Baseball Twice Edges Out B.C

A week before yesterday's doubleheader, Boston College Baseball Coach Moe Maloney called his counterpart Joe Walsh and asked to add a second game to the one already scheduled.

Crimson fans ought to be glad he did. The twin bill provided a pair of riveting, high-scoring matchups that Harvard (17-7, 7-1 Ivy) snared with a pair of come-from-behind wins, upping its winning streak to nine games with the 9-8, 9-7 sweep.

The Crimson battle eight errors and rough starts from sophomore Rich Linden and senior John Wells before getting late-inning heroics form some upper-classman stalwarts in the batting order.

Junior third baseman Peter Woodfork nailed a game-winning, two-run double in the bottom of the ninth in the opener while junior second baseman Hal Carey and senior centerfielder Brian Ralph keyed a five-run rally in the bottom of the sixth in the nightcap, handing the Eagles (10-14-1, 0-7-1 Big East) their sixth straight loss.

"This was about two schools five miles apart playing some great ball games," Walsh said. "We had balls leaving the yard, balls going into the gap, and these wins really show that we can come back."

Harvard 9, Boston College 8

It was a sweet reunion for Woodfork and sophomore closer Mike Madden, as the two combined to defeat their former Swampscott High School teammate, Brendan Nolan in the extra-inning front end.

Madden outdueled his high school bud, stifling the Eagles lineup and surrendering one unearned run in three innings and improving his record on the year to 2-0.

But the man who really did the damage was Woodfork, as he lined a two-out Nolan fastball into the gap in right-centerfield in the bottom of the ninth, scoring juniors Todd Harris and Jason Keck for the win.

Harvard sent Linden to the mound against junior Paul Bibbo. Heading into yesterday's contest Linden was enjoying a sensational rookie season, boasting a 1-0 record with a 3.66 ERA. Against the Eagles, however, Linden suffered his first rough outing of the season.

The Crimson jumped out to a 2-1 lead after one, on the strength of Ralph's third homer of his young season, a two-run shot that just cleared the leftfield fence.

In the bottom of the second Harvard continued the scoring barrage. Woodfork and Carey led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Woodfork then scored and Carey took second on a successful doubt steal.

Captain David Forst followed up with a single up the middle, moving Carey to third. Then Kessler drove him home with a sacrifice to left, and the Crimson found itself leading 4-1 after four.

Linden found his groove, retiring seven of eight after the first, but coughed up two in the B.C, half of the fourth. The top of the fifth proved no kinder to Linden, as he surrendered two runs no three singles, a double and an error.

After watching his team's lead evaporate, Walsh had seen enough and called on junior right hander James Kalyvas with runners at second and third and one out.

Kalyvas, who entered the game 0-1, was clutch for the Crimson. After walking the first batter he faced to load the bases, he calmly struck out the next batter and induced a fly ball to rightfield to end the inning.

The score remained knotted at five until the bottom of the sixth, when Forst laced a double into the gap into rightcenter to drive in Carey--who reached on an error--for the go-ahead run.

Kalyvas's luck ran out in he top half of the seventh. After an error by Carey put a runner on Kalyvas gave up a blast to junior catcher Jeff Waldron that gave the Eagles a 7-6 lead. The hard-throwing Madden then came in for Kalyvas and retired the next three batters, but the Crimson still entered the bottom of the seventh trailing by one.

The Crimson was up to the challenge, however, rallying in the bottom half of the inning. Huling led off with an infield single and moved to second on a Ralph sacrifice bunt. Then junior Todd Harris drove a pinch-hit single to right to tie the game at seven.

"We got clutch hitting from a lot of guys today," Walsh said. "Harris came up big with the game-tying single and then beat out a bunt in the second game. If I had nine Harrises, I'd win a lot of ball games."

After a scoreless eighth, the Eagles led off the ninth with a single off of Madden, who had retired six straight. With one out the Eagles' base runner moved to third on a botched pick-off attempt by the Crimson hurler, as Madden missed the sign and threw to first with no one covering. After a Waldron sacrifice fly, the Crimson once again entered the bottom half of an inning needing a run to stay alive.

Harris drew a two-out walk from Nolan to keep Harvard alive, and pinch runner Scott Carmack stole second to put the tying run in scoring position. Then Maloney committed the cardinal sin by putting the winning run on base with an intentional walk and setting the stage for Woodfork's big blast.

The junior third baseman smoked the offering from Nolan--Woodfork's former high school teammate--to the right-centerfield fence on the hop to give the Crimson yet another come-from-behind victory, 9-8.

"I was surprised by the intentional walk," Woodfork said. "I was looking for something to hit the other way, and [Nolan] hung a curve. I just closed my eyes and swung."

Harvard 9, Boston College 7

Playing its sixth game in four days, the Crimson forced Walsh to go deep into his staff in the nightcap, throwing Wells against B.C. freshman lefthander Chris Gannon.

Wells looked shaky throughout and struggled to keep his breaking pitches down in the strike zone, but he lasted three innings and allowed only one unearned run before his defense collapsed in the B.C. half of the fourth.

Trailing 2-1 due to a pair of engineered runs, the Eagles took advantage of errors by Woodfork and Forst to string together five runs and chase Wells.

After sophomore designated hitter Steve Langone led off with a solo homer, junior second baseman Mike Gambino followed an infield single with a hot grounder to third that snuck under Woodfork's glove.

Wells then walked third baseman Joe Durkin to stack the sacks with no outs, meriting a call to the bullpen for senior righthander Mike Marcucci (3-0).

Marcucci got a sure double-play grounder to short, but when Forst switcher hands after stepping on second, he dropped the ball and lost his chance to turn two.

Inexplicably, the infield umpire waved off the force, letting in a run and leaving the bases loaded. Waldron then compounded the damage, driving a two-run double to the left-center gap to plate the last of Wells's runners. First baseman Sean McGowan then grounded an RBI single inside the first base line, and it took a second double-play grounder--handled 6-4-3--to escape the frame trailing 6-2.

"We've definitely got to step up our defense," Carey said. "It seemed like we had bad outfield play in the first game and then really bad infield play in the second. Guys start making errors, and it just gets contagious."

The Crimson bounced back in the bottom of the inning, closing to 6-4 on RBI from Harris and sophomore first baseman Erik Binkowski.

With the sun setting on O'Donnell Field and darkness threatening to cut short the late doubleheader, Harvard staged its biggest comeback of the afternoon in the bottom of the sixth, tagging reliever Mike Quirk for five runs on seven hits, in a rally more reminiscent of the 1996 Yankees than the Joe Walsh Crimson.

Carmack got aboard with a bloop single, and Harris reached after Quirk threw wildly to first on his bunt back to the mound.

Following a sacrifice bunt, Carey stroked a double that curled fair down the leftfield line, scoring two. With two outs, Ralph and Woodfork slapped back-to-back doubles and Keck closed the scoring by singling up the middle to plate Woodfork with the fifth run of the inning.

"I felt good hitting in that situation," Carey said. "We really started swinging the bats in that inning, hitting aggressively. It wasn't the kind of rally we usually have--five runs on seven hits--but everybody contributed."

Leading 9-6, Walsh looked to wrap things up and get his ace some work by bringing in junior righthander Andrew Duffell. But Duffell took some time getting into his rhythm, giving up a leadoff homer and loading the bases on a walk, an error and a single.

With the Eagles smelling blood in this seesaw affair, Duffell settled down, freezing Durkin with a change for the second out and blowing a fastball by the hardluck Quirk for his first career save.

"We beat two lefties today," Walsh said. "And that was huge. We hadn't beaten a lefthander this year, and it was good to get off the schnied."

Notes

The Ivy League honored sophomore righthander Derek Lennon, naming his Rookie of the Week for his five and two-thirds shutout innings against Columbia on Saturday, good for his first collegiate win.

Ralph, who is hitting 400 with three homers and six RBI since rejoining the Crimson on Friday, was named to the League Honor Roll.

The left side of the Harvard infield continued its adventurous 1998 campaign. Forst committed three errors and Woodfork two, but the captain went 5-for-7 with a ribbie and two runs scored, and Woodfork went 4-for-9 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Harvard travels to Holy Cross today, and opens its crucial Red Rolfe season at Yale with four games this weekend. HARVARD  9 B.C.  8

HARVARD  9 B.C.  7

HARVARD 9-8 at O'Donnell Field R  H  E BC  100  220  201  --  8  11  4 Harvard  221  001  102  --  9  16  3

HR: BC--Waldron; Harvard--Ralph. 2B: BC--Quirk, Waldron, McGowan, Langone; Harvard--Ralph, Vankoski, Woodfork, Forst. E: BC--Waldron, Hubbard, Gambino 2; Harvard--Forst, McKay, Larocque.

WP: Madden (2-0); LP: Nolan (1-1) HARVARD 9-7 at O'Donnell Field R  H  E BC  010  500  1  --  7  10  1 Harvard  011  205    --  9  13  5

HR: BC--McGowan, Langone; Harvard--None. 2B: BC--None; Harvard--Relph, Woodfork, Keck, Carey, E: BC--Gannon; Harvard--Woodfork 2, Forst 2, Carey.

WP: Marcucci (3-0); LP: Quirk (0-1); S: Duffell (1)

HARVARD  9 B.C.  7

HARVARD 9-8 at O'Donnell Field R  H  E BC  100  220  201  --  8  11  4 Harvard  221  001  102  --  9  16  3

HR: BC--Waldron; Harvard--Ralph. 2B: BC--Quirk, Waldron, McGowan, Langone; Harvard--Ralph, Vankoski, Woodfork, Forst. E: BC--Waldron, Hubbard, Gambino 2; Harvard--Forst, McKay, Larocque.

WP: Madden (2-0); LP: Nolan (1-1) HARVARD 9-7 at O'Donnell Field R  H  E BC  010  500  1  --  7  10  1 Harvard  011  205    --  9  13  5

HR: BC--McGowan, Langone; Harvard--None. 2B: BC--None; Harvard--Relph, Woodfork, Keck, Carey, E: BC--Gannon; Harvard--Woodfork 2, Forst 2, Carey.

WP: Marcucci (3-0); LP: Quirk (0-1); S: Duffell (1)

HARVARD 9-8 at O'Donnell Field R  H  E BC  100  220  201  --  8  11  4 Harvard  221  001  102  --  9  16  3

HR: BC--Waldron; Harvard--Ralph. 2B: BC--Quirk, Waldron, McGowan, Langone; Harvard--Ralph, Vankoski, Woodfork, Forst. E: BC--Waldron, Hubbard, Gambino 2; Harvard--Forst, McKay, Larocque.

WP: Madden (2-0); LP: Nolan (1-1) HARVARD 9-7 at O'Donnell Field R  H  E BC  010  500  1  --  7  10  1 Harvard  011  205    --  9  13  5

HR: BC--McGowan, Langone; Harvard--None. 2B: BC--None; Harvard--Relph, Woodfork, Keck, Carey, E: BC--Gannon; Harvard--Woodfork 2, Forst 2, Carey.

WP: Marcucci (3-0); LP: Quirk (0-1); S: Duffell (1)

HR: BC--Waldron; Harvard--Ralph. 2B: BC--Quirk, Waldron, McGowan, Langone; Harvard--Ralph, Vankoski, Woodfork, Forst. E: BC--Waldron, Hubbard, Gambino 2; Harvard--Forst, McKay, Larocque.

WP: Madden (2-0); LP: Nolan (1-1) HARVARD 9-7 at O'Donnell Field R  H  E BC  010  500  1  --  7  10  1 Harvard  011  205    --  9  13  5

HR: BC--McGowan, Langone; Harvard--None. 2B: BC--None; Harvard--Relph, Woodfork, Keck, Carey, E: BC--Gannon; Harvard--Woodfork 2, Forst 2, Carey.

WP: Marcucci (3-0); LP: Quirk (0-1); S: Duffell (1)

HR: BC--McGowan, Langone; Harvard--None. 2B: BC--None; Harvard--Relph, Woodfork, Keck, Carey, E: BC--Gannon; Harvard--Woodfork 2, Forst 2, Carey.

WP: Marcucci (3-0); LP: Quirk (0-1); S: Duffell (1)