Harvard Splits Four-Game Series

Finishing off a tough road trip this weekend against the New York Institute of Technology (3-11, 0-0 ECC), the Harvard baseball team (3-15, 0-0 Ivy) split the four-game series with the Bears. Starting pitchers highlighted the team’s .500 weekend record, giving up only five earned runs in 22 innings.

“We’re a little disappointed,” junior pitcher Brent Suter said. “We wanted to do more than just split the series…We had two games slip away from us, but we feel confident to play Holy Cross [on Wednesday] and get the Ivy League season underway.”

Statistically, the defense also played better than in previous games this season, committing fewer errors, but the team made mistakes at critical moments to allow the games to slip away.

“We were hoping to win the four-game series, but at the same time there were a lot of positives that came out of the weekend,” senior pitcher Zack Hofeld said. “Every year you want to head into Ivy play with the most momentum possible, and we’ve started playing better baseball…Our defense has been getting better, and the bats are starting to come around.”

NYIT 5, HARVARD 3

In its final game of the weekend, the Crimson could not rally back after going down, 4-0, in the third inning on two unearned runs by NYIT. The inning featured a lead-off error and a catcher’s interference that put Harvard in a deep hole.

Offensively, the Crimson scattered eight hits but was not able to sustain a rally until the top of the fifth. Senior shortstop Sean O’Hara had Harvard’s only RBI, singling in senior centerfielder Dillon O’Neill.

Junior second baseman Jeff Reynolds later scored on a wild pitch to bring the deficit to two, but the Bears—who later added another run in the sixth—held the Crimson to no runs in the final four frames of the game.

Harvard finished the game leaving a total of 10 men on base, while committing two official scorer’s errors.

HARVARD 3, NYIT 0

Sunday’s first game featured a pitcher’s duel that Suter won for the Crimson. The junior threw a seven-inning shutout in which he struck out nine and only allowed three Bear batters to reach base.

“I was focusing on spotting my fastball, keeping them guessing, and I kept getting good results,” Suter said. “But it was a total team effort as the team played strong defense behind me.”

The game was tied at zero until the top of the fifth, when Harvard rallied to score its only runs of the night. The three-run inning was capped off by an O’Hara single to left, plating O’Neill.

HARVARD 10, NYIT 6

In the night half of Saturday’s play, the Crimson capitalized on six errors by the Bears to get its second win of the season.

Senior pitcher Max Perlman earned his first win of the season, collecting six strikeouts in five innings, while allowing two earned runs. Senior pitcher Ben Sestanovich closed the game out getting his first save of the season, allowing one earned run in four innings.

Harvard took the lead in the first inning on junior first baseman Marcus Way’s RBI single and never relinquished it. Reynolds hit a two-RBI single in the top of the second to bring the lead to five.

The Crimson gave up three runs to NYIT in the bottom of the seventh, and the lead shrank to one, 7-6. Way struck again, adding another RBI single to close out the game, contributing to his 3-for-5 game with a homer and three RBIs.

NYIT 3, HARVARD 2

In the first game of the weekend, the Crimson dropped a close game in seven innings after a late error gave the Bears the third run they needed to cap off the game.

Senior pitcher Eric Eadington struck out eight in five innings while giving up just one earned run, but his five walks eventually allowed two baserunners to score.

After giving up a single in the bottom of the second, a balk and passed ball moved the runner to third, allowing NYIT to take the early lead on an RBI groundout.

Harvard came back in the top of the fourth on a two-RBI single by senior catcher Cole Arledge, accounting for the only runs of the night for the offense.

The Bears retaliated with a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the fifth and then took the lead that sealed the game on an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth.