Batsmen End Season With Uplifting Victory

The Harvard baseball team entered this year boasting one of the premier hitting teams in the nation.

On Wednesday at Soldiers Field, Harvard showcased that talent for the last time, closing its odd, frustrating season with a merciless 14-2 pounding of Northeastern.

The Crimson (9-15 overall, 8-6 EIBL) never even gave the Huskies (20-17-1) a chance, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first an never looking back.

In all practical terms, the contest meant very little: The EIBL title had already been wrapped up by Yale.

But, after the EIBL cancelled this weekend's games against Pennsylvania and Navy (both schools saw no reason to make an eight-hour plus road trip when the title had already been claimed outright, Wednesday's contest took on at least symbolic import: it was the last game for Harvard's seven seniors.

With that in mind, the future graduates took matters into their won hands, with Co-Captain Jim Mrowka, Co-Captain Dan Scanlan and Nick DelVecchio collecting a total of seven RBI's.

Pitcher Tom Hurley did his last dance at Soldiers Field in fine form, allowing only five hits in eight innings.

"It was definitely good to end the season on a high note, but I really feel sorry for the seniors," junior outfielder Mike Hill said. "They really wanted to win the league and go on to bigger and better things in collegiate baseball. It's still tough to swallow."

"I just thought it was a credit those guys that we finished the rest of the season. It had a lot to do with pride. We had a lot to prove to ourselves," Hill said.

The Leverett junior certainly did his part, slamming a low curveball over the fence in the third inning to drive in three runs. The homer gave Harvard a 6-1 lead, which it would happily pad in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings.

Morioka picked up a run in the fourth, improbably advancing from first to home on a stolen base, walk and wild pitch. Three walks by Northeastern junior Scott Blake in the fifth led Harvard to pick up three more runs . And a DelVecchio double with the bases loaded in the third drove in three more.

Add to that a Mrowka RBI in the same inning and the Crimson had earned itself a victory--and, at the very least a little satisfaction heading into the off-season.

THE NOTEBOOK: Hurley was named EIBL Pitcher of the Week for his victories this past week against Princeton and Boston University...Mrowka earned a nod on the honor roll for his 9-for-21 performance last week. HARVARD, 14-2 at Soldlers Field R  H  E Northeastern  001  001  000  --  2< Tab>6  1 Harvard  303  130  40x  --  14   13  1

HR: NU--None; Harvard--Hill. 3B: NU--None; Harvard--Scanlan, Morgan. 2B: NU--Lopez, Glavine; Harvard--Morgan, Delvecchio. WP: Hurley (5-3); LP: Parron (0-1)