AMOR PERFECT UNION: All Hope Not Lost For the Crimson

“Guys that have hit in the past aren’t hitting, guys who have proven they can hit in high school just aren’t getting it done, and I have no explanation.”

Such was the frustrated and bewildered reaction from Harvard baseball coach Joe Walsh on Monday after the Crimson dropped both games of a doubleheader against Penn to fall to 0-6 in the Ivy League and 1-19 overall.

Yesterday, Harvard began another twinbill—this one against Cornell, the last place team in the Gehrig Division—by digging its season’s grave a few feet deeper, losing, 6-5,in heartbreaking fashion in the first game when Big Red junior Scott Hardinger smashed a walk-off triple in the bottom of the seventh inning. But the nightcap gave the Crimson its first glimmer of hope in a long time.

Harvard received a virtuoso pitching performance from freshman Zach Hofeld, who rose out of obscurity to throw nine innings of four hit, one run ball for a complete game gem that gave the Crimson a 2-1 victory, its first in conference play.

But win or no win, one thing has not changed since yesterday: Harvard is in a very deep hole right now.

We can forget about its abysmal 2-20 overall record, because that loses its relevance at the very onset of the Ivy League schedule. But unfortunately, we can’t ignore the Crimson’s 1-7 mark in conference games—the inverse of traditional rival Dartmouth's record, which has jumped out to a 7-1 start to place itself somewhat comfortably in first place in the Rolfe Division.

To make matters worse, despite Hofeld doing his best Josh Beckett impression, the same problems that Harvard brought into yesterday’s games are still lingering.

The Crimson pitching staff is banged up, with front-of-the-rotation sophomore starter Eric Eadington possibly out for the next six weeks, if not more, and just about every veteran in the bullpen hurting in some capacity. The lineup has been equally unreliable, with captain and top hitter Matt Vance playing through some pain, senior outfielder Tom Stack-Babich catching the injury bug, and the rest of the order just playing inconsistently in general. Before Harvard posted five runs in its first game against Cornell yesterday, the Crimson had only scored twice in its previous four contests.

But while the current circumstances may suggest that this is a lost season for Harvard, the truth is that the squad is far from a sunken ship. With just 12 games left against Ancient Eight opponents, it would be more than just wishful thinking to say that the Crimson can come back to take the Rolfe Division title and finagle its way into the Ivy League Championship Series.

The fact is that Harvard’s fate no longer lies in its own hands, and for a playoff berth to happen Dartmouth would have to suffer a breakdown of epic proportions while second and third place Yale and Brown essentially toiled in mediocrity for the rest of the year.

But there are factors that the Crimson can control, and if it does, Harvard would not only finish its season on a high note but put itself in a position, should disaster somehow strike the rest of the Rolfe, to give itself a fighting chance in the division.

First, the Crimson needs to beat UMass tonight in the first round of the Beanpot. I know I just said non-conference games don’t matter, but the Beanpot is no ordinary non-conference event, and the confidence that getting a chance to play under the lights of Fenway Park in the championship game next week would give Harvard would be invaluable.

Second, the Crimson bats have to get hot. This may seem unlikely, since virtually all of Harvard hitters are mired in slumps, but the beauty of baseball is that slumps end as often as they begin, and if they all end at the same time for the Crimson, we’re suddenly dealing with a lineup that can do some real damage. Freshmen Dillon O’Neill and Sean O’Hara seem to be picking it up, and if Vance and Stack-Babich can heal their wounds, they both bring authority to the middle of the order.

Next, Harvard has to continue getting solid contributions from its veteran pitchers while giving some of its kids a chance to play. This is an easy one, since Eadington’s injury creates two open spots in the weekend rotation. Senior hurlers Sean Haviland and Brad Unger have been solid this season, excluding Haviland’s poor showing against Penn on Monday, so they bring some stability while rookies like Hofeld and Ben Sestanovich get a chance to show their stuff. This strategy also bodes well for next season—if Hofeld’s one gem turns out to be no fluke, or some other current freshman emerges, the Crimson will boast a potent rotation next year when sophomore Max Perlman returns from his leave of absence, Eadington comes back healthy, and freshman pitching stud Greg Malley makes his debut after an injury sidelined him for the 2008 campaign.

This may seem like a lot to ask for, but it is certainly possible. While the Crimson may not be the Ivy League champion that Baseball America predicted it to be, it certainly can cause problems for even the best of the Ancient Eight, and while a Rolfe Division Championship is a pipe dream at this point, at the very least a rejuvenated Harvard can be a very painful thorn in the side of its rivals as they attempt to realize their own title aspirations.

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