Baseball Tunes Up for Ivy Championships Against UMass

Perhaps the second time's a charm.

Two weeks after an 11-4 drubbing at the hands of the UMass Minutemen in the Beanpot final at Fenway Park, the Harvard baseball team turned things around with a 10-4 victory Wednesday at a wind-whipped O'Donnell Field.

The Crimson (28-12, 18-2 Ivy) parlayed two-run home runs by senior first baseman Peter Albers and sophomore second baseman Hal Carey into a convincing win against the 19th-ranked Minutemen (30-9) to close out the regular season.

Ask the Harvard starters about beating UMass, however, and giant-killing isn't on their minds.

"We were excited about the win, but our attitude is that we can do this every time out," said junior left fielder Aaron Kessler. "The win is a big deal, but we're keeping things in perspective."

Perspective is certainly important for the Crimson, winners of a second consecutive Red Rolfe division championship, who will face the Lou Gehrig division champion Princeton Tigers this weekend in a best-of-three playoff at O'Donnell to decide the Ivy crown.

"Princeton is our big rival at this point," said sophomore right fielder Andrew Huling. "They're our only league loss this season and we definitely want to take two."

For a team that focused on vengence, the Crimson risked looking past Wednesday's opponent, and indeed, down 3-0 after the Minutemen's half of the third inning, things didn't look promising.

Sophomore starter Perrin Mosca ran into trouble early, surrendering a run in the top of the first.

"The wind was blowing pretty strongly out to right and balls hit to the opposite field were carrying," Huling said. "That made some hits tough to judge."

Mosca's pitched himself into jams in the second and in the third before coach Joe Walsh lifted him for junior righthander John Wells.

The Crimson answered immediately, tying the game with a three-run third capped by Albers' two-run shot over the 335-foot sign in right--his team-best fifth.

Harvard picked up the scoring again in the fourth with two more runs on two-out RBIs by Kessler and Carey to take the lead for good at 5-3.

"I just felt I was in the zone," Kessler said. "I struck out on two bad strikes in the first and I got upset. Then I started making good contact on every pitch."

Wells (1-1), meanwhile, worked through a rough fifth inning thanks to Huling's defensive wizardry. With one out and the Minutemen threatening with runners on second and third, Kudrikow lined a Wells fastball to the opposite field for what looked like extra bases.

With both runners going at contact, Huling made a diving stab in the gap, then threw a strike to second base to double up outfielder Aaron Braunstein, preserving the two-run lead.

Huling hadn't finished burning the Minutemen. After senior Bart Brush loaded the bases in relief of Wells with two outs in the top of the sixth, Huling came on to face UMass cleanup hitter Doug Clark. Huling worked across two strikes, then got Clark to ground out down the first-base line.

Evidently, that was enough drama, as the Crimson tallied two runs in the bottom of the inning on Carey's two-run homer to put the game out of reach at 7-3.

The Crimson turn next to the weekend playoff series with the Tigers at O'Donnell Field for the Ivy title. The teams will play a Saturday doubleheader and a final game Sunday if necessary. The winner will host Patriot League champion Army in an NCAA play-in May 15th-16th.

"We're very confident going into the weekend. We've beaten a top-ranked team and we're ready to avenge last year's loss," Kessler said. "I want that ring." Umass  4 Harvard  10