Baseball Hopes to get Back in the Swing

There’s nothing like swapping baseball stories with a future Hall of Famer to lift a slumping team’s spirits.

Hardball guru and Baseball Tonight analyst Peter Gammons appeared at the Kennedy School of Government last night to discuss the role of baseball in American society. Harvard second baseman Faiz Shakir had the honor of introducing Gammons at the start of the event, which was sponsored by the Institute of Politics. Gammons’ talk addressed some of the game’s more beleaguered stars, including one who Shakir knows quite well—maligned Cardinals southpaw Rick Ankiel.

Since

One of those struggling major leaguers is Rick Ankiel, the 21-year-old phenom out of St. Louis. The, who played his high school ball at Florida, went up to bat . He even managed a handful of hits off the , an achievement which earned some praise from Gammons last night.

After last night’s discussion concluded, Gammons stuck around awhile to chat with Shakir and Harvard teammates Ben Crockett and Mark Mager. The three-time national sportswriter of the year offered some encouraging words to the Harvard players, who have seen their team stumble out to a 6-18 start to the season.

“It’s always great to hear stories about guys who are going through the same types of things you are,” said Shakir, who is hitting just .162 this season. “It’s good motivation. There are a lot of guys in the pros struggling just like us.”

The Crimson will hope to finally overcome those troubles when it faces Maine at 3 p.m. today at O’Donnell Field. Also this weekend, the Harvard batsmen are scheduled to resume Ivy action with back-to-back doubleheaders against Cornell and defending Ivy champ Princeton. The Crimson will look for a clean sweep on the weekend to ensure that it doesn’t avoid falling behind in the Red Rolfe Division. After splitting with Penn and Columbia one week ago, Harvard is tied with Yale and Brown atop the standings.

“Taking all four [Ivy games] is definitely the goal,” Shakir said. “We thought we should taken all four last weekend.”

As usual, Harvard Coach Joe Walsh will trot out his stable full of workhouses. Senior John Birtwell, freshman Kenon Ronz, and Crockett will likely start three of this weekend’s games. That usually means good news for Harvard—provided the offense can hold up its end.

So far this year, the pitching rotation has been every bit the all-star cast predicted. In 23 innings of work, Birtwell has posted a miniscule 1.57 ERA. Ronz and Crockett, meawhile, have been no less impressive, though they have just one win between them due to Harvard’s lingering lack of offensive production.

Freshman hurler Marc Hordon may also get the nod in one of this weekend’s games. The rookie righthander—who was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week after going —suffered his first loss last week after starting the season 2-0.

The Crimson’s other usual weekend starter, junior Justin Nyweide, may or may not be available after working in Wednesday’s disappointing 7-2 loss to Rhode Island. In that game, Nyweide was a tad too generous with the free passes, allowing four walks. But he was helped little by the Crimson fielders, who committed a ghastly seven errors,

With Harvard trailing 4-0 after three innings, Walsh decided he had seen enough. In a desperate effort to send his team a message, the Crimson skipper pulled six of his position players off the field and out of the game. With newcomers like freshman John Farmer and sophomore Nick Seminara inserted in off the bench, the Harvard lineup was almost as unrecognizable as the Boston Red Sox’ Opening Day infield.

“[Coach Walsh] was telling the position players that he expects a lot more out of us,” Shakir said. “He has a lot of confidence in us, but we haven’t met his expectations. Or are our own.”

Junior third baseman Nick Carter was one of only two Harvard starters who were spared the benching. He would prove deserving of his manager’s confidence in him, slugging a two-run homer that provided all of Harvard’s runs. It was his fourth of the year.

So far this season, Carter has continued to provide the power presence he always did, but now with more patience at the plate. Carter is hitting a robust .338 and leads the Crimson in every major offensive category.

But Harvard will need production out of the entire order this weekend, not just Carter. If that is to happen, usual contributors like Mager (.219), catcher Brian Lentz (.193), and first baseman Josh San Salvador (.250) will have to pick up the slack. As a team, Harvard is hitting just .248 on the year—a mark even sicklier than its Ivy-worst .258 clip from a year ago.

“The biggest area we need to improve is our offense,” said Shakir. “We need to score some runs right off the top. That’ll carry over to the defense.”

And—the Crimson hopes—to a 6-2 mark in the Ivy League. That would be an achievement even Ankiel would be wild over.