Ivy Hopes Dashed by Rival Big Green

Entering its final two games of Ivy League play yesterday, the Harvard baseball team needed a sweep of Dartmouth, combined with two Brown losses to Yale, to force one-game playoff between the Red Rolfe divison leaders.

At the end of the day, neither team held up its end of the bargain.

With a 2-1 loss in the first game of yesterday’s cloudy doubleheader at O’Donnell Field, the Crimson played itself out of postseason contention and handed the Rolfe title to the Bears.

Even without Brown’s 2-0 win over the Elis in the first game of their doubleheader, Harvard ended its season before the first pitch of game two, which concluded with Harvard on the lucky end of a 7-6 slugfest.

“Going into the weekend, we were just hoping to take care of business, hoping that things fell our way,” senior captain Brendan Byrne said. “On the whole, it’s a disappointing weekend.”

On Senior Day, second baseman Byrne and catcher Andrew Casey, along with classmates Jason Brown, Jake Bruton, Jake Levine, and Justin Roth, were honored in a pregame ceremony.

HARVARD 7, DARTMOUTH 6

After junior ace Shawn Haviland went the distance in game one, Harvard head coach Joe Walsh used five pitchers in the nightcap as freshman starter Eric Eadington struggled with his control.

Darmouth ace Russell Young had a tougher go of it, allowing seven runs on 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings of work. But neither team looked sharp as temperatures dropped and a light drizzle descended on O’Donnell Field.

“In the second game, I felt like we were the worst-coached team in America,” Walsh said. “We couldn’t throw strikes, hitters weren’t doing much in certain situations with moving guys over, we had some baserunning snafus. I was really disappointed.”

Byrne led the way offensively for the Crimson in game two, going 3-for-5 with two runs batted in on his Senior Day.

“He’s been a great leader for us,” Haviland said. “When we knew that game two didn’t mean anything, he made sure we were up and having fun.”

Junior Tom Stack-Babich finished the nightcap 2-for-4 and added two RBI with a double in the first inning.

Eadington allowed back-to-back RBI singles from Nick Santomauro and Raymond Allen in the first inning and was lifted in favor of sophomore Adam Cole after 2 1/3 innings. Freshman Ian Bollinger, Harvard’s third pitcher in the game, threw three innings of relief to pick up his first collegiate victory.

DARTMOUTH 2, HARVARD 1

Haviland’s complete-game effort wasn’t enough to overcome yet another poor offensive showing from a team that has struggled to score runs all year.

The Crimson’s ace allowed just two runs on four hits in seven strong innings, but Harvard’s lineup could not push the tying run across the plate in a 2-1 loss in the opener.

“Haviland has pitched too many good games this year and not gotten any help,” Byrne said.

Dartmouth senior Jeff Wilkerson drew the start against Haviland in his final collegiate game and went the distance, allowing 10 hits but only one run in seven innings of work.

“You just have to tip your hat to the pitcher in this one,” Haviland said. “He kept us off balance. He had a runner on in every inning, but really worked out of jams.”

The Crimson put the leadoff man on in all seven innings and had several chances to take the lead.

No chance was better than in the bottom of the seventh, when it loaded the bases with one out on a Matt Vance single and back-to-back intentional walks to Steffan Wilson and pinch-hitter Chris Rouches.

Walsh then turned to Roth to pinch-hit in place of Jon Roberts, who had pinch-run for Stack-Babich in the sixth.

Roth reached for the first pitch he saw and popped out to the first baseman in foul territory.

Sophomore Matt Rogers, Harvard’s last prayer, forced Rouches at second with a grounder to short.

Stack-Babich’s pulled hamstring had his coach worrying about his ability to score from second base on a single in the sixth, but Walsh missed the hot-hitting right fielder in the tough spot in the seventh.

“I would have liked to see Stack-Babich up in that spot,” Walsh said. “But I wanted to get that first run in. So much for strategy and having it work.”

After allowing singles to Vance and Byrne to start the contest, Wilkerson seemed in for a long afternoon.

But it was the first of several Harvard rallies that would end with men left on base. The Crimson stranded 11 runners in all.

—Staff writer Emily W. Cunningham can be reached at ecunning@fas.harvard.edu.