Harvard Gets Swept by UAB in Trip to South

When the Crimson scheduled its opening stretch of Southern games, it knew the risks of playing strong teams in midseason form. Harvard baseball (1-7) has benefited from challenging such high level competition in preparation for the Ivy season, but after a disheartening weekend—in which the Crimson dropped all four of its contests against UAB in Pensacola, Fla. and Birmingham, Ala.—the squad is looking to regroup and find its stride.

“Honestly, [the weekend] was pretty disappointing,” freshman starter Brent Suter said. “We should have been more competitive, but we’ll learn from it and move on.”

Despite a grim record, the Crimson has made some progress in its first two weeks of play. Many of Harvard’s young arms have seen action on the mound and the team’s bats have shown life throughout the lineup.

With another seven contests down south, the Crimson will have ample opportunity to prove itself against quality opponents, if it can fit all of its talented pieces together.

“We’re just going to come out and keep playing hard,” captain Harry Douglas said.

UAB 11, HARVARD 3

The Crimson completed its four-game set at Vestavia High School but could not muster a victory after falling behind early. Suter (1-1) struggled to open the game, allowing all seven of his earned runs in the first three innings. The rookie worked out of a jam in the second, but failed to silence the Blazer offense.

Harvard tried to respond behind RBI singles and two-hit days from senior Jon Roberts and sophomore Dillon O’Neill, but the Crimson was unable to spark a comeback against UAB ace Kyle Roberson (2-2). A Douglas homerun brought Harvard within 9-3 in the eighth, but the visitors’ relief pitching stumbled, as sophomore Taylor Meehan yielded two earned runs in the bottom half of the inning.

UAB 13, HARVARD 7

In Saturday’s evening game at Pensacola Junior College, the Crimson watched a commanding advantage evaporate once again. Harvard took an early 4-0 lead as freshman Jeff Reynolds doubled home two runs in the second inning, before being plated himself on a two-run bomb courtesy of junior Andrew Prince.

Unfortunately for Harvard, the Blazers also enjoyed the long ball in Game 3, with Andrew Manning, Brint Hardy, and Austin Taylor collecting homers in the second, third, and fourth to earn a 5-4 lead.

Senior right fielder Tom Stack-Babich responded by unloading his second homer of the season, but UAB tacled on two more runs in the the sixth to take a 7-5 lead.

The Crimson continued to fight hard, as back-to-back doubles in the eighth by Meehan and Albright tightened the contest and a Douglas single knotted the score at 7.

Things soon fell apart for the visitors, though, as a solid relief effort from freshman Will Keuper (0-1) melted into a six-run frame. Through 3.1 innings of work, the rookie allowed only six hits, but fellow rookie Marcus Way and Stack-Babich allowed five inherited runners to score, saddling Keuper with the loss.

UAB 13, HARVARD 0

The Saturday morning contest brought the weekend’s most lopsided results in a difficult start for freshman Connor Hulse (0-2). The Blazers collected 18 hits on the day—14 against the rookie—and silenced their opponent behind starter Beau Pender’s five stellar innings. The UAB hurler struck out eight and watched the only Crimson scoring opportunity fall short, as a runner was thrown out at the plate in a fourth-inning fielder’s choice.

The Blazers notched seven more runs in the fifth inning, pushing the lead to 13-0 and effectively ending the game after five frames.

“We’re young and inexperienced against really good hitting teams,” said Suter of the young pitching staff.

UAB 16, HARVARD 4

The Crimson drew first blood in the series with four runs in the fourth inning. After struggling to solve lefty Shay Crawford (2-1) the first time through the lineup, Harvard’s sluggers found a groove as Stack-Babich, Albright, Douglas, and sophomore Sean O’Hara alternated singles and doubles. By the time Zailskas ripped a single through the left side, the Crimson enjoyed a 4-0 lead.

Despite a strong outing from sophomore starter Dan Berardo, Harvard struggled after the second-year was forced from the game by a line drive into his glove hand. After allowing the tying run to score, Way yielded a three-run home run to take the loss for the Crimson.

Up 7-4, the Blazers continued to build on their lead, setting the tone for an offensive weekend onslaught that Harvard could not match.

—Staff writer Max N. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu.