Baseball Dealt Heartbreak at Home

Holy Cross shortstop Mike Schell’s two-out seeing-eye single in the visitor’s half of the 14th inning plated utility infielder Brian Abraham from second base, snapping more than three-and-a-half hours of scoreless play and handing the Crusaders the only run they’d need to defeat Harvard in its home opener 1-0 yesterday afternoon at O’Donnell Field.

After retiring second baseman John Glowik to start the stanza, Crimson senior pitcher Rob Wheeler successively hit Abraham and walked catcher Mike Marron, prompting Harvard coach Joe Walsh to insert junior Matt Brunnig, who had thrown 5.1 innings one day earlier against Penn. Six pitches later, he induced Holy Cross left fielder Jamie Aldrich to ground the ball to shortstop Morgan Brown, who flipped to Griff Jenkins at second to record the initial putout. But Jenkins’ follow-on throw to first was narrowly edged out by Aldridge at the bag, extending the frame and bringing Schell to bat with runners at the corners and two down.

Walsh again opted to change throwers, calling on Brown to retire Schell. After a first-pitch strike, Brown fell behind 2-1 before Schell knocked his next offering just past freshman Taylor Meehan to the left of second base, driving in Abraham before the Crimson (11-7) could escape the inning. Holy Cross pitcher Scott Hampe retired the Harvard side in order not long after to notch his fourth save of the season and secure the win for Kevin O’Dea (1-0), who scattered three hits in as many stanzas of relief. Wheeler (0-2) was saddled with the loss after surrendering the run on one hit and one walk in two innings of work.

“They had very good pitching and we had very good pitching. You don’t see that too often in college baseball,” Walsh said. “You’ve just got to tip your hat and chalk it up as a real good ball game.”

Indeed, the absence of both sides’ top-line starters, usually held in reserve for the weekends, was easily lost on the casual observer. Both staffs combined to strike out 10, and neither the Crimson nor the Crusaders (6-9) allowed more than nine hits during the extra-inning affair.

Harvard sophomore Jake Bruton—the hard-luck recipient of a no decision despite five dazzling innings of three-hit, seven-strike-out ball—set the tone early, settling down after a walk to lead off the first and puzzling Holy Cross’ lineup well into his final stanza.

Only then did the Crusaders threaten, when Holy Cross centerfielder Tom Potvin drove Bruton’s offering to the warning track in right center, where Matt Vance and Lance Salsgiver converged before nearly colliding. As Salsgiver slid to avoid Vance, the ball kissed off the latter’s glove and rolled into right field, allowing Potvin to reach second safely. Bruton’s subsequent pitch found the backstop, advancing Potvin to third with none out and drawing the Crimson infield in.

But shortstop Andy Sweeney grounded Bruton’s next offering down the first-base line, where junior Josh Klimkiewicz cleanly fielded the ball and threw home to catcher Andrew Casey, who tagged Potvin just before he crossed the plate according to the umpire, drawing the ire of the Crusaders’ bench. Bruton struck out second baseman Erik Kistler looking to record the second out shortly thereafter, then retired the side two batters later with an infield groundout.

“I thought a lot of our guys did a great job out there today, especially Bruton," Walsh said. You kinda forget in a 1-0 loss, but he was cruising out there for five innings and that was his best outing of the year—actually his best outing I’ve seen him since he’s been here so I’m real excited about that to build on.”

And though Holy Cross managed to advance a runner to third one inning later—an accomplishment not matched by Harvard despite four extra-base hits thanks to Marron, who Walsh credited with stifling the Crimson’s progress on the base paths—the danger proved short-lived. Centerfielder Brendan Akashian had advanced to third courtesy of a ground-ball single to left field with two outs, but the man who had put him there, right fielder Steve Buckley, was thrown out while attempting to steal second by freshman reliever Max Warren.

Holy Cross threatened again three frames later, placing runners on first and second with just one out to chase Warren. His replacement, fellow rookie Shawn Haviland, quickly defused the threat, picking off the lead runner, centerfielder Brendan Akashian, on his second try. After a single again moved the Crusaders into scoring position, Haviland, who struck out three in 2.2 frames of work, forced an infield pop-up from Abraham to end the inning.

One hit and three innings later, Holy Cross drew to within scoring position once more, earning a pair of walks with one out in the 12th, then advancing runners to second and third on a slow dribbler to the left side of the infield. Clean-up man Andrew Tenaglia seemed poised to bring both home, grounding the ball hard to the right side of second base, but Brendan Byrne speared it just inside the outfield grass and fired to first to end the half-inning.

“I think we definitely had momentum at times going into the at-bats,” Klimkiewicz said. “It just didn’t fall through for us.”

Though pinch hitter Zak Farkes popped up to kick off the bottom of the 12th, the Crimson was soon within striking distance itself, thanks to Vance, who ripped a double just inside the bag and into the left-field corner for a stand-up double. Salsgiver hopped the ball over third base and into foul territory one batter later, beating Abraham’s throw for an infield single.

Facing a 2-1 count, streaking third baseman Steffan Wilson laced O’Dea’s offering towards left field, but Abraham leapt just high enough to spear the would-be game-winning hit, then doubled Vance off at second to send the game into the 13th.

“We hit the ball on the screws there with Wilson at third base,” Walsh said. “If that ball goes by, we win the ball game.”

Though the Crimson would contain the Crusaders in the top of the 13th, its luck would fare no better in its next turn at the plate. Klimkiewicz skied a fly ball to the 370 sign in left center that fell just short of the wall and into Potvin’s waiting glove, before captain Schuyler Mann sent another of O’Dea’s pitches to the gap in right center, where it hung in the air long enough for Potvin to track it down.

“Those are miserable,” Klimkiewicz said. “I hit a couple good shots. The first one I thought definitely had a chance of going out, but it just didn’t get there.”

Three batters later and with runners at first and second, Brown again got the better of O’Dea, ripping his fastball to straight-away center, but, as before, Potvin retreated and, with little time to spare, hauled in the line drive to thwart yet another of Harvard’s chances.

“I thought Morgan had a real good swing, drove the ball real hard,” Walsh said. “You get that down a little bit, it might have been in the gap. We had some good swings. I give some credit to them…What are you going to do? You just keep plugging away, hope things work out for you, line drives don’t get through, ground balls do. That’s baseball and that’s the beauty of the game.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.