Let's Play Four: Baseball Faces Yale

Yale is the proverbial speeding locomotive of Ivy League baseball.

The Elis (18-3 overall, 8-0 Ivy) are riding an 11-game winning streak, the longest in the school's history--beating even the nine-game mark set by the famous 1981 squad led by Ron Darling.

Of course, that streak was broken in one of the greatest college baseball games ever. In the first round of the NCAA Regionals, Darling allowed one hit in 12 innings but lost, 1-0, to St. John's.

Pitching for St. John's was...Boston's own Frank Viola.

Unfortunately, Viola's taken an agent. But the Crimson (9-11, 5-3) is ready to take on the defending Ivy League champs without him.

"This is definitely a huge weekend for us," Captain Mike Hill said. "Traditionally, Yale has always had solid pitching and really good hitting."

Great Pitching

This year is no different. On the mound, the Eli pitchers boast an impressive 2.87 team ERA. Yale's four aces--freshman Jason Bohannon (28.2 IP, 1.57 ERA), junior Keith Pelatowski (37.1 IP, 2.17 ERA), sophomore Dan Lock (36.2 IP, 3.44 ERA) and freshman Adam Doherty (28.1 IP, 4.13 ERA)--have limited opponents to a combined .241 batting average.

In contrast, no one on the Harvard staff has an ERA under freshman Chip Harris's 2.81.

At the plate, Yale again has the intimidating numbers. The Elis' top five starters post batting averages of .359, .338, .319, .304 and .281 compared to Harvard's top five starters--.386, .344, .276, .215 and .154.

The Bulldogs have scored 142 runs while allowing just 59. But numbers don't hurt, according to Harvard shortstop Mike Giardi.

"Statistics don't tell the whole game," the Mather junior said. "We've won a lot of close games. We just need to stay in every game."

Yale Coach John Stuper is also not afraid to play aggressively on the basepaths, one of Harvard's defensive weaknesses this season.

The Elis have stolen 82 bases in 99 attempts in just 21 games and feature one of college baseball's top base-stealers in junior Tom Hutchinson.

The 5-11, 175-pound Bulldog shortstop makes can make catchers sweat just thinking of him. Hutchinson has stolen 24 bases in 25 attempts so far this year--just nine steals away from the team's single-season record. His 52 career swipes are seven short of Yale's career mark with another year to go.

"The best way to neutralize a base-stealer is to keep him off a base," Hill said. "But if he gets on, we'll keep him close."

Harvard Rolling?

In the meantime, Harvard has won six of its last eight games and has hit its stride just in time for the meaty part of its schedule--intra-divisional play.

This season's new Ivy League structure split the Ancient Eight into a Red Rolfe (northern) and a Lou Gehrig (southern) Division, so Harvard plays each squad in the northern division four times while it plays the southern teams only twice.

Unfortunately, this new system actually works to Harvard's disadvantage because Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth--three of the league's top teams--join Harvard in the northern division and make for very competitive play.

No matter what the statistics, however, the Crimson is coming in confident and hopes to be steady and consistent all weekend.

"We're just going to play it one game at a time," Hill said.