For Baseball, Playoffs Start Now

For the Harvard baseball team, the playoffs start tomorrow.

Sure the schedule says that the regular season is still weeks from over. But when the Crimson hosts Brown in a pair of pivotal doubleheaders this weekend, chances are one team is going to be knocked out of title contention.

With only two games separating worst from first in a loaded Red Rolfe division, a good weekend will propel Harvard (15-14-1, 8-4 Ivy)—currently a game behind division-leading Dartmouth—into prime position to claim its third-straight Red Rolfe crown. A bad weekend could end the Crimson’s chance at the postseason.

And the Bears (12-18, 7-5) are facing virtually the same situation.

“Obviously with our previous weekend, we’ve put ourselves in a position where every game matters,” senior pitcher Mike Morgalis said. “But we’ve also put ourselves in a position to control our own destiny.”

While Harvard and Brown battle at O’Donnell Field—doubleheaders begin at noon both tomorrow and Sunday—Dartmouth (18-11, 9-3) and Yale (15-15, 8-4) will be playing a four-game set in Hanover, N. H. The Crimson will be cheering for the Elis to take at least two games—but not all four—from the Big Green, leaving Harvard in prime position to win the division with a pair of 3-1 weekends.

The Crimson will play a home-and-home series with Dartmouth to wrap up league play next weekend, while Yale faces Brown.

Regardless, Harvard has plenty to be concerned about besides the action up in New Hampshire.

After an anemic offense and sloppy defense led to three losses in four games at Yale last weekend, the Crimson must regain the momentum—and confidence—it had during its 7-1 Ivy opening run.

It took a step in that direction earlier this week.

After losing its Beanpot opener to BC on Tuesday—the squad’s fifth loss in six games—Harvard picked up a much-needed win in the consolation round on Wednesday, downing UMass on a walk-off home run by sophomore Zak Farkes. In the two Beanpot games, the team scored 13 runs on 16 hits.

“I really feel good about our offense right now,” Morgalis said. “You know I think we’ve only allowed more than seven runs once since [the trip to Lafayette], and as long as [our pitching] keeps us in the game like that, with our offense I feel pretty good.”

In its return to O’Donnell Field the Crimson may also return to the same pitching rotation that picked up a four-game sweep of Columbia and Penn in Cambridge two weeks ago.

Sophomore Matt Brunnig—suffering from a sore right elbow—has struggled in his last two Ivy appearances, and may yield the mound to senior Jason Brown in Game 1. Brown earned a win with 5 2/3 solid innings in his only conference start of the season against the Lions, and has been impressive in two long-relief appearances in league play, posting a 2.77 ERA in 13 Ivy innings overall.

The rest of the rotation—seniors Trey Hendricks (6-1) and Mike Morgalis (2-3) and sophomore Frank Herrmann (3-2)—is set, and will have to face-off against a Brown lineup with seven of its eight regulars batting over .300 and a team batting average second only to Dartmouth in the Ivies.

Also look for sophomore Lance Salsgiver to come in from right field to close out tight games this weekend. The hard-throwing right-hander, who was predicted to be the team’s closer at the start of the season, pitched three stellar innings of relief in the Crimson’s lone win in New Haven, and also saw an inning of work in the Beanpot consolation game.

“My arm is cooperating right now,” said Salsgiver after the Yale series. “I like that coach has enough confidence in me to put me in in tough situations.”

With the Crimson’s season on the line, there couldn’t be a tougher situation.

But at least Harvard will be at home, where it’s a perfect 5-0 on the season.

“We were all joking about [the perfect record] today,” Morgalis said. “A lot of people are excited to be at home. I think that we’ll get some support from the fans, and it’s always nice to bat last.”

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