Crimson Quiet as Brown Nabs Crucial Sweep

After a disappointing Saturday afternoon, the Harvard baseball team returned to Murray Field at Brown yesterday looking to avenge a pair of ugly losses. Instead, the Crimson (10-26, 8-8 Ivy) left as befuddled as it had arrived, dropping its second twinbill in as many days and falling out of contention for the Ivy League crown.

Although falling to the Bears (19-16-1, 12-4) in four consecutive games signals a dismal weekend, Harvard showed some improvement in the 3-1 and 8-1 defeats, keeping both contests competitive early on. A stellar outing from junior Dan Zailskas in the morning and three innings of no-hit pitching from rookie Conner Hulse in the nightcap gave the the Crimson hope, but the squad failed to follow Brown’s example of consistent play.

“We tried to make adjustments based on what happened the day before,” captain Harry Douglas said. “But really, we didn’t make the adjustments too well. It’s just frustrating.”

The once-potent offense mustered only eight hits on the day, as Harvard’s bats appeared lost against the Bears’ starters.

“[The Brown pitchers] were nothing special,” freshman hurler Conner Hulse lamented. “We’ve seen better pitching all year long, but I felt like we weren’t extremely disciplined at the plate, swinging at pitches we shouldn’t have.”

The Crimson struck out 12 times on the day, drawing only four walks, and failed to set up meaningful scoring opportunities. Other than RBI singles from senior right fielder Tom Stack-Babich in each game, the offense did little to help its pitchers.

“You can’t blame the pitchers because the hitters haven’t produced,” Douglas said. “If we had our usual production that we have been having, we could have won today.”

BROWN 8, HARVARD 1

Leadoff man Dillon O’Neill walked to open the game and came around on Stack-Babich’s two-out single to give Hulse an early lead, but the Crimson offense would be dormant for the rest of the game.

Harvard enjoyed a lead for the first time all weekend, and remained ahead as Hulse worked three hitless innings. But the Bears fought back to tie the contest with a two-out RBI of their own from Dan Shapiro in the fourth. A throwing error from shortstop Matt Rogers an inning later gave Brown the lead for good before Hulse came undone in the sixth.

The freshman loaded the bases before yielding two singles and a double, which plated five runs for the Bears.

“I felt like I started out throwing well and just fell apart,” Hulse said. “I started making mistakes, and Brown is one of the best hitting teams in the Ivy League.”

The Bears showed consistency up and down the lineup, amassing 10 hits off the bats of seven different players and enjoying six RBI from the 7-8-9 spots in the order. Although freshman reliever Will Keuper held the home team to just one run in the final 2.2 innings, Harvard never threatened to catch its rivals. With three wins already under its belt on the weekend, Brown cruised to a clean sweep behind starter Will Weidig, who picked up his first victory of the season.

While the Bears now have a shot to catch Dartmouth for the Rolfe Division crown, Harvard finds itself relegated to the role of spoiler, looking to end its season next weekend with stronger efforts against the Big Green.

“Dartmouth has always been a pretty big rival of ours, so we’re looking to end the season on the right note,” Douglas said.

BROWN 3, HARVARD 1

The morning contest also began with a strong Crimson pitching performance, as Zailskas looked to spark a change for Harvard in its second twinbill. The junior starter went the distance for the Crimson, allowing three runs on eight hits and striking out two. The visitors spent the morning playing catch-up, after the Bears collected all three of their runs in the second on three singles and a sacrifice fly. Harvard responded in the fourth following a one-out double from Meehan, the team’s only extra-base hit of the game. With two outs, Stack-Babich again came through to knock home the runner and cut the deficit to 3-1.

But as much as Zailskas kept Brown’s offense in check, Bears sophomore starter Conor Burke matched him pitch for pitch. The right-hander commanded the contest through 5 1/3 innings—striking out five—before a leadoff walk and wild-pitch third strike put the tying runs on base.

With Stack-Babich looming in the batter’s box, the Bears turned to closer Matt Kimball, who picked up two saves on Saturday. The reliever delivered a crucial strikeout en route to 1 1/3 innings of one-hit ball. As Kimball worked towards his ninth save of the season, Harvard watched as its hopes of salvaging a weekend split evaporated.

“It’s frustrating because of how big this weekend was for us,” Douglas said. “It would have been nice [to pick up wins], but things just didn’t go our way this weekend.”

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