Herrmann's Solid Pitching Stymies Yale

Crimson captain Schuyler Mann caught only 91 pitches in Harvard’s quick, 4-0 win over Yale, the first victory of Harvard’s doubleheader sweep at O’Donnell Field Saturday—but those 91 pitches, flung from the right arm of junior Frank Herrmann, zipped from the mound to the plate with such swiftness, such vigor, that Mann felt it anyway.

“[Herrmann] was throwing gas today,” the catcher said of Herrmann’s two-hit, complete-game shutout. “That first pitch he threw was one of the hardest balls I’ve ever caught.”

Not that the last pitch was some sort of batting practice meatball, either.

Late into the game, scouts were still clocking the righthanded flame-thrower at 90 miles per hour.

“The velocity felt good,” said Herrmann, quick to point out that he hadn’t tired.

The first game of an Ivy League doubleheader is limited to seven regulation innings, and, said Herrmann, “usually six, seven innings is enough.

“But today,” he added, “I wish I had thrown the nine-inning game, because I could have kept going.”

During the first six innings, Herrmann faced the minimum 18 batters, allowing just one hit and two walks. By the end of the game, the pitcher had improved his season record to 4-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.48 over 30.1 innings pitched.

The junior recorded seven strikeouts on the day, a trio of which came in the top of the first inning to open the game. All three Bulldogs went down swinging.

“He’s not really a strikeout guy,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said, “but he came out there and got the first three—I mean man, you’re feeling good. Today’s our day.”

And when Herrmann strayed—a rare occurrence—there was always an antidote ready and waiting.

A Yale single up the middle to open the top of the second? Solved with an easy double play turned by shortstop Morgan Brown.

A walk to open up the top of the fifth? Answered by two easy popups and the handiwork of Mann, who caught the Bulldog attempting to pilfer second base red-handed.

A walk to begin the top of the sixth? Defused with another 6-4-3 double play turned by Brown.

“The two biggest plays of the game were the double plays,” Herrmann said. “I think I threw the hardest I did all game in the sixth inning, after Morgan and [second baseman Zak Farkes] turned that double play. That really got me fired up.”

In fact, second base remained untouched by Yale cleats until the final inning, when a leadoff double threatened Herrmann’s shutout. The Bulldog runner would later reach third—and a teammate first—on an error, and Herrmann would hit the next batter to fill the bases.

For the first time all afternoon, the fans grew nervous. One swing of the bat could tie the game Herrmann had dominated so thoroughly for six innings.

But it didn’t. Instead, with nerves of steel, Herrmann induced a high fly ball down the line that first baseman Josh Klimkiewicz snagged easily in foul territory.

Game over.

Against 21 hitters, over the course of seven innings, and in 91 pitches, Herrmann allowed just a pair of hits and a pair of walks.

That’s 13 pitches an inning, or just over four pitches per hitter.

“He’s become a strike-thrower,” Walsh said. “Every batter, it’s 0-1, 1-1. You don’t see a lot of 2-0, 3-1.”

The Yale batters didn’t see a lot of the basepaths, either—and all they saw of home plate, for that matter, was the view as they walked into the batters’ box.

But the Bulldogs saw a 6’4 righthander heaving the ball, all right. They saw Herrmann throwing it nearly as hard in the last inning as he had in the first.

They just didn’t see the pitches zooming by them.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.