The Season, In A Single Play

PRINCETON, NJ—If one play had to end the Harvard baseball team’s Ivy title defense, at least it was a play that embodied its season.

It began with bad luck, had a flash of brilliance and was oh-so-close to beautiful.

With two outs and runners on second and third in the bottom of the fourth inning yesterday, Princeton sophomore B. J. Szymanski chopped a grounder to first base. It took a bad bounce off freshman Mike Dukovich, but was quickly and gracefully gloved by freshman second baseman Zak Farkes.

Farkes slung the ball to sophomore pitcher Mike Morgalis—who was rushing to cover first—just before Szymanski reached the bag.

At least, that’s what Morgalis thought.

“I remember hitting the bag,” Morgalis said. “I thought I’d caught it. Then I remember hearing his foot.”

But the umpire remembered differently and called Szymanski safe. By the time Morgalis—who had fallen to the ground on the play—recovered and threw home, two runs had scored and the Tigers had tripled their lead to 5-2.

The Crimson got out of the inning immediately when sophomore catcher Schuyler Mann threw Szymanski out at second as he tried to advance on Morgalis’ throw home. But with all-Ivy ace Tom Pauly on the mound, Princeton’s advantage would be insurmountable.

Pitching with a three-run cushion, Pauly yielded only a single hit over the remaining five innings.

“I totally thought with the play Mike made, we were out of the inning,” said freshman right fielder Lance Salsgiver. “It was definitely the turning point in the game.”

Bench Pressed

For weeks, the Harvard lineup survived—even thrived—without junior first baseman Trey Hendricks. But on Saturday, the Crimson came up a hitter short.

When Salsgiver was called in from right field to take the mound in the fifth inning, there was a consequence almost as interesting as a freshman seeing his first collegiate pitching experience in the League Championship Series.

Harvard’s pitchers would now have to bat.

Senior Brian Lentz trotted to Salsgiver’s spot in right field, and the double-switch forced the Crimson to forfeit the designated hitter’s spot in its lineup. And after playing four innings of musical outfielders to accommodate Salsgiver’s pitching debut, Harvard coach Joe Walsh had used just about every position player on his bench

So when Salsgiver and Dukovich both walked in the ninth inning to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs, Walsh didn’t have many choices.

He had used his favorite pinch hitter, sophomore Rob Wheeler, in the seventh. Senior Nick Seminara had pinch run for Wheeler. Sophomore A.J. Solimine was already pinch running for Dukovich. And he sure couldn’t let captain and closer Barry Wahlberg—who was slated to hit—grab a bat.

Instead, Walsh crossed his fingers and sent out Frank Herrmann—a freshman outfielder with only two career hits in 15 at-bats—to face the league’s top pitcher. Herrmann worked the count to 1-1 before going down swinging as Pauly’s 10th strikeout victim of the afternoon.

“It’s only 313 [feet] down that line,” Walsh said, “and I was just hoping for a dream come true.”

Hendricks, who has not played since the Yale series in mid-April while recovering from surgery to remove a bone chip from his knee, sat in the dugout yesterday in his uniform but no cleats. If Hendricks were in the lineup, Dukovich—who had an RBI single off Pauly along with his ninth-inning walk—would have been available on the bench in addition to Herrmann when Walsh needed a ninth-inning miracle.

Not to mention, the Crimson would have had its cleanup hitter back.

“[Not having Trey] shows up,” Walsh said. “You can’t play as many games as we have without that showing up.”

Running Like Mad

Facing a pitcher with a 5-1 record and a 0.92 ERA, Walsh decided there was only one good strategy—run.

With every opportunity, the Crimson did yesterday, often to its own detriment.

With two outs and two runs already having crossed the plate in the second, Harvard had Dukovich on first and a lot of momentum. But when freshman left fielder Chris Mackey fell behind 0-2 to Pauly, Walsh called for the delayed steal and Princeton catcher Tim Lahey gunned Dukovich out at second.

Then, in the third inning, Farkes was on first with two outs and Lentz—the Crimson’s top hitter—at the plate. Farkes attempted to steal on the first pitch to get in scoring position, but was also thrown out.

All of this came a game after Harvard ran wild on Princeton. In the Crimson’s 4-3 win in game two, Harvard stole six bases, including four by Salsgiver.

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.