Harvard Overwhelmed Out West

SAN DIEGO—Southern California welcomed the Harvard baseball team with sunny weather, but the Crimson (1-10) couldn’t handle the heat.

In the first four games of its spring break trip out West, Harvard (1-14) had trouble keeping up with its high-ranked competition. The Crimson suffered a 9-4 defeat to UC Riverside (6-13, 0-1 Big West) and then fell in three straight blowouts to No. 14 San Diego (19-9, 1-1 WCC). Over the four games, Harvard was outscored 46-8 and hit only .181.

“It’s tough to go out and get beat like we are everyday,” captain Matt Vance said. “This has not been the best of weeks for us.”

Against UC Riverside, the Crimson kept the score close for most of the contest. A four-run Highlander explosion in the sixth, however, put the game out of reach.

In the first game of the series against San Diego, the Crimson lost 7-2 after All-American Brian Matusz struck out 16 Harvard batters. The Toreros routed the Crimson 18-2 in the second game and 12-0 in the third game.

During the series, San Diego starters fanned 34 batters combined. Harvard also fell victim to a no-hitter in the third game.

“The three pitchers we’ve seen are the best pitchers we’ve seen all year and probably will see,” Vance said. “They’re going to get millions of dollars in the major leagues.”

On the mound, the Crimson had trouble containing the Torero rallies. San Diego scored three or more runs in six different innings.

SAN DIEGO 12, HARVARD 0

Harvard did all it could, but at the end of the day Torero starter Josh Romanski walked off the mound with a no-hitter and a complete game shutout. If the All-American hadn’t beaned senior Matt Kramer in the fifth inning, he would have pitched a perfect game.

“We’re struggling a little up at the plate,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “What are you going to do? Shake it up a little bit. Put some guys at the top of the order other guys down at the bottom of the order and hope we can do it.”

Romanski helped his own cause when he hit a dinger off freshman reliever Dan Berardo in the seventh inning.

Freshman Ben Sestanovich—who has been stellar out of the bullpen—was given the starting nod for the Crimson. He lasted 4.2 innings, gave up six earned runs, and was credited with the loss.

SAN DIEGO 18, HARVARD 2

San Diego jumped on Harvard early and the second game of the series ended as a decisive blowout.

“Going to San Diego was seeing a team that can beat you a lot of different ways,” Walsh said. “Very aggressive base running, bunting. It was good for the guys to see this because that is the type of ball club I would like to see us be.”

Senior Brad Unger, who looked great in his first start of the season, took the loss after he was knocked for seven earned runs in 2.2 innings.

Vance generated the Crimson’s only offense with a two-run double in the fifth, but the damage had already been done since the Toreros led 9-0 at that point.

“The problem is we’re not getting ahead early so we can’t play that short game we’re capable of,” Walsh said. “Right now we don’t have those big bats to come back from a lot of runs.”

Harvard’s offense had trouble getting to San Diego freshman Kyle Blair, who gave up two runs and struck out 10 in seven innings.

SAN DIEGO 7, HARVARD 2

The first game was the closest contest in the series with the Toreros. That, however, isn’t saying much since the Crimson never had a real shot at taking the ballgame.

San Diego starter Brain Matusz—who is a candidate for the Golden Spikes Award given to the top player in the nation—threw eight innings and allowed just three hits and one run while striking out 16.

“We need to cut down on our strikeouts,” Vance said. “Putting the ball in play adds up and you get base runners and unique stuff happens. We need to work on recognizing pitches.”

The bright spot of the day came in the fourth inning when freshman Sean O’Hara blasted his first home run of the season to dead center.

Sophomore Jonathan Strangio took the loss after he gave up three earned runs in 3.0 innings. Romanski led the Toreros with four hits and three RBI.

UC RIVERSIDE 9, HARVARD 4

The highlight of Harvard’s first spring break game came in the fourth inning when the squad manufactured three runs to even up the score. The surge was propelled by three stolen bases, a run off of a wild pitch, an RBI single, and senior Tom Stack-Babich’s run-scoring double.

“That’s the kind of game we want to play,” Vance said. “Hit and running, bunting, getting those big hits with runners on base. In the past games it’s been tough to get our offense going when we fall behind. We don’t have the opportunities.”

With the score notched at 3-3, the Highlanders opened up the game with a four-run sixth off senior Max Warren.

The Crimson’s starter, junior Ryan Watson, went 2/3 innings and allowed five base runners and two runs. Sestanovich filled in and had a solid outing going 3.1 innings with an earned run and four strikeouts.

—Staff writer Jake I. Fisher can be reached at jifisher@fas.harvard.edu.