Comeback Secures Twinbill Split in Hanover

HANOVER, N.H.—Eliminated from the Rolfe Division race and resigned to another losing season, the Harvard baseball team began its doubleheader against Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. on Saturday looking like a team with little left to play for. The Crimson had no answer for the Big Green’s relentless style of play in the first game of the twinbill, losing handily by a score of 14-2.

But while there were few tangible rewards left to motivate Harvard (12-28, 10-10 Ivy) towards victory, the team still had its pride, and it came out in the nightcap better prepared to take down division-leading Dartmouth (22-13, 16-4 Ivy). A rejuvenated Crimson squad gutted out a gritty victory, sparked by the late-inning heroics that have been the trademark of Harvard’s victories this season. Captain Harry Douglas tripled home two runs in the top of the 10th and senior Tom Stack-Babich pitched 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief to give Harvard a 6-4 win in Game 2.

“After the first game we wanted to show that we were going to play with some heart,” Douglas said. “We wanted to come out hard and get a win.”

HARVARD 6, DARTMOUTH 4

Extra-inning affairs provide some of the most dramatic and nerve-wracking moments in baseball, allowing little room for error and intensifying the importance of every pitch. It is surprising to see a team with a losing record thrive in such an environment, but that is exactly what the Crimson has done this season.

After Harvard tied the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader at four in the top of the ninth, and Stack-Babich held the Big Green scoreless in the bottom of the frame, the Crimson put two runners on base in the 10th inning for Douglas.

The Harvard captain delivered, driving an 0-2 pitch from Dartmouth closer Ryan Smith the opposite way into the right-field corner for the go-ahead triple, scoring sophomore Dillon O’Neill and senior Taylor Meehan.

“I was just trying to get a pitch to put in play,” Douglas said. “The fastball came in low and away, and I was just trying to get the good part of the bat on it.”

In the bottom of the 10th, Stack-Babich came through with an efficient end to his outstanding relief outing, inducing weak groundouts from the top three hitters in the Big Green lineup, including Dartmouth’s marquee slugger, Nick Santomauro.

The win gives the Crimson a 3-0 record in extra-inning games this season.

In the early innings, the game appeared to have the markings of a pitchers’ duel between Harvard rookie starter Brent Suter and the Big Green’s Ben Murray. But Suter injured his calf in the bottom of the fifth and was removed from the game after he tried to pitch through the pain but lost his effectiveness. After Dartmouth got on the board with a sacrifice fly, Big Green cleanup hitter Mike Pagliarulo belted a two-run homer off of lefty freshman reliever Will Keuper to give his team a 3-0 lead.

The Crimson responded in kind in the bottom of the inning, when senior Matt Rogers turned on a Murray pitch and launched it over the left field fence.

“I thought Rogers ran into a mistake pitch there,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said. “I give Rogers some credit, but they had him 0-2 and put it right up there.”

The Crimson would go down 4-2 before executing its late-game comeback.

DARTMOUTH 14, HARVARD 2

Youth has its charms, but in baseball it can also be a burden.

Because of the injuries and ineffectiveness that have plagued many of the Crimson’s veteran pitchers, the Harvard staff is comprised largely of freshmen. The team’s rookie hurlers have displayed potential and turned out some impressive performances this season, but at times their inexperience has produced rough outings.

That was the case in the opener of Saturday’s twinbill, in which the freshman trio of Jonah Klees, Jeff Reynolds, and Marcus Way was unable to minimize its struggles and fell victim to a hard-hitting Big Green lineup. Klees failed to make it out of the second frame, getting tagged for six runs, with the big blast coming on a three-run shot by Johnathon Santopadre. Walsh attributed Klees’ mistake pitch to Santopadre to the rookie getting his signals crossed on a missed pickoff opportunity.

“We had a pick on at second,” Walsh said. “When [Klees] threw the pitch he realized, ‘Uh-oh, I messed up.’ I think he just kind of laid it in there.”

Klees was relieved by his classmate Reynolds, who got through 4 2/3 innings of work but allowed seven runs, five of which were earned. Way came in with two outs in the sixth, letting two of his inherited runners cross the plate before giving up an earned run of his own.

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