "Ever since then, I've been solely a pitcher." Lucky for Harvard.

This season, Stewart has regained the top form he demonstrated in his freshman year when he was the team's leading pitcher. Because of his experience and pitching cool, Stewart is the guy Crimson coach Alex Nahigian counts on to go out against the top teams in the East and come back with a win. Stewart's record so far this year is 3-2, including a crucial win over a very tough Navy team. And when EIBL league-leader Cornell comes into town a week from Friday, Nahigian will send Stewart to the mount to put out the Big Red's fire.

"We're very pleased with Ron's pitching this year because he's so consistent out there," the coach said yesterday. "He works as hard as anybody, he's got the experience, and he's going to pitch against Cornell."

Stewart's teammates echo their coach's confidence.

"Ron's a very smart pitcher as opposed to being a thrower," first baseman Mark Bingham says. "He's intense out there, never loses his cool, and you know he's giving it his best whether he's doing well or getting hit."

Catcher Joe Wark has to work more closely with Stewart than anyone else on the field and says he always feels comfortable behind the plate when Ron's out there.

"Ron's a real competitor out there and he really likes to challenge the hitters," Wark said. "He's the kind of guy who goes out and grits his teeth and gets the job done."

On the mound, Ron's intensity is unparalleled. When he gets into a jam, he takes it personally. He loves to win and hates even to be in the dugout on the days after a loss.

Control is his mainstay and he relies on the four basic pitches--fastball, slider, curve and change ("It's my favorite pitch--it's more fun to fool a batter than just overpower him.")--to get the job done. The fastball is his out pitch, the one Wark calls for in crucial situations. Ron's always had a good hard, moving fastball, even in Little League.

"When I was eight years old, I threw harder than anyone else in the league for eight- and nine-year-olds. My only problem was that I never knew where the ball was going," Stewart says with a smile. "Once, I hit a kid in the head and it broke his batting helmet. That's when the mothers started to get mad." Ron was subesequently banned from the league and moved up to the 10-12 bracket. He was playing American Legion ball at 14.

In high school Stewart lettered three years in both baseball and football. When he came to Harvard, he played both as a kicker and a quarterback on the freshman football team but then dropped the sport to concentrate on baseball. He also sang in the Glee Club freshman year and tutored math. He has been active in the Phillips Brooks House Big Brother program throughout his Harvard career. But things weren't always so rosy.

Freshman year, Ron Stewart was the best pitcher in the Crimson dugout. As a sophomore, he got injured on the spring Florida trip and lost more than just a few turnes on the mound.

"I lost my confidence in myself and had both motivational and disciplinary problems," the Lowell House resident said, looking back on what was obviously a hard time in his life. "The competition was getting to me, both academically and on the field."

"Ronny wants to be the best pitcher on the team--I think in his sophomore year it hurt him not having the coach's confidence in him and not being at the top," four-year teammate Bingham says. "Now he knows that Coach Nahigian is very confident in him and that he doesn't have to go out there and prove himself anymore--he's out there to win ballgames for the team."

Ron Stewart is headed for the University of Missouri Meidical School, and he looks forward to going home again. A Psychology major as an undergraduate, he eventually hopes to get into the public policy aspect of medicine. And while he's not looking to be drafted by a major league team, he would consider putting off medical school for a few years to play some minor league ball.

"After high school, the scouts called me up the night before the draft and asked me what my plans were," Stewart says. "I knew I was going to Harvard, told them so, and didn't get drafted. If I had the chance again, I'd tell them to draft me and I'd give it a shot."

If he's not drafted, this baseball season marks the end of organized sports for Ron Stewart. He says he'll still swim, run and play tennis and golf (he once finished third in a State Junior Tournament). He also looks ahead to summer softball leagues.

"I love softball," he says. "The pitcher doesn't control the game."

And Ron Stewart gets to hit.