Baseball Bats Batter Bulldogs

Rounding out a week in which it played 12 games in nine days, the Crimson (18-12, 10-2 Ivy) roughed up Red Rolfe Division pretender Yale with a four-game sweep at O'Donnell Field, scoring 43 runs on 49 hits against a freshman-heavy Bulldog rotation.

Junior first baseman Erik Binkowski led the charge, going 7-for-16 on the weekend, including two home runs and 11 RBI, while senior center fielder Andrew Huling went 8-for-16, knocking in nine runs and scoring six. Huling also saved at least three runs with dazzling plays in the outfield.

He leads the Crimson with a .406 batting average, five home runs and 38 RBI.

The sweep allowed Harvard to maintain a first-place tie with Brown (18-11, 10-2), which swept a four-game set from Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. The Crimson will meet the Bears for four in Providence next weekend.

Yale (12-23, 4-8) shot itself in the foot all weekend, making 12 errors and all but falling out of Ivy contention.

"Obviously, at 10-2 we're feeling real good," said Harvard Coach Joe Walsh. "But this is a competitive league and anybody's got a chance to win any game. We're the defending champions and the way we're looking at it, Brown is coming into our house, and they've got to worry about preparing for us, not the other way around."

The Crimson has now won nine of 12 and six straight.

Harvard 8, Yale 4

For the second straight weekend, senior righthander Donny Jamieson started and battled, nailing down the fourth game of the series with a complete-game victory.

Jamieson crossed up a Bulldog order accustomed to the hard-throwing arms of Garett Vail and Ben Crockett by using a mix of offspeed stuff, including a very workable slider, to allow just three earned runs on nine hits. Jamieson struck out nine and walked two.

It was the second win in two starts for Jamieson, who began the season in the bullpen. Jamieson improved to 3-0 and lowered his ERA to 4.57.

"The job of our starters is to eat up innings," Walsh said. "Getting the outings we did today from them was huge."

The Crimson also got a pair of clutch two-run hits from freshman second baseman Faiz Shakir and freshman shortstop Mark Mager.

Shakir, who had only one hit in three at-bats on the season entering yesterday's action, got a surprise start in the nightcap after singling in the eighth inning of the opener and went 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Shakir capped a three-run rally in the fourth inning, scoring Mager and sophomore right fielder Scott Carmack with a clean single up the middle that gave the Crimson a 4-3 lead.

"I think Shakir was able to really pick the team up today," Walsh said. "He got some hits out of the nine-spot, he beat out a bunt and he did a lot of good things."

Then in the fifth, after the Bulldogs' Ben Teal had tied the game at 4-4 with an RBI single, Mager broke the game open by stroking a two-run double just inside the third base bag, scoring Huling and Binkowski.

"There being one out, I was just looking to drive the ball to the outfield or hit it hard somewhere, since the infield was drawn in," Mager said. "[Yale starter Suddha Reddy] threw me an inside curveball, and I didn't get it that hard, but it was just a matter of putting the ball in play with two strikes."

Harvard would tack on two more in the eighth, getting back-to-back RBI hits from Huling and senior designated hitter Peter Woodfork to open the lead to 8-4 and stick Reddy (2-5) with an ugly line--seven earned runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings.

Harvard 7, Yale 6 (9 innings)

In a game that rolled into two innings of overtime, Harvard beat Yale 7-6 in the first half of yesterday's doubleheader.

Yale second baseman Luis Costa's error in the top of the ninth enabled Harvard to clinch the winning run. With Huling on second after a two-out double, pinch hitter Jason Larocque grounded to second, and Costa appeared to have Larocque beaten, but threw high and wide to first.

Costa made four of Yale's 12 errors on the weekend.

In another respectable showing, Crockett pitched into the fifth, preventing the Bulldogs from scoring in the first two innings. He finished with a no-decision, working 4.1 innings, allowing six earned runs on eight hits while striking out seven.

Crockett's fastball was also clocked at 89 m.p.h.

Junior reliever Mike Madden came in at the top of the fifth to pitch until the seventh when Derek Lennon took control of the mound. Lennon (3-1) retired nine of the ten batters he faced, striking out two to earn the win.

"The big thing today was Lennon coming in and pitching effectively," Walsh said. "He went out in all of those innings and it was boom! Strike one. Boom! Strike one."

Lennon now leads the team with 12 appearances and has trimmed his ERA to an even 3.00.

"I was just trying to hold it to zero, trying to let us be the first team to score and win," Lennon said.

Harvard got off to a good start in the first inning when senior catcher Jason Keck sent a triple sent to right field. Keck then scored the second run of the game on Huling's single.

In the third inning the Bulldogs scored their first two runs on a double sent to center field by left fielder Matt Lindsay. Later in the inning Lindsay slid into home off Teal's RBI single for a 3-2 Yale lead.

Harvard answered with a three-run third of its own, getting an RBI single from Binkowski and a two-run double from Huling to open up a 5-3 lead.

Captain Hal Carey sent a home run to right field in the bottom of the fourth, making it 6-3, but Teal matched him in the next inning, sending a game-tying three-run home run to center, chasing Crockett.

"The pitching wasn't as good as it has been today, but fortunately the hitting was much more aggressive," Carey said. "The team's attitude is much more positive now that we've started hitting."

Neither team scored again until Huling touched home plate with the winning run in the ninth.

Huling provided the O'Donnell faithful with some choice examples of why he's a more-than-adequate replacement for Brian Ralph '98 by making two stellar plays in center.

He climbed the fence and reached into the pine trees to rob Bulldog third baseman Mike Kahney of a sure home run in the fifth and then snagged a sinking pop-up off the bat of center fielder Keith Reams in the eighth.

"Huling's a guy who covers the turf well, and today he took a home run away," Walsh said. "Defense up the middle like that lets other teams know they'll have to hit to beat us."

Harvard 8, Yale 4

After shellacking the Bulldogs in the first end of the twin bill behind Vail's brilliant pitching, the Crimson sent sophomore sensation John Birtwell to the hill for the nightcap.

And although Birtwell--the reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Week, and an early favorite for league Pitcher of the Year honors--did not dominate as he usually does, he pitched solidly, as the Crimson bats once again came alive to earn an 8-4 victory.

After pitching a scoreless first inning, Birtwell did something that surprised all--he allowed an earned run. Bulldog catcher Todd Kasper's solo home run in the top of the second inning snapped Birtwell's streak of 17 consecutive scoreless innings, and gave Yale an early 1-0 lead. Birtwell had not surrendered an earned run in the state of Massachusetts before Saturday.

Despite the home run, Birtwell remained poised, and was having his way with the Bulldog lineup in the early going.

But as the score remained the same heading into the fourth, one began to wonder if Harvard had used up all of its offensive ammunition in the first game. In the bottom of the fourth, however, the Crimson silenced all fears, as it got a big hit from one of the day's biggest heroes--Binkowski.

Huling led of the inning with a base hit up the middle, setting the stage for the Crimson first baseman. And Binkowski did not disappoint, blasting freshman Matt McCarthy's offering over the right-field fence for his second home run of the day and giving Harvard a 2-1 lead.

Binkowski would finish the day with two home runs and nine RBI.

In the top of the fifth, however, Birtwell served up yet another solo home run, this time to Teal, tying the contest at 2-2.

But the Harvard bats came through once again in the bottom of the inning.

Mager led off the inning with a single to left, and reached third on a throwing error. A base hit to left by Carey scored Mager. Carey then stole second, and Keck followed with yet another single, chasing McCarthy.

Right-hander Mike Finnegan entered the game for the Elis, but did not fare much better, as Huling--the first batter Finnegan faced--hit a line drive over the right-field fence to extend the Crimson lead to 6-2.

"I knew he was going to come in and throw a strike," Huling said. "I just wanted to get it up in the air for a sacrifice fly to get the runner home. But I hit it well, and fortunately it went out."

In the top of the sixth, Birtwell gave up another run as Yale cut the lead to three. But Harvard answered back once again in the bottom of the inning with two runs of its own.

Sophomore Scott Carmack led off the inning with a stand-up double into the right-centerfield gap and later scored on a perfect bunt single by junior Jeff Bridich. Carey then hit a home run over the fence in right field to give Harvard an 8-3 lead.

"It felt good to get a couple of big hits today," said Carey, who finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI for the game. "It was great to get that single that gave us the lead early on, and it's always nice to hit a home run."

In the top of the seventh, Birtwell ran into a bit of trouble. After the leadoff batter reached on an error, Birtwell allowed two consecutive singles, as Yale cut the lead to 8-4. Junior Derek Lennon then entered the contest in relief and promptly set down the next three Eli batters to secure the 8-4 victory for Harvard.

Harvard 20, Yale 4

Saturday's opener was a game Binkowski may look back to as his break-out game of the season.

Binkowski was 3-for-4 with an RBI single, a three-run double and a three-run home run, providing the bulk of the Crimson hitting attack in a 20-4 romp, a mauling that was assisted by six errors from a Bulldog infield that looked straight out of the Bad News Bears.

Harvard set the tone early and often, notching four runs on two hits and two errors in the first, including a costly throwing miscue by Yale starter Jon Steitz.

With the bases loaded for Mager, the freshman bounced back to the mound and Steitz flipped home, trying to start a double play. But his toss was off, allowing two runs to score. A passed ball and an RBI single by Carmack made it 4-0.

Binkowski then closed a four-run rally in the third with a mammoth three-run shot to right, making it 8-1.

"The coaches have been working with me on staying back in the box, on keeping my hands loose and going with the ball," Binkowski said. "[Steitz] had some nice pop on his fastball, but I was able to turn on it and drive it."

While the bats continued the wild ride they begun last Thursday, when they scored 13 runs against Providence, senior righthander Garett Vail was having his way on the bump, tossing a complete-game while scattering eight hits and allowing just two earned runs.

Vail (1-2) also struck out a career-high 12 batters while posting his first win of the season. Vail located his fastball with impeccable control and also threw his curveball for strikes all afternoon.

"My curve was definitely the main thing," Vail said. "In the early innings, I was able to throw my fastball outside for strikes, and that set up the curve. Later in the game, I moved my fastball inside and got some ground balls that way."

Vail also struck out Yale's Tony Coyne, the defending Ivy League Player of the Year, three times.

"I pitched Coyne like anybody else," Vail said. "He wasn't picking up the curve that well, so I caught him swinging with it."

The Crimson made things ugly in the fourth, sending 13 men to the plate and working through three Bulldog pitchers to the tune of seven runs. Five batters collected RBI hits during the frame, and nine different players drove in runs on the day. Binkowski added a line-drive RBI single to right.

"I've been working on clearing my head after at-bats," said Binkowski, who struck out looking for the third out of the first inning. "I've been carrying at-bats too far, and I've got to start looking at things more one job at a time."

Keck was also 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

The 20 runs marked a season high for the Crimson, and is the most it has tallied since a 22-4 win over Princeton in the deciding game of the 1997 Ivy League Championship Series.