Baseball Wins Beanpot Thriller

BOSTON—With one of its biggest bats missing from the lineup, the Harvard baseball team still turned in one of its most clutch performances in its Beanpot history.

With junior slugger Trey Hendricks watching from the sidelines with a knee injury, the Crimson scored four runs in the ninth inning to overcome a two-run deficit, defeating UMass 8-7 yesterday afternoon at Fenway Park. Harvard (13-17, 6-6 Ivy) will play Boston College today at 5 p.m. for the Beanpot championship. B.C. beat Northeastern 13-7 in yesterday’s second game, and the Crimson is still stinging from a 24-6 loss at the hands of the Eagles last week.

The Crimson entered the top of the ninth inning of yesterday’s Beanpot opener trailing the Minutemen 6-4, with UMass closer Scott Ratliff on the mound. Although Ratliff entered the game with a 1.69 ERA, each of the first three hitters in Harvard’s lineup reached base, bringing the cleanup hitter to the plate. But instead of Hendricks—the normal cleanup hitter and team-leader in batting average, home runs and runs batted in—sophomore catcher Schuyler Mann stepped into the box with no outs and the bases loaded.

And Mann delivered.

Shooting a ball to left-center, Mann singled, scoring junior Bryan Hale from third and cutting the UMass lead to one. It was one of four RBIs for Mann on the day. With the bases still loaded, freshman Josh Klimkiewicz hit a sacrifice fly to center to tie the game at six.

With Lentz standing on second and Mann at first, Ratliff dropped the ball while on the rubber. The balk moved both runners into scoring position, setting the table for freshman Lance Salsgiver. The Crimson right fielder delivered, driving in Lentz with a base hit that gave Harvard the lead. Mann then stole home after UMass attempted to pick off Salsgiver at first, giving Harvard some insurance and a two-run advantage.

But the heroics didn’t end there.

The Minutemen led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and an RBI double, prompting Harvard coach Joe Walsh to relieve freshman Morgan Brown (1-0) with captain Barry Wahlberg.

Wahlberg, hampered by a wart on his pitching hand that split open again before yesterday’s game, hit the first batter he faced with an errant pitch.

But after UMass’ Matt Boulanger sacrificed, moving the runners to second and third with one out, Walsh maintained faith in Wahlberg’s command. The coach called for an intentional walk to Minuteman freshman Frank Curreri to load the bases.

“I just let Coach control [the game],” Wahlberg said of the intentional walk. “I usually call my own game, but it seemed logical to put him on and keep the force at second.”

With the game on the line, Wahlberg proceeded to fan UMass captain Tom Ellerbrook and coax a soft line drive to first base from shortstop Mike Athas to seal the victory.

Wahlberg’s finger was treated immediately after the game.

“It’s more a nuisance than anything,” he said when asked whether the wart would prevent him from pitching in future games.

The win was the first Beanpot victory for the Crimson since 1999 and its first ever Beanpot win against UMass. The Minutemen had been 5-0 in Beanpot play against Harvard.

Harvard starter Jason Brown pitched two scoreless innings to begin the game, working out of a second-inning jam with runners at the corners and no outs.

Despite the solid start, a series of baserunning mistakes severely curtailed Harvard’s offensive output. In each of the first four innings, a Harvard baserunner was thrown out—twice while attempting to steal a base, once while trying to stretch a single into a double and once in a pick-off at first.

The series of miscues stopped the Crimson from building a large early lead. Nevertheless, Harvard went into the bottom of the fourth ahead 2-0.

UMass stormed back in the fourth, scoring five runs after a potential double-play fell apart. Freshman Zak Farkes couldn’t handle Klimkiewicz’s throw from third, and two runs scores as the ball rolled into right field.

Freshman pitcher Javier Castellanos was charged with five runs in the 1.2 innings he worked, although only one was earned. Freshman Wes Cosgriff relieved Castellanos and worked 2.1 innings, allowing only one run and striking out two. Cosgriff overcame early control problems in that five-run fourth, including consecutive wild pitches that resulted in a run.

Morgan Brown followed Cosgriff in the seventh, allowing one earned run on three hits in his two innings of work to earn the win.

“These were guys who hadn’t seen a whole lot of innings because of a lot of reasons—rainouts, things like that,” Walsh said of yesterday’s pitchers. “We’re into not just winning games but also developing pitchers, and they all took a big step forward today.”

Harvard’s win, however, was due in large part to the team’s offense, which pounded out 18 hits.

Junior center fielder Hale had four hits on the day, including the lead off single to start Harvard’s ninth-inning comeback. Zak Farkes ended the day two-for-three with three runs score, and Lentz added three hits and two RBIs.

“Hale’s been red-hot, and it’s great to see Lance making that good contact,”

Walsh said. “Farkes came back with fire in his eyes after [the error in the fourth]. We really came out swinging the sticks today.”

—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.