Baseball Sweeps Two From Columbia

The Harvard baseball team entered the weekend hoping to rebound from its only Ivy League loss. By the time Sunday came around, it looked like only the weather could stop Harvard's hot bats.

The Crimson (10-12, 5-1 Ivy) swept both games of a doubleheader against Columbia (6-21, 3-3 Ivy) on Saturday to bounce back in the Ivy League standings. The Crimson will have to wait for a chance to further augment its record, as a surprising spring snow caused yesterday's twin bill against Penn to be postponed.

The games will be made up tomorrow afternoon at noon. Junior Justin Birtwell and sophomore Ben Crockett will start for the Crimson.

Junior outfielder Scott Carmack and sophomore second basemen Nick Carter led the Crimson against the Lions, knocking in five runs apiece in the two games. In games dominated by offense, pitching proved decisive. Senior Mike Madden threw five innings of one-run ball in the opener, and senior Derek Lennon struck out nine in 3.2 innings in the second game.

"They came in in tough weather situations and did just what they had to," tri-captain Erik Binkowski said. "They kept their fastballs low and away and pitched big innings for us."

Harvard 14, Columbia 9

The wind was gusting and a storm was blowing into town, but Harvard showed a little thunder and lightning of its own with a pair of three-run homers in a six-run seventh inning.

With the game tied, sophomore infielder Nick Carter belted a three-run homerun and Scott Carmack took a 3-1 pitch over the wall in straight away center with two aboard to give the Crimson a commanding 14-8 lead.

"It's nice to see the bats come around," Carmack said. "You can't rely on your pitchers to throw three-hit shutouts every time out."

It was the second inning of the day in which Harvard scored six or more runs, and also the second time the Crimson rallied from a deficit.

Junior catcher Scot Hopps and tri-captain Jeff Bridich led off the seventh with singles before Carter drove them both home with a deep shot to left field.

Without missing a beat, junior outfielder Joe Llanes and sophomore shortstop Mark Mager added singles and then stole a pair of bases to put two runners in scoring position before Carmack's monster slam into the parking lot behind O'Donnell field.

"The wind may have helped some of the balls a bit this weekend," Binkowski said. "But that hit would've been a home run in any park."

Still without an out in the inning, freshman right-hander Brian McKitish came on to relieve fellow freshman right-hander Gabe Gambardella and retire the final three Crimson batters.

The damage had already been done, however, as Crimson senior right-hander Derek Lennon silenced the Lions' final roar.

With runners on the corners and one away in the top of the eighth, Lions senior outfielder Rich Ciancimino chopped an RBI single past tri-captain Erik Binkowski to start the comeback.

Facing runners at first and second, however, Lennon struck out the final two batters to end the threat.

Lennon struck out five of the final six batters he faced, getting freshman catcher Joe Catsam swinging to end the game.

Harvard jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but missed an opportunity in the second to blow the game wide open.

Junior John Francey belted a leadoff homer in the second to give Harvard a 1-0 lead.

But after Binkowski singled to center and Bridich walked, Lions sophomore left-hander Matt Waldman hit Hopps to load the bases with no outs.

The Crimson would strand all three runners, however, as Waldman caught sophomore infielder Josh San Salvador looking before Llanes grounded into a double-play.

Harvard would make it 2-0 in the third when Mager reached first on an error, stole second and third, before scoring on a wild pitch.

Columbia, however, would come back.

After pitching three innings of three-hit ball, the Lions chased Crimson junior right-hander Mike Dryden from the game in the fourth inning with two swings of the bat.

With two men out and a runner on first, captain Andrew Pisano took Dryden deep to center field with a two-run blast.

Then, on the very next pitch, Catsam jumped on a Dryden offering with a solo homer over the pine trees in right field.

Freshman outfielder Jamaal Matthews drove in the Lions' fourth run of the inning with a bloop single to give Columbia a 4-2 lead before Crimson freshman left-hander Kenon Ronz came in to register the final out.

Harvard came back with three runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth to take a 5-4 lead but stranded two runners on the corners.

Llanes added a two-run shot in the fifth to tie the game, 7-7, after Columbia took the lead in the top of the inning.

Franey belted a solo homer in the sixth to tie the game once again, 8-8, and set up the Crimson's seventh inning magic.

"I love playing in high scoring games," Binkowski said. "But they can definitely get you a little nervous."

Harvard 9, Columbia 8

Never underestimate the home field advantage.

Trailing 5-3 with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth, wind wreaked havoc with an infield pop up that dropped in to score a pair and keep the inning alive.

Harvard went on to score seven runs in the inning, six of which came with two outs, to take a commanding 9-5 lead heading into the seventh and final inning.

Starting with a leadoff double from Carmack, sophomore catcher Brian Lentz singled and Bridich drew a walk to load the bases with only one away.

With the winning run at the plate, Columbia junior Mike Orr fell behind 3-0 in the count before walking Binkowski to score a run.

The walk to Binkowski was it for Orr, who was replaced by sophomore right-hander Adam Schwartz out of the bullpen.

Still with a two-run lead, Schwartz appeared to shut down the Crimson comeback, forcing both tri-captain Jason Larocque and sophomore infielder Nick Carter to pop the ball up in the infield.

With the third out hanging in the air, wind gusting at up to 35 m.p.h. confused Lions freshman second baseman Billy Hess and dropped in to score two and leave runners at the corners.

Tied 5-5 and still searching for the elusive third out, junior outfielder Joe Llanes appeared to ground out to short, but Pisano couldn't handle the ball and Llanes reached first on an error, scoring Binkowski and giving the Crimson its first lead of the game.

Mager added an RBI single and Carmack hit around with his second double of the inning to score two and cap a seven-run sixth inning.

The Crimson would need every run, however, as the Lions made a run in the seventh and final inning.

With runners at the corners and one away, sophomore right-hander Ben Crockett came in to relieve senior right-hander Mike Madden.

A feisty Lion squad, however, refused to make it easy for Crockett.

Freshman outfielder Mark DiGesu picked up an RBI single and junior outfielder Justin Berti walked to put the tying run on first with the bases loaded.

Beating out the throw to first, freshman third baseman Nick Solaro added an RBI infield single to cut the Crimson's lead to 9-7 with bases still loaded.

Crockett forced another ground ball but could not pull off the double play as Columbia scored again to make it a one-run game.

With two away and the tying run on third base, sophomore infielder P.J. Moynihan flew out to right field to seal a 9-8 win for the Crimson.

Madden (2-0) picked up the win and Crockett got the save as Harvard rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to defeat the Lions.

"With 11 home runs in two games, you've got to keep your pitches low," said Madden, who pitched five innings of one-run ball. "I just tried to keep the balls away so they wouldn't get jacked out of the park."

Lentz started the comeback in the bottom of the fourth, doubling to deep center and then scoring with two outs when Catsam threw the ball into the outfield as Lentz attempted to steal third base on a wild pitch.

Carmack added another run in the fifth off an infield single by Llanes that was bobbled by the third baseman to cut Columbia's lead to 5-2.

--Martin S. Bell contributed to this story.