Harvard Comes From Behind and Keeps Momentum in Sweep of Penn

Someone turned on the power at O’Donnell Field.

The Harvard baseball team’s bats came alive in a two-game sweep of Gehrig Division leader Penn (12-13, 3-3 Ivy) at home on Saturday.

The Crimson scored 22 runs in its two victories—its highest scoring two-game series of the season.

“It’s huge for us [to take this sweep],” said junior captain and catcher Tyler Albright.

Harvard batters hit .421 on the day, and sophomores Marcus Way and Jeff Reynolds each homered to lead the Crimson in the sweep.

Strong winds blowing out to right field benefited left-handed hitters, and it seemed that every ball lifted to right found its way into the bushes beyond the fence.

“With that wind blowing, I wish I had seven other lefties in the lineup,” Harvard coach Joe Walsh said.

“We had a lot of long-pitch at bats, saw a lot of pitches, got a lot of guys on, and had big innings,” Albright said.

HARVARD 12, PENN 9

The Crimson scored six runs in the fifth inning and took advantage of another strong pitching performance from junior Eric Eadington to win the second game of the doubleheader and finish the one-day sweep of the Quakers.

Down 1-0 after the first inning and puzzled by junior Paul Cusick’s curveball, the Crimson managed three runs in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.

In the fifth, following Way’s RBI double, Cusick walked junior Sam Franklin and senior Dan Zailskas with the bases loaded, adding two more runs. Brent Suter made the two free passes hurt with an RBI single through the right side, scoring Franklin and Albright. With the hit-and-run on, freshman Kyle Larrow then grounded out to the pitcher, giving Zailskas time to score the sixth run of the inning before junior Dillon O’Neill struck out looking to end the frame.

“They helped us a little with the base on balls, but we did have some clutch hits that inning,” Walsh said. “Anytime you’re going to hang up a big inning, you have to get some big hits in there.”

Penn opened up its half of the sixth with back-to-back solo homers by junior Dan Williams and senior William Gordon, but Eadington quickly settled in and recorded three quick outs. The junior came back strong in the seventh, striking out the side on 10 pitches. Eadington earned his third win of the season, giving up four runs in seven innings while striking out 10.

The Harvard pitcher also made two highlight-reel plays in the second inning, catching a hard-hit one-hopper off the bat of junior Will Davis. On the next play, Quaker senior Steve Grable hit a pitch hard up the middle to Eadington, who calmly knocked down the line drive and threw Grable out at first.

“If he had ever made that play before [today], I might have believed it,” Walsh joked. “He’s not our great fielding pitcher.”

Down 12-5 in the top of the ninth, Penn loaded the bases against freshman reliever Andrew Ferreira, and Quaker junior Jeremy Maas hit a grand slam to left, quickly turning what seemed to be a blowout into a three-run game. Walsh called Zailskas to the mound from first base, and he easily got the final two outs to clinch the sweep and earn his third save of the season.

“We had Dan ready in the seventh just in case,” Walsh said. “[He] came in with a three run lead and I like that [situation].”

HARVARD 10, PENN 9

The Crimson erased a six-run deficit with two consecutive four-run frames in the fourth and fifth innings to sneak out of the first game of the twin-bill with a victory.

The Quakers put up eight runs on sophomore pitcher Connor Hulse in the top of the fourth inning, in which the visitors sent 14 batters to the plate and easily overcame an early 2-0 Harvard lead. Still, Albright maintained that the squad was unfazed.

“When we came in from that inning, everyone was positive and ready to go,” the junior captain said.

The Crimson quickly scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth, closing the gap to a more manageable 8-6. Larrow hit an RBI double to deep center field, scoring Way. Senior Chris Rouches followed it with a double of his own, plating Larrow and Reynolds. After advancing to third on a hit-and-run play, Rouches scored on a sacrifice fly by Franklin.

Harvard followed the four-run fourth with four more in the fifth, pulling ahead of the Quakers for good. Following a double by Albright, Way hit a long drive over the right field fence off of Penn sophomore Patrick Brennan to even the score at eight. Following hits by Reynolds and Zailskas and a walk to Rouches, O’Neill singled through the left side of the infield, scoring two runs that proved to be the difference in the game.

“It was good to get the bats going,” Way said. “We dug ourselves a hole, and then we did a good job of coming back.”

Penn threatened in the sixth, scoring a run to close within one, but sophomore Will Keuper closed it out for his second save of the season, pitching two scoreless innings and giving up only two hits.

“[Keuper is] a cool cucumber out there on the mound,” Walsh said. “Having him to finish that first game was real important for us.”

Hulse pitched three scoreless innings before giving up eight runs in 1/3 of an inning in the fourth. Junior Dan Berardo earned the win after relieving Hulse in the fourth and going 1.2 innings. Brennan took the loss for the Quakers, surrendering three runs in just 1/3 of an inning.