Quakers Upstage Baseball

After sophomore Bryan Hale jacked a Brian Doveala pitch over the 370-foot sign in right center field in the nightcap of yesterday’s Ivy League doubleheader, solid pitching by sophomore Trey Hendricks make the resulting lead stand up. That combination of timely hitting and clutch pitching was atypical of the weekend.

Plagued by subpar pitching and a lack of hits in key spots, the Harvard baseball team went 1-3 in its first home games of the season. The Crimson dropped both games of a doubleheader to Penn on Saturday before losing to Columbia in yesterday’s opener. Harvard was able to salvage the nightcap with a 10-6 win over the Lions.

The three losses were surprising given that Harvard (8-16, 5-3 Ivy) pushed 28 runs across in four games—this from a team that has struggled at the plate for much of the season.

“We scored 11 runs, but we needed the timely hitting,” senior outfielder Javy Lopez said. “We need a box score that reads something like, ‘five runs, five hits, no errors.’ Because you can tell that those came in key situations.”

Despite the onslaught of hits, Harvard Coach Joe Walsh said that the bats are not yet where he would like them.

“We’re struggling offensively,” Walsh said. “We have to score more runs than the other team. Don’t go by number of hits. It’s how we look at the plate, the line drives. They’re not there yet.”

The team will play in the annual Beanpot Tournament tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Fenway. Walsh said he planned on pitching a combination of seniors Mike Dryden and Nick Carter

“We’ve got to come right back for that one,” Lopez said. “It’s something the seniors have never won.”

Harvard 10, Columbia 6

With the continued absence of sophomore Mark Hordon due to a broken hand and the high number of pitches junior Barry Wahlberg had thrown in two previous games, Walsh hoped to get a solid outing from senior Chaney Sheffield. Sheffield (1-1), who has seen a lot of time in the outfield this year, had been sidelined the previous two weeks with a pulled hamstring.

Sheffield did not let Walsh down. After surrendering a two-run bomb to Columbia catcher Joe Catsam—his second of the day—in the first inning, Chaney settled down and left in the middle of the seventh with a 7-5 lead.

“He went out there today, kept that team off balance, gave us a chance to come back in the ball game,” Walsh said.

But despite the gritty effort from Sheffield, the Lions (15-14, 5-2) still led early. Harvard had a golden opportunity when senior left fielder Javy Lopez was hit by a Daveola pitch with two men on and one out.

The pitch went off Lopez’ hand, ricocheted into his mouth and knocked him flat on his back. Lopez—who suffered a traumatic eye injury during his freshman year that sidelined him for a season—spent a few uneasy moments on the ground before trotting to first to load the bases.

But senior second baseman Faiz Shakir and sophomore infielder Mickey Kropf popped up in consecutive at-bats to end the threat.

The big Crimson inning came off Daveola (1-4) in the fourth. With freshman Schuyler Mann on first, senior shortstop Mark Mager lined one just to the right of the first baseman to give the Crimson second and third with one out. Enter Hale, whose moonshot was the first of his season and fifth of his career. It was also the first home run the Crimson had hit at home all weekend after its opponents had hit eight on the weekend.

“He’s got spurts of power,” Lopez said. “He just got a hold of one.”

Mann’s appearance in the ninth slot in the order yesterday was unusual, but he made a case for moving up a bit with a leadoff shot to left in the sixth.

“I put Schuyler in the nine-hole for the first time today and pinch hit for him in the first game,” Walsh said. “I think he came in with a little chip on his shoulder and came up to the plate and said, ‘Hey, I’m not a nine-hole guy.’ Sometimes you gotta do that.”

Harvard added some more insurance in the eighth. Sheffield, who was moved to right in the seventh in favor of Hendricks, did a little bit of everything yesterday. The senior jumped on Lions reliever Jason Magnus with a leadoff double, eventually scoring on a wild-pitch and triggering a three-run eighth.

Hendricks allowed one run in 2.2 innings to preserve the victory.

Columbia 12, Harvard 5

This wasn’t a very good weekend on the mound for junior Barry Wahlberg. After taking the first loss on Saturday, Wahlberg came on to replace junior Matt Self. Self had pitched four solid innings and allowed one unearned run, holding off the Lions long enough for the Crimson to creep within a run after being down 6-0.

But Wahlberg promptly allowed a leadoff homer to light-hitting Fernando Perez. Wahlberg walked the next batter he faced, hit second baseman Billy Hess and give up a two-run double to Matt Buckmiller before Walsh pulled him in favor of sophomore Jason Brown. Brown was only able to get the Crimson out of the inning after two more runs on a triple by Derek Johnson and a Keith Palmieri sacrifice fly to put the game out of reach.

Prior to that point, Harvard had clawed its way back from a disastrous third inning by Madhu Satyanarayana. The junior had allowed six runs in the third inning of a scoreless game, including a three-run job over the trees in right by Catsam.

Catsam, the Columbia catcher, had been 6-for-11 with two home runs for his career against Crimson pitching coming into this weekend.

Satyanaryana (1-2) was pulled for Self, who held Columbia to two hits in long relief and made a Crimson rally possible. Harvard scored runs on sacrifices by freshman Ian Wheeler and Shakir in the fourth inning and had first and second with two outs after a Javy Lopez single, but Kropf struck out swinging on a full count to end the inning.

The Crimson kept chipping away in the fifth thanks to two Columbia errors and its own hustle. Mager ran out a grounder to third and was rewarded when Steve Compton’s throw pulled first baseman Keith Palmieri off the bag. Hale knocked a pitch off Palmieri’s leg on the next at-bat and beat the flip to first. After senior Nick Carter hit into a fielder’s choice to give the Crimson first and third with one out, Mager raced home on a wild pitch.

Two batters later, Sheffield lined one that Perez misjudged in right field, and Carter scored to bring the Crimson within one.

Harvard had another chance to climb further back in it in the bottom of the sixth, but Kropf grounded into a double play with one out and one on to end the sixth, setting the stage for the seventh inning avalanche.

Brian McKitish (4-2) pitched a complete game for Columbia.

Penn 6, Harvard 2

As often happens when Harvard ace captain Ben Crockett takes the mound, a line of radar guns behind home plate clocked his every pitch during Saturday’s nightcap. But on this occasion, the most impressive performer pitched for the other team.

“It was pretty good pitcher’s dual, and the kid beat him,” Walsh said.

The kid was Penn junior Andrew McCreery, who went 2-for-3 at the plate in addition to holding the Crimson to two runs after the winds over O’Donnell Field had turned the first game into a 35-hit circus.

McCreery hit an infield single in the third and eventually scored on a Penn sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Later in the inning, the Quakers (9-21, 4-8 Ivy) loaded the bases with one out and got their second run on a Nick Italiano sacrifice fly before Crockett (2-2) struck out McCreery to escape the third relatively unscathed.

After Lopez reached on Italiano’s error at second base in the fourth, Trey Hendricks moved him over to third with a double to right. Lopez scored on a McCreery pitch that hit the backstop.

But McCreery helped his cause once again in the top of the sixth with a two-out single, and raced home on a double by cleanup hitter Bryan Graves.

That was all the offense Penn needed, but wasn’t all they would get as Penn added three runs in the eighth, two on a two-out double by outfielder Alex Blagojevich. Harvard stranded two runners in the bottom of the eighth to cap off a frustrating Saturday.

Crockett, who hit three batters, went the distance for the Crimson but didn’t seem to have his very best stuff for much of the game.

Penn 19, Harvard 11

In a game in which an implausible six Quaker home runs cleared the fence at O’Donnell Field from the seventh-inning on, it was a Harvard ball that bounced over the fence that arguably made the difference.

At the bottom of the seventh, moments after Harvard relievers had given up three consecutive home runs for the Crimson, Carter came to bat with Mager on first and two outs. Carter knocked a Dan Fitzgerald pitch into left field that seemed certain to go for extra bases—easily far enough to score the speedy Mager from first.

The ball bounced when it hit the grass in left. And then it bounced again—over the wall for a ground-rule double. Mager, already practically home, was stranded on third as the Crimson had second and third with two outs.

The next batter, Hendricks, struck out looking on three pitches to end the inning. It was Hendricks’ third called strikeout of the day.

“When does a ball two-hop the fence?” Walsh said. “One-hop, yeah. Never two-hop. You might see me out here one night putting some eight foot fences out there, one to keep the other team’s balls in the yard, and also to keep ours in.”

Harvard and Penn each scored in the eighth to extend the ball game even further, but Penn pounced on Harvard’s bullpen in the top of the ninth. Blagojevich homered to dead center off Wahlberg (1-3) to give Penn the lead. Wahlberg then walked outfielder Nate Moffie, who advanced to third when the pinch hitter, Matt Horn, hit a double into the gap. An intentional walk loaded the bases.

At this point, Satyanaryana relieved Wahlberg to face the three batters who had homered in the seventh. Saty battled DH Jim Mullen to a full count, only four ball four to go just outside the strike zone to force in a run. Then, Italiano got all of a 2-1 pitch for his second homer of the game, a grand slam that put the game out of reach. Penn finished the inning with eight runs before T.J. Sevier finally stopped the bleeding.

“I gotta hand it to Penn,” Mager said. “A six-run lead is a big lead. No matter what happens with our pitching and the wind, six runs is a lot to come back from. Pitching has carried us this year, I don’t think we can fault them for one inning.”

Penn’s seventh inning began with junior Kenon Ronz on the mound in the seventh. Glass bunted his way aboard to begin the inning, and Mullen drilled a 3-1 pitch to left field to cut a 10-4 deficit to 10-6. In the next at bat, Italiano took Ronz deep to right field and out of the game, as the junior was pulled in favor of Dryden.

Dryden’s return after a year away from O’Donnell Field was not a happy one, as he allowed a third homer—this time to McCreery. Two batters later, Wahlberg relieved Dryden, and Moffie’s two-run homer completed the improbable comeback.

“Even though the wind was blowing out, every ball that was hit out there except for the one off Dryden was crushed,” Walsh said. “So I give Penn some credit, they kicked our butts. They’ve got a good swinging ball club.”

Despite a rocky outing by Crimson senior Justin Nyweide, Harvard had built what seemed to be a solid lead thanks largely to Penn errors. The Crimson bounced back from an early 4-2 deficit in the third on errors by Italiano and Penn catcher Billy Collins and a wild pitch by starter Mike Mattern.

Mager went 4-for-5 in the first game and knocked in four runs. With his team-leading 29 hits on the year, Mager is 19 hits away from Harvard’s career hit mark of 208, set by Hal Carey ’99.

Harvard 10, Columbia 6

at O’Donnell Field

Columbia (15-13, 5-2) 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 — 6 7 2

Harvard (8-16, 5-3) 1 0 1 3 0 2 3 0 X — 10 14 1

HR: C—Catsam 1 H—Hale 1, Mann 1. 2B: C—Buckmiller 1, Compton 1 H—Mager 1, Shakir 1, Sheffield 1. Pitchers: H—Sheffield W 1-1 (6.1 IP, 5 ER, 6 K), C—Doveala L 1-4 (6.0 IP, 6 ER, 7 K). Attendance: 336.

Columbia 12, Harvard 5

at O’Donnell Field

Columbia (15-14, 5-1) 0 0 6 0 0 1 5 — 12 11 3

Harvard (7-16, 4-3) 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 — 5 7 1

HR: C—Catsam 1, Perez 1. 3B: C—Johnson 1. 2B: C—Buckmiller 1, Compton 1, H—Hendricks 1. Pitchers: C—McKitish W 4-2 (7.0 IP, 5 R, 1 ER), H—Satyanarayana L 1-2 (2.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER). Attendance: 336

Penn 6, Harvard 2

at O’Donnell Field

Penn (9-19, 4-6) 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 1 — 6 9 4

Harvard (7-15, 4-2) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 — 2 7 0

2B: P—Glass, Graves, Blagojevich, Moffie H—Mager, Carter, Hendricks 2. Pitchers: P—McCreery W 1-4 (8.0 IP, 5 0, 2 ER), H—Crockett L 2-2 (9.0 IP, 6 ER, 9 K). Attendance: 263.

Penn 19, Harvard 11

at O’Donnell Field

Penn (8-19, 3-6) 2 1 1 0 0 0 6 1 8 — 19 20 4

Harvard (7-14, 4-1) 2 0 2 1 4 1 0 1 0 — 11 15 2

HR: P—Italiano 2, Mullen, McCreery, Blagojevich, Moffie. 3B: H—Hale. 2B: P—Glass, Goldblatt, Horn H—Mager, Carter. Pitchers: P—Kirk W 2-0 (2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R), H —Wahlberg L 1-2 (2.0 IP, 6 R, 4 BB). Attendance: 263.