Baseball Finishes Perfect at Home

The game is almost a foregone conclusion when your starter get knocked out in the first inning. Unless you're Harvard and playing at home.

Harvard (30-10, 16-4 Ivy) rallied with runs in each of the last three innings to beat Northeastern (23-19), 7-6, yesterday.

With the comeback win, the Crimson preserved its perfect regular season at home, finishing 13-0 and winning its 21st straight going back to last year.

"I don't feel any difference home or away, though we don't want to let anyone come into our ball park and beat us," said senior rightfielder Andrew Huling. "We don't want to lose any games, it's just worked out that the games we've lost have been on the road." NORTHEASTERN  6 HARVARD  7

Senior centerfielder Brian Ralph, the team leader in slugging and second in average, provided the late-inning boost which carried Harvard over the Huskies.

Following a bunt single by Huling, Ralph stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the eighth with the Crimson trailing 6-4.

After the ball disappeared over the rightfield fence, Ralph had his team-leading seventh tater of the year, and it was a whole new ballgame.

Freshman hurler Dan Sachem (1-0), who won his first career game, shut Northeastern down for four straight innings, and Harvard went into the bottom of the ninth needing one run to win.

With one out, sophomore first baseman Erik Binkowski singled to right, and sophomore Mike Madden pinchran for him. After senior leftfielder Aaron Kessler failed to move him, Huling walked with two out.

Ralph stepped up to the plate, and a clean RBI single to right later, the game was over.

"We all felt we were in the game the whole way," Huling said. "There were a lot of opportunities to score, and the pitcher wasn't overpowering. They were getting fortunate because we were hitting the ball well and kept getting just a little under it. We kind of expected to come back."

Harvard was placed in a comeback situation by the ineffective performance of senior starter John Wells. Wells lasted only two-thirds of an inning, surrendering four runs on five hits.

The Huskies' star first baseman Carlos Pena provided an RBI double. The next hitter, rightfielder Tim Daley, knocked in two more runs.

Harvard didn't help itself either, as two throwing errors allowed second baseman Kevin Kim to score the fourth run of the frame. Sophomore righthander Rich Linden came in with the bases loaded and got the first man he faced to end the inning.

The Crimson came back in the bottom of the first with a pair of manufactured runs. Junior catcher Jason Keck hit a sacrifice fly to bring Huling in. Captain David Forst then knocked in Ralph to cut the lead to two.

The Crimson scored a run in its next turn after junior third baseman Hal Carey singled and advanced to third on a steal and throwing error. Sophomore first baseman Jason Larocque grounded to short to score Carey.

Northeastern got two in the top of the third off Linden, but neither team scored again until the bottom of the seventh.

Carey started it again, as he led off with a double to left. He advanced on a flyout by senior designated hitter Brett Vankoski then scored on a wild pitch by Northeastern starter Peter Donoghue.

Sachem and Linden stepped up to keep Harvard in the game after a shaky beginning. Such clutch long relief performances are the kind of things that happen when things are going right for a team.

"We were a little worried because whenever your starter goes out in the first inning, you know you're playing catchup," Huling said. "But we knew there was a lot of game left.

"We have a bunch of good pitchers, and we knew someone was going to be able to shut them down."

Besides the great relief work, Harvard benefited from big days by its big guns. Huling, hitting .363 this year, had three hits, and Ralph (.403), Forst (.406), and Carey (.348) each went two-for-four.

The Crimson is now ready to make some postseason noise.

"We're real happy and ready to go," Huling said. "The bus for Princeton can't leave soon enough. We want to get down there, beat them, come home and write some more papers."

Notes

Harvard never got to play the Beanpot championship against UMass, scheduled for Monday after the first date was postponed because of bad weather. The minutemen were rained out in their series with St. Bonaventure this past weekend and had to make up those games instead on Monday. According to Harvard Sports Information, today's game at UMass will serve as the Beanpot final. HARVARD, 7-6 at Baseball Diamond R  H  E Northeast.  402  000  000  --  614  3 Harvard  210  000  121  --  7  1 1  2

NORTHEASTERN  AB  R  H  BI  B B  SO Guerrero cf  4  1  2  0  1  0 Korchin If  5  1  2  0  0  1 Pena 1b  4  1  1  1  1  1 Daley rf/p  4  0  1  2  0  0 Kim 2b  4  1  3  0  0  1 Keating 3b  4  1  2  0  0  1 Paolucci c  4  1  1  0  0  1 Lewis rf  0  0  0  0  0  0 Wysong ss  3  0  1  0  1  0 TOTALS  36  6  14  4  3  5

E Keating, Paolucci, Wysong, Carey, Wells. DP: Northeastern 1, Harvard 4. 2B Pena, Kim, Huling, Carey. HR: Ralph. SB Huling, Ralph, Carey. CS: Kim, Kessler.

HARVARD  AB  R  H  BI  BBSO Kessler If  4  0  1  0  1  0 Huling rf  4  2  3  0  1  0 Ralph cf  4  2  2  3  1  1 Keck c  3  0  0  1  0  0 Forst ss  4  0  2  1  0  0 Woodfork 2b  4  0  0  0  1  0 Carey 3b  4  2  2  0  0  0 Vankoski dh  4  0  0  0  0  0 Larocque 1b  2  0  0  1  0  0 Harris ph  1  0  0  0  0  0 Binkowski 1b  1  0  1  0  0  0 Madden pr  0  1  0  0  0  0 TOTALS  35  7  11  6  3  1

NORTHEASTERN  IP  H  R  ER  B B  SO Donoghue  7.1  9  6  5  2  1 Daley, L (1-1)  1.1  2  1  1  1  0 HARVARD  IP  H  R  ER  BB  SO Wells  0.2  5  4  3  1  1 Linden  4.1  7  2  2  2  1 Saken, W (1-0)  4.0  2  0  0  0  3

WP: Donoghue.

NORTHEASTERN  AB  R  H  BI  B B  SO Guerrero cf  4  1  2  0  1  0 Korchin If  5  1  2  0  0  1 Pena 1b  4  1  1  1  1  1 Daley rf/p  4  0  1  2  0  0 Kim 2b  4  1  3  0  0  1 Keating 3b  4  1  2  0  0  1 Paolucci c  4  1  1  0  0  1 Lewis rf  0  0  0  0  0  0 Wysong ss  3  0  1  0  1  0 TOTALS  36  6  14  4  3  5

E Keating, Paolucci, Wysong, Carey, Wells. DP: Northeastern 1, Harvard 4. 2B Pena, Kim, Huling, Carey. HR: Ralph. SB Huling, Ralph, Carey. CS: Kim, Kessler.

HARVARD  AB  R  H  BI  BBSO Kessler If  4  0  1  0  1  0 Huling rf  4  2  3  0  1  0 Ralph cf  4  2  2  3  1  1 Keck c  3  0  0  1  0  0 Forst ss  4  0  2  1  0  0 Woodfork 2b  4  0  0  0  1  0 Carey 3b  4  2  2  0  0  0 Vankoski dh  4  0  0  0  0  0 Larocque 1b  2  0  0  1  0  0 Harris ph  1  0  0  0  0  0 Binkowski 1b  1  0  1  0  0  0 Madden pr  0  1  0  0  0  0 TOTALS  35  7  11  6  3  1

NORTHEASTERN  IP  H  R  ER  B B  SO Donoghue  7.1  9  6  5  2  1 Daley, L (1-1)  1.1  2  1  1  1  0 HARVARD  IP  H  R  ER  BB  SO Wells  0.2  5  4  3  1  1 Linden  4.1  7  2  2  2  1 Saken, W (1-0)  4.0  2  0  0  0  3

WP: Donoghue.