Frustrating Year Keeps on Going

If anything, the 1994 campaign has been a season of frustration for the Harvard baseball team (11-17-1 overall, 6-10 Ivy).

If you are wondering how, just take a journey through the past two weeks.

First, Harvard went into New Haven, Conn., two weekends ago to face Red Rolfe Division leading Yale, needing to win three of the four games to pull even in the standings. Game one was a Yale blowout, game two saw Harvard strand the tying run at second in the final inning, and the two teams split the final two games. Instead of gaining two games on the Elis, the Crimson dropped two more behind them.

Take a look at this past weekend--four games against Brown with Harvard still having a shot at the division title.

Two promising wins on Saturday were followed by two demoralizing losses on Sunday--the first of which saw the Bears score four runs in the seventh to put away a one-run game. The result--Harvard was mathematically eliminated from the Ivy race with four games to go.

OK, so Harvard still had a chance to win the Beanpot this week. But Northeastern knocked it out in the first game, 4-1, even though the Crimson outhit and outplayed the Huskies.

"A good team like Northeastern finds a way to win," junior Bo Bernhard said. "We have to learn how to do that."

No consolation was in store for Harvard on Wednesday, especially after the first-base umpire invoked a seldom-used runner's interference call on freshman Mike Hochanadel in the bottom of the seventh inning to nullify Harvard's game-winning run. The result--a 7-7 tie with Boston College in the Beanpot third-place game.

"It was a weird feeling," Bernhard said. "A tie is like kissing your sister. But we have to be proud of our comeback against BC."

Harvard did rally from five- and two-run deficits to knot the game, and it will have to use that momentum to propel it into this weekend's double doubleheader against Dartmouth (11-18, 6-10).

The games mean nothing in terms of winning the division, but there is a matter of pride on the line come Saturday at Soldiers Field and Sunday at Hanover, N.H.

"Dartmouth has always been a big rivalry," Bernhard said. "It is a pride thing--we want to finish out the year strong."

Further motivation is that the Crimson can still finish above .500 if it wins its final seven games. Harvard hasn't hit the .500 mark since April 1 and has not been over the .500 mark this year.

It Hurts:Speaking of frustration, captain Mike Giardi has to watch the remainder of his senior season due to a broken hand.

Giardi was the top hitter of all Ivy League players, batting at a .435 clip.

Behind the plate, junior Bryan Brissette is still out with a pulled hamstring.

Extra painful is that Brissette is Harvard's second-leading hitter at .325.

Freshman Pete Albers has filled in for Giardi at shortstop, and freshman Craig Wilke is playing for Brissette at catcher. The two have played their positions solidly, so Harvard hasn't felt the void defensively.

"They're definitely good players," Bernhard said. "We were lucky that the injuries occurred where we had very capable people."

But the experience and the batting prowess of Giardi and Brissette are being sorely missed.

Ivy Notes: Giardi ended his college career by making the Ivy League Honor Roll with his 5-for-16 (4 R, 2 RBI) performance in three games against Brown.

Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown are all tied for second place in the Red Rolfe Division, five games behind Yale, meaning that the Bulldogs have clinched their second-straight Division crown.

In the Lou Gehrig Division, Pennsylvania and Columbia are tied for first, and the two will face each other in Philadelphia in a doubleheader this Saturday for the division crown.

Yale will face the winner in the Ivy League Championship the following Saturday and Sunday in Middletown, Conn., in a best-of-three format.

Short Hops: Defense wins ball games--just ask the Crimson. Harvard is 0-15 when it commits more errors than its opponents, but it is 11-2-1 when its defense is equal to or better than the opposition...Harvard is 8-4 when it scores first, but only 3-13-1 when the opposition plates a runner first...Speed on the basepaths has certainly been lacking for Harvard. It has stolen only eight bases in 16 Ivy League games and 21 overall. The Crimson has only one steal in its last six games, and Harvard has failed to record a stolen base in 17 of its 29 games...Bernhard is the most bruised player on the team. He has been hit by a pitch 10 times--the rest of the squad has been hit a total of 12 times...Opening games of double headers still are troublesome for the Crimson, as Harvard is only 3-6. However, the Crimson has come back to take five of the nine nightcaps...Harvard is 4-4 at home, 4-8 on the road and 4-5-1 in neutral sites...One last bit of frustration--Harvard has lost three of the five games in which its pitchers have limited their opponents to five hit or less.