Baseball Splits Four on Road To Begin Ivy League Season

Forgive Harvard baseball coach Joe Walsh if he seemed a little anxious in the final moments of the Crimson's 3-2 victory at Penn yesterday.

But as Harvard's 3-0 lead hung in the balance with the bases full of Quakers and only one man out, Walsh may well have bridled at the prospect of seeing his team blow a ninth-inning lead and begin the Ivy season with a 1-3 record.

Or perhaps, with Harvard starter John Birtwell on the hill-he having already surrendered a ninth-inning, game-winning homer the day before-and Quakers second baseman Nick Italiamo striding to the plate with three hits to his credit already on the day, Walsh simply smelled disaster.

Whatever his thinking, the Harvard skipper made the decision to give his senior ace the hook, opting instead for sophomore reliever Barry Wahlberg.

After a week when frustratingly little turned out as the Crimson (5-13, 2-2 Ivy) hoped, Walsh's call to the bullpen did. After hitting Italiano with a pitch to force in Penn's first run, Wahlberg got the next two Quaker batters to fly out for the final outs of the game.

And just like that, a split with Penn was salvaged and Birtwell's strong starting effort-not to mention Harvard's start to the league season-was saved.

It wasn't painless, but it brought a collective sigh of relief to a Harvard squad that had struggled mightily on its Florida trip over the previous week. Over the break, the Crimson won just one of its ten games.

But by taking a game each from Penn (12-6, 1-3) and Columbia (7-16, 3-1) this weekend-no small feat, considering they came on the road-the Crimson may well have turned the corner, and, in Wahlberg, found a new closer in the process.

HARVARD 3, PENN 2

Before his ninth-inning struggles chased him from the game, Birtwell had pitched eight

shutout innings, effectively spacing out eleven hits while striking out nine. The ace hurler

also showed resilience in escaping from some sticky situations. When the Quakers

advanced runners to second and third with only one out in the third, Birtwell got

Penn's Zach Hanan to line into a double play to get out of the inning unscathed.

When Birtwell retired nine batters during a stretch late in the game, the Crimson

appeared safe with its 2-0 lead.

As it turned out, though, a Harvard insurance run in the top of the eighth provided the margin of victory.

The Crimson pushed that third and eventual game-winning run across in trademark

Harvard fashion. After drawing a one-out walk, Harvard captain Scot Hopps advanced to

second on a wild pitch and then moved to third on a sacrifice fly by freshman center

fielder Bryan Hale. Hopps then came home on a squeeze play, as junior shortstop Mark

Mager laid down a bunt to plate the run.

The Crimson's first run came in the fifth inning, when junior second baseman Josh San

Salvador crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher John O'Donnell.

One inning later, third baseman Nick Carter delivered Harvard's second run with a solo

blast off a 2-2 pitch. The homer was his second of the weekend, and his third of the

season, good for the team lead in that category.

Penn righthander Ben Krantz suffered the loss for the Quakers, despite pitching well. The

sophomore lasted eight innings and struck out eight, but his six walks proved costly. All

three runs he surrendered were earned.

PENN 14, HARVARD 2

Two weeks after earning a victory in his debut in a Harvard uniform, freshman

righthander Marc Hordon experienced another career first in the early game

yesterday-his first shelling.

The rookie-who entered the weekend as the Crimson's leader in victories with two-did

not make it past the second inning before Walsh pulled him in favor of Hendricks.

Hendricks, however, didn't fare much better than Hordon, and neither did junior Chaney

Sheffield, who relieved him.

Not until sophomore righty Madhu Saty entered the game in the bottom of the

fifth did the bleeding finally stop. Saty pitched two hitless innings before the game mercifully ended. It was his second sturdy relief appearance in as many weeks.

All told, Harvard pitchers surrendered 14 earned runs on 13 hits and threw three wild pitches in the loss.

Penn starter Andrew McCreery, by contrast, let up just five hits and one free pass

en route to the complete-game win.

For the Crimson, San Salvador went 2-for-3 with a single and a double. Hale, meanwhile,

was 1-for-3 with a homer and a stolen base.

COLUMBIA 3, HARVARD 2

The next time Harvard faces Columbia, perhaps the Crimson should consider pitching around Lions catcher Joe Catsam. In only his second season, the sophomore backstop has already shown an unsettling knack for tearing up Harvard pitching.

With two outs, the bases empty, and the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday, Catsam tagged Birtwell for a home run to give host Columbia a dramatic 3-2 victory.

The win left the Crimson with just a split against the Lions and gave Columbia its first win over Harvard in two years.

Birtwell, who entered the game in relief to start the ninth, had retired the first two batters of the inning on a pop up and a strikeout before allowing the game-winning homer.

For Catsam, who went 2-for-3 in the first game of the doubleheader, the solo blast was only his second career homer. The first also came in a meeting with Harvard, back on April 3 of last season.

In his two-year career, Catsam has hit at a miserable.228 clip (23-for-101). But for whatever reason, in his four career games against the Crimson, he is 6-for-11 with the two homers.

Before Catsam's dinger stole the show on Saturday, Harvard's pitchers had turned in an impressive afternoon. In fact, if not for an error at by Carter that produced two unearned runs, the Crimson might have entered the fateful ninth inning in the lead. Instead, sophomore starter Kenon Ronz received a no-decision, despite throwing 6.1 innings and fanning five.

Carter later atoned for his costly fielding miscue, blasting a solo homer in the sixth and lacing an RBI single in the eighth to tie the game 2-2.

But that accounted for all of the Crimson's scoring, as Harvard went down in order in the visitors' half of the ninth, paving the way for Catsam's heroics in the home half of the inning.

HARVARD 14, COLUMBIA 0

Over the past two years, junior pitcher Ben Crockett has come a long way on the mound, developing into one of the finest young arms in the country.

But this weekend, Crockett returned to the place where it all began. Columbia's Andy Coackley Field was the site of Crockett's first collegiate win, a three-hit, complete-game victory back in April of 1999.

On Saturday-almost two years to the day after he dominated Columbia as a freshman-Crocket returned to the scene of his first victory to repeat history by hurling another complete-game gem against the Lions.

The 6-3 righthander hurled seven shutout innings while fanning a career-high nine batters as the Crimson steamrolled the Lions 14-0. Crockett scattered eight hits in the win, working himself out of a pair of jams in the fifth and sixth innings to preserve the shutout.

Not that the Crimson's lead was ever in jeopardy. Harvard runners crossed the plate early and often, beginning with a three-run rally in the first that was sparked with two outs and the bases empty. Penn facilitated the outburst, as Quaker starter Matt Waldman threw a wild pitch, hit a batter and the fielders behind him committed two errors. Two freshmen-designated hitter Trey Hendricks and first baseman Marc Hordon- contributed run-scoring singles.

The knockout punch came in the top of the seventh when the Crimson exploded for seven runs. Harvard batted around, banging out five hits and drawing four walks in the single inning.

Hordon finished the day with four hits in five at-bats, including a double and three runs scored. Hendricks and Mager both had two hits apiece.