Baseball Gives Up Eight Unearned in 13-10 Loss to Eagles

­Three errors and five walks plagued the Harvard baseball team Wednesday afternoon as the team allowed eight unearned runs in a loss to Boston College, 13-10. Playing its sixth game in five days, Harvard had to use six pitchers in the team’s third consecutive loss. Following Monday’s loss to UMass in which it left 12 runners on base, the Crimson (16-17 overall, 5-7 Ivy League) was able to bounce back on offense against the Eagles (18-18, 6-11 ACC).

“We were pretty poised in the box,” Harvard coach Bill Decker said. “Monday was like a hangover Monday for us. I told the staff I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years and that was one of the top five [worst offensive performances].”

Harvard jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Senior centerfielder Mike Martin started the scoring, taking Eagles starter Kyle Dunster deep to lead off the game. Sophomore shortstop Drew Reid continued his hot hitting, doubling before being driven in by junior second baseman Mitch Klug.

Dunster was pulled after just two-thirds of an inning and was replaced by junior lefty Tyler Hinchliffe, who shut down the Crimson for the rest of the first and the next three frames.

Freshman Ian Miller got the start for Harvard but he also did not make it past the second inning when, after being held scoreless in the first inning, Boston College rallied for three runs in both the second and third innings.

In the second, Miller loaded the bases and a sac fly by sophomore Johnny Adams cut the Crimson lead in half. A flyball to Reid looked like it would end the frame but the ball bounced off the sophomore’s glove, allowing two more runs to score.

“As an infielder and as a position player, it’s tougher to see errors out there,” Reid said.

Junior Sean O’Neill surrendered three more runs in the third on two doubles and a triple before the Harvard offense finally got to Hinchliffe in the fifth. After the junior walked two, unleashed a wild pitch, and allowed a single to Martin, Klug hit a sac fly that Pellagrini Diamond’s spacious center field kept in the yard. Captain Ethan Ferreira subsequently crushed a double to cut the Eagles’ lead to one.

The wheels started to come off for the Crimson in the bottom of the fifth. With a runner on second and one out, a routine fly ball to right field appeared to be dropped on the exchange from Connor Quinn’s glove to his right hand but the umpires ruled that the freshman never established possession.

“We have to catch that infield popup in the second inning and that ball in right field,” Decker said. “But that’s what baseball is, you have to minimize that and offensively, you have to build on the positive things that happened.”

The error came back to bite Harvard as sophomore Michael Strem drove in a run and Adams lined an offering from junior Joey Sliepka over the left field wall for a three-run homer to put BC ahead 10-5. The Eagles offense tacked on to its lead with three more runs in the sixth and submariner Travis Ferrick slammed the door on Harvard as the shadows crept in on the Heights.

BC was able to turn a 4-6-3 double play in the seventh to stop a Crimson rally that had produced three runs, leaving it ahead five. As Harvard sought to make a comeback, a bright spot on the mound was junior Shaun Rubin. The lefty worked two scoreless innings, surrendering just one hit and striking out three.

Freshman Austin Black picked up the first two hits of his collegiate career and drove in two runs. The top of the Crimson’s order bounced back after struggling to pick up key hits in Monday’s loss to UMass. Harvard’s one through six hitters combined for 10 hits and nine RBIs.

“For the offense, I think we’re trying to stay through the middle, trying to hit the ball in the deepest part of the ballpark,” Reid said. “It’s a finicky game like that, a little adjustment like that can work big time. I think we’re really coming into our own and swinging the bats pretty well.”