Crimson Relies On Power Hitting

In the first three games of this weekend’s series with Dartmouth, the Crimson had the same kind of bad luck it’s had all season.

Two costly errors in the late innings helped the Big Green take the first game 7-3, while a potential walk-off blast by junior Matt Rogers fell just short in Saturday’s nightcap. In the first contest of yesterday’s doubleheader, eight infield singles propelled Dartmouth to an 8-4 win.

“It’s an unbelievable year,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “You’re thinking things are going to turn around, and they get worse. You feel like ‘shoulda, woulda, coulda, almost, what if, if only.’”

In the fourth game, however, the Crimson’s fortune finally reversed itself. After trailing for the entire contest, Harvard scored two runs in the eighth and then exploded for eight runs in the ninth inning to win the game 10-8.

“Getting that last win definitely made everybody a lot happier with

this weekend,” captain Matt Vance said.

The way the Crimson won was a bit ironic, since it is one of the few times all year Harvard has caught lucky breaks. In the ninth inning, the Big Green threw four wild pitches, hit two batters, walked two more, and committed an error. In games decided by two runs or fewer this season, Harvard is 3-12.

COMEBACK KIDS

The Crimson had an epic comeback in its last Ancient Eight game, but it almost had another big come-from-behind victory in the nightcap of Saturday’s contest.

Up 5-0 in the eighth, Dartmouth nearly lost hold of the game when Harvard scored four runs in the bottom of the inning. The highlight of the comeback was a three-run homer from freshman Tyler Albright.

In the ninth, the Crimson got the tying man on second for Rogers.

With two outs and a 3-2 count the junior clocked a pitch deep to left, only to watch as the shot approached the fence and the ball fell into the glove of the Big Green’s Jason Blydell at the warning track. Dartmouth won the game 5-4 on that out.

Harvard has been in the role of comeback victim often this season. In the last month, the Crimson has lost to Boston College, Northeastern, and Yale in walk-off fashion.

COME ON BLUE

Harvard had to overcome several obstacles during its massive comeback in the final game, including questionable decisions by the umpires.

“The umpire crew was not very good today,” Vance said. “We were getting pretty frustrated all day.”

The breaking point came in the fifth inning when freshman Sean O’Hara grounded a ball up the middle. The Big Green’s second baseman, Jeff Onstott, made a diving stop and then hurled the ball to first from his knees.

“O’Hara beat the throw by two steps and the umpire called him out,” Vance said. “Just because he made a big play doesn’t mean you can automatically ring him up. O’Hara was blatantly safe.”

In protest, both Walsh and assistant coach Tom Lo Ricco were ejected from the game after a heated argument with the umpire.

POWER SURGE

The Crimson entered the series with 14 homers total. In the four games against Dartmouth, Harvard nailed four long balls, while two other shots fell just short. On Saturday, Albright knocked a three-run dinger, the first homer of his collegiate career.

“It was my first collegiate home run, [but] I was kind of bummed because my parents were here last weekend,” Albright joked. “It felt really good rounding second base.”

Yesterday morning, both Vance and senior Matt Kramer hit homers, and in the final game of the series senior Taylor Meehan hit a bomb. Vance leads the team in home runs with four and in RBI with 22.

During Saturday’s nightcap, the squad was inches away from two more home runs. Rogers hit a warning track shot in the bottom of the ninth, and in the fifth inning, Blydell robbed a would-be-grand slam off the bat of freshman Dillon O’Neill.

In the end, the long ball couldn’t win games for the Crimson. The Big Green’s balanced offense assault averaged seven runs per game.

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