Three-Run Ninth Downs Crimson

If a single game can symbolize the type of season Harvard baseball has had, it was yesterday’s contest against Boston College (20-21, 5-16 ACC).

The Crimson (8-27, 7-9 Ivy) entered the bottom of the ninth with a 4-2 lead—the squad left the inning with a 5-4 defeat.

“It was another heartbreaking, heartbreaking loss,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “I thought we deserved to win...just not enough—the story of our year.”

With one out and runners on the corners in the bottom of the ninth, the Eagles’ Michael Belfiore lined a pitch to shortstop Jeff Stoeckel. The senior snagged the ball for an out and then launched it to first in an attempt to double up BC’s Robert Anston and end the game.

“I almost hit my head on the dugout jumping up because I thought we had them,” Walsh said.

Nevertheless, the umpire called the runner safe at first, giving the Eagles another chance to come back. BC took full advantage of the opportunity, tying the game on a two-run double, and winning it with a walk-off single by Mickey Wiswall.

“It was just an unfortunate chain of events,” senior Matt Kramer said. “It wasn’t really that we collapsed. They just got hits in a timely fashion.”

The Crimson’s season has been defined by missed chances and tough breaks. The last three Harvard losses have all come in walk-off fashion.

“After this season, I have to sit down with the baseball gods and have a little meeting,” Walsh said. “We keep shaking our heads wondering when that bad hop is going to come, when that bloop is going to fall. Every time we make a mistake, it seems the other team capitalizes. We just can’t get our breaks.”

The Crimson got on the scoreboard first when freshman Sean O’Hara drove in captain Matt Vance with a triple in the fourth inning. O’Hara had a solid day overall, as he knocked two base hits and made a leaping, snow-cone catch at third that prevented an extra-base hit.

After the Eagles tied the game back up, Harvard brought home two more runs in the fifth. Sophomore Andrew Prince, who had two knocks on the day, scored on senior Max Warren’s single. Warren then snuck home while senior Taylor Meehan was caught in an inning-ending pickle.

In the eighth, the Crimson extended its lead to 4-2 when Kramer ripped a double that drove in freshman Dillon O’Neill.

Before BC scored three runs off him in the ninth, freshman Ben Sestanovich recorded nine straight outs in relief. Freshman Anthony Nutter pitched 5.1 innings as the starter and surrendered just two earned runs.

“Our pitchers are throwing the best in the Ivy League I think,” Kramer said. “Our hitters are getting timely hits, and we’re still feeling like we’re gelling and are on a roll.”

Harvard recorded 10 hits on the day, an impressive feat considering the Eagles’ starter Ted Ratliff is 4-0 against the Crimson in his career, according to Walsh.

“Ratliff has beaten us handily in Beanpots and in the regular season,” Walsh said. “I don’t think there’s anybody that has handcuffed us like he has. I thought we did a real good job today against a guy that has been our nemesis.”

Entering the game, BC was slumping, and Harvard was rolling at full speed. The Eagles had lost seven out of their last eight, and the Crimson was 6-2 in that same stretch, with the two losses coming on walk-off hits. The close defeats have taken a toll on the team, but Harvard has rebounded well in the past.

“I’m proud of the way they come to play,” Walsh said. “We feel like we’re going to win every time we come out on the field. We got a lot of confidence even with these losses.”

This weekend, the Crimson will play the part of spoiler as it concludes its Ivy League season with split-city doubleheaders against Rolfe Division leader Dartmouth. Harvard swept four games from Brown last weekend before this mid-week loss to BC.

“I have faith that we’ll bounce back this weekend,” Walsh said. “These guys have a lot of heart, a lot of grit, a lot of soul.”

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