Crimson Bats Wake Up, Prevent Sweep in First Series

A quick glance at the Harvard baseball team’s record after its first series of the season—a four-game set this weekend against Jacksonville State in Jacksonville, Ala.—might elicit a heavy sigh from the viewer, indicating a resigned preparedness to watch the Crimson struggle through another difficult campaign.

But Harvard’s 1-3 mark is slightly misleading. The Crimson’s production at the plate—which was virtually nonexistent during certain stretches last season—appears to be in top form, and a few isolated meltdowns overshadowed promising outings by several Harvard pitchers this weekend.

After the team’s bats struggled to shake off the cobwebs in Game 1 on Friday against the Gamecocks—a 4-1 loss, and the Crimson’s first live action outdoors this year—the Harvard offense came alive to string together 26 runs in the final three contests of the series.

The Crimson’s pitching and defense couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain in a 12-10 loss in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, falling apart in the fifth and sixth innings and squandering an 8-1 lead.

Harvard came into the seventh and final frame of the nightcap down 7-0, but erupted with six runs to nearly complete a thrilling comeback.

In the final contest of the series yesterday, the Crimson picked up its first win of the season in a dominant 10-3 victory.

“I thought that we showed a lot of positive signs,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “Each of the four ballgames we had a chance to win.”

HARVARD 10, JACKSONVILLE STATE 3

In the last contest of the Crimson’s four-game tilt against the Gamecocks yesterday, everything finally came together for Harvard.

The squad received encouraging outings on the mound from two of its highly-touted rookies, Brent Suter and Marcus Way.

Suter got the starting nod, and delivered an outstanding seven-inning performance in which he allowed just three runs on six hits and struck out seven Jacksonville State batters. Way—known more for his power bat than his pitching prowess—displayed a strong arm in two perfect innings of relief.

“Those two, combined with [freshman pitcher and Saturday’s Game 2 starter Conner] Hulse, Coach Walsh likes to call them bulldogs,” Crimson captain Harry Douglas said. “That’s really what they proved.”

Senior outfielder Tom Stack-Babich paced Harvard offensively, smashing a tape-measure three-run homer in the top of the fourth.

“I flipped a changeup out onto the soccer field,” he said. “I hit it pretty hard.”

JACKSONVILLE STATE 7, HARVARD 6

After the Crimson let the Gamecocks come back from a seven-run deficit in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Harvard almost returned the favor in the nightcap.

Down 7-0 in the top of the seventh inning, the Crimson kept the runners moving with a string of singles and walks, including RBI base knocks by sophomore Tyler Albright, senior Taylor Meehan, Stack-Babich and Way.

But with the Jacksonville State lead cut down to one, sophomore Thomas Zollo—who had singled earlier in the inning after coming in as a pinch hitter—struck out to end the game.

“It’s definitely positive that we didn’t give up at the end,” Douglas said. “We weren’t going to give away any more plays, innings or games...It was just a little too late.”

JACKSONVILLE STATE 12, HARVARD 10

The Crimson appeared to be in control of the first contest of Saturday’s doubleheader, building an 8-1 lead in the opening innings of the game.

But sophomore ace Max Perlman was taken out of the game in the fourth frame after pulling his side (the severity of the injury will be determined this week), and his successors could not finish the job.

With little help from the Harvard defense—which committed two errors in an eight-run sixth by the Gamecocks—Meehan, freshman pitcher Will Keuper, and junior Dan Zailskas were tatooed by the Jacksonville State offense to the tune of 11 runs.

“That inning was just [about] a lack of focus overall,” Douglas said. “That’s something we’re going to work to fix.”

Down 12-8, the Crimson was unable to make a comeback, and the game slipped away.

JACKSONVILLE STATE 4, HARVARD 1

Rusty from not having played outdoors all year thanks to the baseball-averse Cambridge climate, the Crimson offense struggled in its first game of the season.

Zailskas provided all of Harvard’s production with a solo home run, but the Crimson wasted a solid outing by sophomore starter Dan Berardo, who gave up just one run in five and a third innings of work.

“Berardo was fantastic in that game,” Douglas said. “He was hitting all his spots. He looked really good.”

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