Weather or Not, Here Comes Baseball

After months of winter conditioning, a seven-week downtime, and the agony of seeing almost every other school begin its season weeks ago, the members of the Harvard baseball team can’t wait to be taken out to the ballgame.

And they do mean out.

With winter lingering well into March, the Crimson has not been able to practice outside the echoing confines of its makeshift indoor training facilities—save for a few hours on the frozen tundra of O’Donnell Field. For this weekend’s season opening series, the squad will finally leave the arctic Northeast for the sun-dappled diamonds of Bradenton, Fla. and six games against a host of generally weak opponents.

“I hear it’s been 90 degrees in Miami all week,” said senior catcher Brian Lentz.

Although the Crimson has been engaged in strenuous practices and strength training, the players acknowledge that nothing compares to the real thing.

“Obviously there’s less that you can do in the gym,” said captain Barry Wahlberg.

Nevertheless, the players anticipate that they will adjust to the comforts of the outdoors within innings of their arrival down South.

“It’s an expectation of a New England team to be able to go from indoors to outdoors,” said Harvard coach Joe Walsh.

Most of the Crimson’s half-dozen challengers this weekend are northern teams as well and have been equally plagued by the weather. Bucknell had each of its first ten scheduled games canceled due to snow and inclimate weather. Lehigh (1-0) has had eight games canceled.

“Every team is handicapped in the same way,” Wahlberg said. He added that he feels the Crimson will be well prepared for any team it faces.

“It’s like old hat—you’re going to get back in the swing of things,” Wahlberg said.

Harvard will kick off the weekend and the season with a doubleheader against Holy Cross (1-3) and Duquesne (2-8) tomorrow. Sophomore Mike Morgalis, newly-transferred from Notre Dame, will get the first start of the year. Morgalis’ sparkling performance in preseason practices has left Harvard coaches squirming in gleeful expectation of his potential effect on the team, especially after the Crimson lost its top four starters to graduation and/or injury.

Senior Kenon Ronz will take the mound for the afternoon game. After battling arm injuries his sophomore year, Ronz recovered to become a major contributor out of the bullpen during the Crimson’s stretch run last season. Walsh spoke highly of Ronz’s resurgence, adding that he appears even more improved this season.

“He looks like a real bulldog out there on the mound,” Walsh said.

The rest of the lineup is still undetermined, except that junior Trey Hendricks is penciled in on Monday for the sixth game of the weekend against Lehigh. In between Harvard will face Valparaiso (2-3) and Indiana Purdue-Ft. Wayne (1-2) on Sunday and Bucknell in the morning on Monday.

Morgalis is not the lineup’s only unfamiliar face in this opening series. Returning from a year off is Lentz, who will share the catching role with sophomore Schuyler Mann, one of the Crimson’s offensive sparkplugs last season. The two will divide backstop duties this weekend, with Lentz and Mann scheduled to call three games apiece. Walsh stated that he wants both players in the lineup in every game, putting the off-duty catcher in the DH slot if necessary.

“I wouldn’t trade those two guys for any pair of catchers on any team in the country,” Walsh said.

Mann expressed no qualms about splitting the position with Lentz, an All-Ivy player in 2000.

“I think the pitchers have confidence in both of us,” Mann said.

The team’s appearance is further altered from last season courtesy of a flock of talented freshman. The rookie ranks have swelled in the offseason, bringing in what Walsh calls “one of the best recruiting classes in my time here.” Although the starting nine will undoubtedly fluctuate from game to game as Walsh tests out the newcomers in various roles, expect to see freshman filling the infield, outfield and bullpen.

“We’re going to just throw ‘em out there,” Walsh said.

For freshman infielder Zak Farkes, he can’t get on the field too soon. After growing up across the river from Cambridge, he calls playing for Harvard “a dream come true.”

“I’ve been looking forward to this for a really long time,” Farkes said.

For Farkes and the rest of the squad, the wait—and the confinement—is finally at an end.

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.