Harvard Rebounds To Take Third in Beanpot

With the ghosts of game-ending blunders still sitting freshly in his mind, Zak Farkes swung hard in the bottom of last night’s closing frame and finally connected with redemption.

With two on and no outs, the sophomore infielder crushed a 0-1 breaking ball deep into the cool Brockton, Mass. night, clearing the fence of Campanelli Stadium for a three-run walk-off home run and a 7-4 Harvard (15-14) victory.

It was only the second pitch thrown in the contest by UMass (13-12) reliever Anthony Gallo, but for Coach Joe Walsh and the members of the Crimson, it couldn’t have come at any better time.

“We had a really good feeling going into that inning with Zak up,” junior catcher Schuyler Mann said. “There was a good feeling about it in the dugout and he really came through for us, picking this team up in a big way. We were really looking for someone, especially him, to do just that.”

Prior to the Beanpot consolation game, Farkes had struck out swinging to end two of the team’s last six contests, first against Boston College and then soon after in Ivy play against Yale. The memories more than stuck with him through to that fateful, final at-bat of last night’s victory.

“He was mentioning [the strikeouts] to me on the way home,” sophomore pitcher Frank Herrmann said. “Zak had been telling himself not to screw up in that at-bat like he had against BC [and Yale], and once he got that thought out of his head, it seemed, he just relaxed, got a pitch he liked, and hit it out.”

The clutch performance, Farkes’ teammates say, is nothing more than a testament to the infamous work ethic and talent of last year’s Ivy Rookie of the Year.

“It was definitely important for him to get that big hit for us,” sophomore pitcher/outfielder Lance Salsgiver said. “He’s just very mentally and physically tough. While he ended a couple of games with strikeouts, he’s definitely not the type of guy to throw it in and quit. He’s just going to work hard and battle.”

But amazingly, in keeping with Coach Joe Walsh’s typical “small ball” philosophy, the game’s final result might not have even written up in the original plan.

With co-captain pitcher/first baseman Trey Hendricks in the on-deck circle, Farkes’ original directive may have simply been to bunt.

“When he came up there, I thought he just might bunt to move the runners and get Trey up there, just play small ball,” Hermann said. “But then again, with Trey coming up, they probably just would’ve walked Trey, and who knows. So for whatever reason, on that second pitch, the new pitcher [Gallo] just threw it in there.”

Farkes, however, wasn’t the only beneficiary of that ultimate decision.

Harvard had actually taken a 4-2 lead into the game’s seventh and final inning, utilizing a patchwork of five different pitchers—sophomore Javier Castellanos, senior Jay Brown, freshman Jason Brown, freshman Jake Bruton, and Salsgiver—to surrender a meager two earned runs over six solid innings of work.

“The strategy was to get a lot of guys a chance to get on the mound and prove themselves,” Mann said. “We didn’t want to use anyone too much with such a huge weekend [against Brown] coming up, but at the same time, it was such that anyone who wanted the ball could get on the hill, throw hard, and give their all to win.”

And so with the typically unflappable Hendricks (6-1) on the mound to close it out, victory seemed imminent. But back-to-back RBI doubles by the Minutemen quickly erased the hard-fought deficit, knotting the game up at 4-4 and setting the stage for Farkes’ timely heroics.

“It was a tough situation for Trey overall,” Mann said. “It was a cold day, he had just thrown 120-plus pitches on Sunday, and he hadn’t had a whole lot of rest, especially since he was also playing in the field and standing around. And when Trey got out there, UMass and their whole dugout just got up and got ready.”

Thanks to Farkes, though—and the runs scored by junior Jeff Friedman and Salsgiver—Hendricks and the Crimson emerged with the win, something that has been hard to come by, especially as of late.

“This game was huge for us,” Salsgiver said. “It’s a boost, a stepping stone to this [Ivy] weekend [against Brown]. It was a big win, and we know with some pretty good opponents coming up this weekend we’re going to be ready.

“Our bats are going and the defense has been there. We’re looking to beat up Brown pretty good this weekend.”

—Staff writer Pablo S. Torre can be reached at torre@fas.harvard.edu.