Batsmen Walk Past Crusaders, 8-7, in 13

Thirteen proved to be a lucky number for the Harvard baseball team yesterday.

After four scoreless innings in its home contest against Holy Cross, the Crimson scored the winning run in the bottom of the 13th when Crusader pitcher Scott McArdle walked Greg Agran with the bases loaded.

Frank Caprio led off the inning with a single, followed by another single by Captain Mike Pakalnis one out later. Frank Morelli walked to load the bases, but it looked like Harvard would again fail to score when Caprio was thrown out at the plate on a fielder's choice.

But freshman Greg Agran, who had punched in the tying RBI in the eighth, watched a high 3-2 pitch go by, and the Crimson walked away with an 8-7 victory.

"It [ball four] was close," Agran said. "High pitches were being called for balls. I was confident it was high."

The victory upped the Crimson's overall record to 5-1, while the Crusaders fell to 4-8.

The Crimson's first three runs also came from bases on balls when Crusader starting pitcher Brendon Grady walked six batters in the second inning. Grady gave up no hits but allowed eight walks in 1-1/3 innings, and was replaced by Jim Hall after walking in the three runs.

Holy Cross, which had scored solo runs in the first and the third, took a 7-4 lead in the top of the fourth, tallying five runs off of Harvard freshman Mike Dorrington and senior Ed Toland.

The crucial Crimson runs came in the eighth, when the hosts were trailing Holy Cross, 7-5. Once again, Harvard was aided by faulty Crusader pitching, as both Jim DePalo and Frank Morelli drew walks.

The Crimson then put its bats to use, as sophomore Dan McConaghy, who finished the day 4-for-7 with two runs scored, cracked an RBI single to right, scoring DePalo. Agran followed by stroking the double that brought in Morelli for the tying run.

But with the go-ahead runs on second and third, Crusader pitcher Hall stifled the Crimson by striking out both Dave Jamieson and Dave O'Connell to end the inning.

Thus began a series of five frustrating frames in which the Crimson stranded nine baserunners and was unable to end the game. The Crimson left 23 men on base in the 13 innings, to the Crusaders' eight.

"We couldn't get that one hit to break their backs," McConaghy said.

"We weren't hitting the ball hard, especially when we were trying to get the last run in," Coach Alex Nahigian added.

Meanwhile, Crimson freshman lefthander Bob Baxter (2-0), who replaced Vic McGrady in the middle of the eighth, shut down the Crusader offense. In 5-2/3 innings, he allowed only two hits and no runs, while chalking up eight strikeouts and walking no one.

"I knew they were a tough team," Baxter said. "I just like to keep the ball down and low and make them hit ground balls."

"It's not a surprise what he's doing," said Nahigian, referring to Baxter's performance. "He's an outstanding freshman prospect."