Finding The Power Within

It was not so long ago—2005, to be exact—when, for an Ivy League pitching staff, a trip to O’Donnell Field was synonymous with inflated ERAs and a tired bullpen.

The Harvard baseball team averaged nearly seven runs per game that season—the last time the Crimson won the Ivy League Championship—behind a powerful lineup stocked with the likes of future draft picks Zak Farkes ’06 and Steffan Wilson ’07 and hard-hitting mashers Schuyler Mann ’05 and Josh Klimkiewicz ’06.

But graduation and the minor leagues beckoned Harvard’s big bats, and the Crimson began losing its power hitters faster than it could replace them. By last season, Harvard’s need for a fresh batch of run producers became a glaring one.

Wilson, a holdover from the 2005 championship team and the Crimson’s most dangerous weapon, had an off year, batting .331 but posting career-lows of three home runs and 17 RBI. While then-junior Matt Vance broke out with a .341 average and .519 slugging percentage and paced the team with 30 RBI, the rest of the Crimson lineup proved adept at getting runners on base but never quite figured out how to drive them in.

“The way the lineup [shook] out it seemed that we took ourselves out of a lot of rallies,” senior outfielder Tom Stack-Babich says.

The dearth of run production was further highlighted when a power-laden Brown team edged Harvard for first place in the Red Rolfe Division, keeping the Crimson out of the Ivy League Championship Series for just the second time since 2002.

For Harvard to reverse its fortunes this season, the middle of its lineup will have to become a force once again. With Wilson playing in the minor leagues and questions surrounding a talented but injury-plagued freshman class, Harvard has to receive production from some of its returning players other than Vance.

Among the cast of would-be sluggers, Stack-Babich appears the most likely to take the lead role.

Once a highly touted prospect for Wake Forest, Stack-Babich redshirted his freshman year. with the Demon Deacons. After the coach who recruited him retired and new skipper Rick Rembielak appeared intent on starting fresh with his own hand-picked players, Stack-Babich felt the need for a change. He transferred to Harvard, where he had originally been recuited, but struggled in his first season, hitting at only a .237 clip.

“It’s been a rebuilding process to get my confidence back,” he says.

Stack-Babich showed improvement last year, raising his average to .313 and notching 15 extra-base hits.

“If you look at him, you say, ‘Oh he hit [.313],’ but he’s just untapped with his potential,” head coach Joe Walsh says. “We’re looking for Stack to break out.”

For Stack-Babich’s part, he is ready to take on a bigger role after a successful summer that saw him display his talent on two different continents.

Though he grew up in Massachusetts, Stack-Babich was born in England and was able to play for Great Britain’s national team after being named to its 28-man roster for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

“It was just a blast,” Stack-Babich says. “There were a bunch of major league and minor league guys we were playing with from all over the globe.”

While it took a few years and a few thousand miles to find it, Stack-Babich now seems to have the self-assurance that he was missing in his first two seasons with the Crimson.

“I feel much better,” he says. “You don’t realize till you lose it, but so much of this game is confidence.”

As it looks beyond Stack-Babich and Vance in its search for a new crop of run producers, Harvard may want to set its sights on the collection of talent amassing around first base, where sophomores Andrew Prince and Chris Rouches and junior Harry Douglas are all vying for playing time.

Prince, at an imposing 6’1 and 230 lbs. and with a serious demeanor, simply has the look of a slugger. But the Oakland, Calif. native is somewhat of an enigma. Although he showed flashes of raw power last season—like his ninth inning, pinch-hit three-run blast off of Ohio State closer Jake Hale during the Crimson’s trip to Florida last March— Prince was hampered by a bad hip that prevented him from finding a rhythm. He is now finally healthy after extensive rehab, and Walsh is excited to see Prince in action.

“He was hopping down to first base [last season] and you could see that potential,” Walsh says. “We think he can put the ball in the seats.”

Rouches began his Harvard career in dramatic fashion last year by smashing a home run for his first collegiate hit, but saw limited action in 2007. This season, Walsh is intent on getting Rouches into the lineup, whether he plays at first base or elsewhere. After an offseason devoted to the weight room, Rouches is looking to translate his strength and athleticism onto the field.

“Since his freshman year I’ve always been really impressed with his power, especially to the opposite field,” Douglas says.

While more playing time seems like a given for emerging young players like Prince and Rouches, for the veteran Douglas it comes after two frustrating seasons where patience was not only a virtue, but a necessity.

On the first preseason pitch he saw in his freshman year, Douglas was nailed in the head with a fastball and suffered a concussion that started a long list of injuries which—along with established mainstays manning the corner infield positions—kept him from playing regularly in his first two years. But Douglas bided his time, learning the intricacies of the game from those out on the field and working to recover from injuries and sharpen his approach at the plate. Now fully healthy, Douglas is being given the opportunity to put his accumulated knowledge to work, and at this point he is impressing—he hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the Crimson’s season-opening three-game set against Wichita State.

“From what we’ve seen so far it looks like he can be a real bonus for us,” Stack-Babich says.

Although the Crimson no longer boasts its Murderers’ Row-type lineup from its last title run, Harvard certainly has a deep well of potential that, if tapped, could give the team enough offensive firepower to once again make O’Donnell Field hostile ground for Ivy League pitchers.

—Staff writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas.harvard.edu.