Baseball Arms Tame Powerful Yale Bats

If good defense wins ballgames, then good defense combined with good offense dominates them.

Led by strong pitching and an efficient offense, the Harvard baseball team (12-12, 7-3 Ivy) swept past Yale (10-21, 3-7 Ivy) Saturday afternoon at O’Donnell Field, taking both games of a doubleheader by scores of 6-0 and 5-1.

With the victories, the Crimson—having won five of its last six Ivy League contests—kept pace with Brown for first place in the Rolfe Division and climbed back to .500 overall for the first time since the second game of the season.

The Bulldogs came into the game as the offensive powerhouse of the Ivy League, led by Ryan Lavarnway and his gaudy league-leading .459 average, yet were unable to find any rhythm against Harvard’s pitching staff.

“Some good pitching beat a great hitting club today, and I have a lot of respect for their lineup,” coach Joe Walsh said. “They have guys that can get on base and guys that can hit the ball out of the park.”

Instead, it was the Crimson bringing home the runs—and Yale helping them do it, committing five errors in each game.

Harvard and Yale were scheduled to play a second doubleheader yesterday that was postponed due to inclement weather. No make-up date has been scheduled.

The Crimson travels to Lynn, Mass., tomorrow to take on Boston College in the first round of the Beanpot at Fraser Field.

HARVARD 6, YALE 0

Harvard jumped on the Bulldogs early and often, scoring all six of its runs in the first four innings, before coasting on the arm of ace Shawn Haviland to complete the doubleheader sweep.

The Crimson got things going in the bottom of the first inning on junior Matt Vance’s one-out RBI single that scored junior Jeff Stoeckel to give Harvard the early advantage. Stoeckel came up big again in the second, singling home senior catcher Andrew Casey and junior first basemen Matt Kramer. Stoeckel stole second and would score his second run of the game on a Yale throwing error.

Harvard got its final two runs in the fourth thanks largely to Bulldog miscues. With two outs, Stoeckel was hit by a pitch, and senior second baseman Brendan Byrne reached on an error by Yale shortstop Dan Soltman. The Crimson caught the Bulldogs off-guard with a double steal that put the two runners in scoring position. They were both brought home on a Vance single to wrap up the scoring.

“We had an efficient attack, breaking out early.” Walsh said. “And we put pressure on them by running.”

That gave junior pitcher Shawn Haviland all the insurance he would need. He threw eight shutout innings, scattering seven hits and striking out seven, while improving to 2-2 on the season. The game marked Haviland’s second consecutive eight-inning victory, a positive sign for Harvard after he struggled in his first few starts and fell to 0-2.

“The last two weekends, he’s been lights-out,” freshman Max Perlman said. “He’s our best pitcher, and I think he’s going to be that way for the rest of the year.”

Senior Jake Bruton relieved Haviland and struck out the side in the ninth to end the game and pick up his third save of the season.

HARVARD 5, YALE 1

Perlman turned in his best performance of his young career, and the Crimson took advantage of five Bulldog miscues to get on the board early to pull out the easy win.

Once again, Harvard got the ball rolling in the first inning. Two errors by Yale’s third baseman, coupled with an RBI double by junior outfielder Tom Stack-Babich, plated two runs.

The Crimson would pick up two more in the third on another pair of Bulldog miscues and score again in the sixth on yet another error.

Harvard almost scored another run in the sixth with two outs when freshman pinch-hitter Dan Zailskas popped up to Yale pitcher Stefan Schropp. Schropp nearly collided with his catcher on a miscommunication and barely made the catch. The play encapsulated the sort of day the Bulldogs endured, and Schropp could not help but throw his hat to the ground in disgust and storm back to the dugout.

The story of the game, however, was the performance of Perlman. He threw a seven-inning complete game, striking out eight and giving up just one run, improving to 3-1 on the year. He fanned Yale power hitter Ryan Lavarnway twice and held him hitless in his other at-bats.

His one mistake came in the top of the sixth when Justin Ankney connected on an 0-2 pitch, sending it deep over the right field fence for the solo shot.

But Perlman would make the Bulldogs pay for this offense.

“It really fired me up,” Perlman said. “It was a really bad pitch, and it motivated me to get through the rest of the game.”

Facing the heart of the Yale lineup, he struck out the heart of the Bulldogs’ order on nine pitches. After Harvard picked up a run in the bottom of the frame to regain the four-run advantage, Perlman fanned two more in the seventh, with the second out of the inning coming on a weak dribbler to the mound.

“He was just pounding the zone and doing everything he had to do, and I thought he did a really good job,” Walsh said. “He’s in total control of himself, in control of his pitches. He’s a bulldog.”

With the victories, Harvard rose to 7-3 in the Ivy League, remaining tied with Brown, which blew out Dartmouth over the weekend. Harvard faces Brown in a double-header showdown that could decide the Rolfe title next weekend in Providence.

“I’m not too happy with .500, but I think we’re starting to play some good baseball,” Walsh said. “And anytime Harvard can take two from Yale, it’s a big day.”