Crimson Continues Sweep in Second Twinbill

For the first time all year, things finally came together for the Harvard baseball team. The Crimson combined a relentless offensive attack with two complete-game efforts from its veteran starters, taking 9-3 and 5-2 victories from Brown yesterday at O’Donnell Field. As it completed its first weekend sweep of 2008, Harvard was all smiles.

“Better late than never,” senior Brad Unger said. “We’ve had some breaks go against us in the past couple weeks, so it feels good to win.”

The Crimson would find out a few hours later that, with Dartmouth’s win over Yale in the nightcap of their doubleheader, Harvard will not have the chance to create a tie atop the Red Rolfe Division standings next weekend in its home-away doubleheader with the Big Green.

The Crimson would have had to sweep all four games against Dartmouth to force a tiebreaker for the division crown had the Bulldogs managed a win. Even as likely elimination loomed, Harvard’s seniors were the toast of the afternoon at O’Donnell—the Crimson received sparkling starts from aces Shawn Haviland and Unger. Seniors also led the way at the plate, with Matt Kramer going 6-for-7 with three RBIs batting cleanup and Jeff Stoeckel chipping in with a two-run triple in the opener.

“What we’re playing for right now is all the work that we put in at the beginning of the year—all the swings indoors, all the lumps we took in California,” coach Joe Walsh said of a club that struggled mightily in a challenging nonconference schedule last month. “We’re loose now, and we’re putting it together.”

“All along we’ve known that we have talent, and we’ve struggled for whatever reason, but we come to the field every day and work hard,” Haviland said. “We’re all putting the work in.”

The Crimson resumes play tomorrow afternoon, when it will travel across the Charles to take on Boston College in a local nonconference matchup. The first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Chestnut Hill.

HARVARD 5, BROWN 2

Unger matched fellow senior Haviland’s complete-game effort with a beauty of his own, no-hitting the Bears through five frames and giving up just two runs in a shaky ninth to lead the Crimson to a 5-2 win in the nightcap.

Unger and Brown starter Mark Gormley were locked in a pitcher’s duel in the first half of the game, with a first-inning RBI single from Kramer providing the only offensive spark for either club early on. But the Crimson finally touched Gormley for three runs in the bottom of the fifth to make things comfortable. A run-scoring triple from the speedy Vance stayed just inside the yard, and Kramer followed with a single that plated the captain and made it 4-0.

“The more runs, the better—any pitcher will tell you that,” Unger said. “These guys have been battling all year, and it’s good to see.”

The 6’8” senior looked unhittable until the ninth, when a single, walk and wild pitch suddenly saw the bases full of Bears. A run-scoring groundout later, first baseman Joe Mellano tripled to plate another run and cut the lead to three. But Walsh let Unger finish the game, and the veteran induced a groundout to end it. Unger received some key contributions from his infield in the early going, inducing inning-ending double plays in each of the first two frames.

“Stoeckel turned two big double plays, and one of them was a major-league play,” Walsh said. “That was big to save some pitches for Unger.”

HARVARD 9, BROWN 3

Junior Matt Rogers led the offense from the leadoff spot, hitting two homers over the fence in left-center field and coming around to score on another of the home team’s nine runs. With regular leadoff hitter Dillon O’Neill out after being hit in the face with a pitch Saturday, Rogers stepped in—and stepped out in a big way.

“He really set the pace,” Walsh said. “You don’t usually expect that from your leadoff guy.”

Haviland pitched yet another complete game for the Crimson, going all seven innings without allowing an earned run in a 9-3 win in the opener. Coming off two big games at the plate on Saturday, the Harvard lineup gave Haviland all the support he would need—and more. Kramer went 4-for-4 in the opener, with Stoeckel and freshman catcher Tyler Albright chipping in two RBIs apiece. The fourth inning saw the Crimson send eight men to the plate and score five, breaking the game open and chasing Bears starter Alex Silverman.

“That’s a big difference, pitching from ahead and pitching from behind,” Haviland said. “You get to throw your fastball more. We’re scoring runs early and we’re just locked in.”

Two throwing errors by the Harvard infield allowed Brown to score its first unearned run in the first, but Haviland worked quickly and retired the side in order in the second, third, and fourth innings.

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