Off to a Flying Start in Ivy Competition

Two days after it was supposed to kick off its Ivy League season, the Harvard baseball team unofficially extended its spring break yesterday with a doubleheader in New York City against Columbia.

Two wins proved quite the souvenir after the Crimson out-scored the Lions (3-16, 1-5 Ivy) by a total of 18-6.

Before an undefeated conference record, though, came confusion.

Originally, Harvard was scheduled to play Columbia on Saturday, but rain postponed the match-up until the next day, moving Sunday’s two-game set against Penn to tomorrow. The Crimson ended up driving back to Cambridge on Saturday night before waking up the next morning, only to find out that it had to then drive all the way back south to Andy Coakley field.

In a word, said junior Lance Salsgiver: “annoying.”

Harvard (9-6, 2-0 Ivy), however, showed no worse for the wear.

HARVARD 13, COLUMBIA 3

Up until the sixth inning, Columbia starter Brendan Quinn kept the Crimson in check. Unfortunately for him, he was pitching the second game of an Ivy double-header, and not the first.

Taking advantage of all nine of its innings, Harvard shattered a 3-3 deadlock on a sixth-inning Matt Vance RBI single before piling it all on, notching nine runsover the seventh, eight, and ninth frames for a 13-3 victory and a Crimson sweep on the day.

For Harvard, eight players individually recorded two or more hits, with the first six batters in the line-up going a collective 14-28. Notably, sophomore Brendan Byrne did his part by slugging his first career home run.

“The thing about our team is that once a couple guys get going, everyone starts to feed off their energy and gets confident,” Salsgiver said. “It’s kind of a snowball effect. Once a few of us started getting hits, everyone jumped on the wagon.”

Starting off strong for the second straight game, the Crimson scored three runs in the first inning before being temporarily flummoxed by Quinn, who tempted the Harvard offense with a bevy of changeups and curveballs down in the strike zone.

“We stopped waiting for our own pitches,” Salsgiver said. “Finally, he started making mistakes, leaving the ball up.”

Crimson pitching, on the other hand, kept the Lions comparatively quiet, as senior starter Mike Morgalis went six innings, fanning six while being tagged for just three runs despite walking five and giving up seven hits.

Junior Javy Castellanos relieved Morgalis in the seventh and recorded three shutout innings, continuing his resurgence after a rough opening-day loss against Louisiana-Lafayette.

“Him pitching well is huge for us,” Salsgiver said. “We have a lot of confidence in him. We know he’ll keep the ball around the plate, mix speeds and pitches. We weren’t surprised by his performance.”

Harvard will face off at Penn tomorrow for a double-header starting at 12 p.m.

HARVARD 5, COLUMBIA 3

While the elder statesmen in Castellanos and Morgalis held down Columbia in the second game, it was a pair of freshmen who stepped up to shut down the Lions in the first.

First-year slugger Steffan Wilson collected three RBI on two hits as the top of the Crimson order scored all five runs in a 5-3 Harvard victory.

Classmate Shawn Haviland, meanwhile, took his turn on the mound and allowed three runs in 5 1/3 stingy innings to earn the win.

Still, the freshman class—and that pair, in particular—wasn’t done.

In just the second pitching appearance of his Crimson career, it was Wilson—previously known solely for his hitting prowess—who came in to clean up after Haviland and sophomore Jason Brown, getting four clutch outs with men on base to record the save. He struck out two.

“Haviland’s one of our best pitchers already,” Salsgiver said. “He throws hard, throws a good curveball and changeup, and throws all three for strikes.

“Steffan, we knew him more as a great hitter than a pitcher, but he came in with a tight situation with runners on and got the last out.”

So does this performance help settle Harvard’s yet-undecided closer situation? Probably not. Despite Wilson’s sterling effort, head coach Joe Walsh has already found success with junior Matt Brunnig in a similar relief role this year, and Salsgiver—last year’s closer on opening day—also remains in the mix.

That last candidate, however, who is currently dealing with a pulled muscle in his elbow, would bet on Brunnig in the present if he had to.

“I need rest to make sure my injury gets better, and I haven’t had that,” Salsgiver said. “If I get healthy, hopefully I can come in and fill that role. Right now, I’d have to name Matt Brunnig.”

This game wasn’t just pitching, though. Salsgiver and fellow junior Zak Farkes each collected two hits, two runs, and two steals after hitting one-two at the top of the lineup for the first time this year.

“It’s our job at the beginning to get the Ivy season rolling,” Salsgiver said.

“We need to just get on base and [today] we stole a couple of bases, were a positive at the beginning of the lineup. It’s our job to get the team confident and ready to score some runs early.”

The defense, meanwhile, only committed one error versus Columbia’s five, forming a strong streak coming off of nine error-free innings against St. Thomas.

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