Baseball Takes Two of Three in Opening Tournament

The last time the Harvard baseball team went two-for-three in its opening weekend, most of its current starters were in high school.

After a weekend in DeLand, Fla. at the Bright House Invitational, the Crimson (2-1) took home more wins in one Saturday than the 2008 and ’09 squads captured in both of their opening weekends put together.

“We definitely came out ready to play,” sophomore pitcher Brent Suter said. “We had a winning mindset.”

KANSAS STATE 6, HARVARD 1

Opening weekend optimism wasn’t enough against a top-heavy Wildcats batting order—especially junior Carter Jurica—who had four RBI for Kansas State.

“We didn’t beat ourselves,” Suter said. “We just ran into a really good ball club.”

Early in the game, Harvard seemed poised to take its third victory of the weekend. Sophomore second baseman Jeff Reynolds hit a home run in the top of the first and junior pitcher Eric Eadington held the Wildcats without a run in his first two innings back from an injury.

“It was good to be out there again,” Eadington said, “good to be healthy again.”

But Reynolds’ home run was all the offense the Crimson would get on Sunday. Kansas State would hit its stride soon enough, and Jurica’s two-run single in the third shifted the scoreboard in the Wildcats’ favor.

But the score stayed close for two more innings, and Eadington, who took the loss, left the game after the fifth with Harvard only down by one.

“I thought Eadington pitched really well,” Walsh said. “‘Boomer’ as we call him—flashing our upper-80 fastball.”

But Jurica struck again in the seventh with a two-run homer. The long ball proved to be the back-breaker for the Crimson, which allowed four runs in the inning en route to its first loss of the season.

HARVARD 6, STETSON 5

Fresh off its first season-opening win since 2007, the Crimson batters didn’t miss a beat against the Hatters, notching two runs in each of the first three innings to take a 6-1 lead that would withstand a late Stetson rally.

Junior Dillon O’Neill had the Hatters concerned early as he stole third base before a catcher error allowed the outfielder to find home plate.

Freshman Dan Moskovits sent Reynolds home on the next play, and before long, the Crimson held a commanding five-run lead.

But the Hatters kept creeping back into the game, reducing Harvard’s lead to one run with two innings to play.

After sophomore left-hander Jonah Klees held Stetson off through the eighth inning, and through two outs and two strikes in the ninth, all he had to do was pitch one last strike.

Klees did just that, inducing a swing, but the throw slipped through junior catcher Tyler Albright’s fingers, allowing the Hatter to advance to first base.

“Tyler Albright had played spectacularly all game, blowing guys out,” Crimson coach Joe Walsh said. “The ball trickled off Tyler’s glove. Now it’s two outs with the bases loaded.”

But Albright was spared punishment for his error as the next Stetson batter popped a fly ball to center, which O’Neill corralled easily.

HARVARD 9, NOTRE DAME 6

When Zach Hofeld allowed three runs in the top of the first inning, it looked to be a rough start to a new season.

“It kind of felt like games last year,” Suter said.

But by the end of the inning, the tide of the game had turned as the Crimson offense kicked off a new decade of baseball with five runs in the bottom of the first.

“We were hitting line drives all over the place,” Walsh said. “We came out hustling and getting aggressive, and next thing you know, our bats were alive.”

But replacing Hofeld with sophomore Conner Hulse couldn’t stop the offensive outpouring on both sides, and the Fighting Irish quickly tied the game back up with two runs in the second.

Hulse finally stayed Notre Dame’s bats in the top of the third, holding his opponent to one run over the next six innings.

The sophomore had seven strikeouts on the game.

“Conner did an outstanding job,” Walsh said.

And in the bottom of the third, Harvard swung itself to a three run lead from which the Fighting Irish would never be able to recover, as the Crimson stormed out to a 1-0 record for the first time since 2007.

“It was a good weekend for Crimson baseball,” Walsh said. “Offensively, defensively, pitching, I thought we played pretty well.”

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.