Crimson Takes Two From Bulldogs

The Ivy League baseball schedule is somewhat of a paradox, both generously forgiving and callously cruel.

A team with a woeful overall record can still be a contender as long as it excels against its conference foes, while a squad with a proven track record of success can easily be written off if it falters in Ancient Eight play.

For Harvard, the system has worked to its advantage. Or maybe the Crimson has worked the system. Either way, the team is 10-22 after sweeping Yale in yesterday’s doubleheader at O’Donnell Field, but is still very much alive in the Rolfe Division race thanks to its 8-4 record against Ivy opponents.

After falling behind early in Game 1 against the Bulldogs (10-16, 5-7 Ivy), Harvard clawed its way back to a 4-4 tie before junior first baseman Chris Rouches slammed a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to give the Crimson a 7-4 lead that it would maintain for the remainder of the seven-inning game.

In the nightcap, rookie starting pitcher Conner Hulse kept Harvard in the game with a gutsy two-run, eight-inning performance, and captain Harry Douglas gave the Crimson its second win of the day with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.

“Both games today were really big for us, especially the way that Dartmouth has been playing in our division,” Douglas said, referring to the Rolfe-leading Big Green (14-10, 11-1), which holds a three-game lead over Harvard. “We were looking to come out here and take two today, and we got the job done.”

HARVARD 3, YALE 2

Coming into the bottom of the ninth inning in the second game of yesterday’s twinbill, the Crimson had delivered an underwhelming performance on offense, stranding 11 runners on base and scoring just two runs.

Fortunately for Harvard, Hulse delivered a gem on the mound and freshman reliever Will Keuper shut down Yale in the top of the final inning to preserve a 2-2 tie.

Looking to reward the efforts of their rookie pitchers, the Crimson bats refused to squander yet another scoring opportunity in the bottom of the frame. With one out, sophomore center fielder Dillon O’Neill tapped a dribbler back to the mound, but Yale pitcher Eric Shultz threw the ball away, allowing O’Neill to reach first base safely and advance to second.

The Bulldogs then intentionally walked senior second baseman Taylor Meehan to put the double play into effect, bringing Douglas to the batter’s box.

The Harvard captain delivered, poking a ground ball through the right side of the infield for a single.

O’Neill chugged around third and headed for home, barely beating the throw from Bulldogs right fielder Zach Tobolowsky and emptying the home team’s dugout as the Crimson celebrated its walk-off win at home plate.

“I was just hoping to drive the ball,” Douglas said of his game-ending single. “I ended up getting enough of it to get it out of the infield. It feels good.”

But the Crimson would never have been in a position to win in the first place had it not been for Hulse, who spread five hits and three walks over eight innings, striking out seven batters and making just one costly mistake—a fastball left too high in the zone that Yale slugger Trygg Larsson-Danforth blasted over the right-field fence for a two-run shot.

Hulse was occasionally dominant and consistently effective, going deep into the game and providing some respite for a depleted Harvard pitching staff.

“That was just a great effort by Hulse,” Crimson coach Joe Walsh said. “It was a complete pitching game. Not only getting guys out, but giving us opportunities and not putting guys in scoring position.”

HARVARD 7, YALE 4

With the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader tied at four and Harvard threatening to take the lead, the bottom of the fifth inning played out like the climactic scene of a baseball comedy film.

Yale pitcher Chris Finneran lost control of the strike zone, issuing two walks to bring up Rouches and prompting a visit to the mound from his coach.

Bulldogs skipper John Stuper, knowing the game was hanging the balance, decided to bring out his secret weapon: Robert Gruber, a towering 6’7 righty relief pitcher with a funky side-armed delivery who drew whispered murmurs from a curious, and slightly intimidated, crowd in the bleachers.

Rouches followed the script, crushing the first pitch he saw from Gruber well over the fence in left field to give the Crimson a 7-4 lead.

“It was nice to see [Rouches] get the barrel down on the ball on a tough pitcher, especially since no one else had seen him,” Walsh said.

The Harvard bullpen then finished the job. Sophomore Dan Berardo, who had relieved junior starter Dan Zailskas in the top of the fifth, threw a scoreless sixth and handed the ball to senior Tom Stack-Babich.

Stack-Babich, who had already started to make up for a slow day at the plate with a highlight-reel leaping catch in right field earlier in the game, shut down Yale in the seventh and final frame to nail down the save and the first win of the day for the Crimson.

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