Athlete of the Week: Timoney Tosses Gem to Lead Harvard to Series Split Against Yale

When the Crimson took O’Donnell Field on Saturday aftenoon looking for its second win of the day against its archrival, the team turned to senior right-hander Matt Timoney to do what he does best—lead his team to victory.

After the Harvard offense exploded for 10 runs in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Yale, it was Timoney who stole the show in the second half of the twin bill with a commanding performance. The senior dominated the Bulldogs in what was one of his best collegiate performances, coming just four outs shy of throwing a complete game. Timoney struck out seven while allowing just six hits and no earned runs in a winning effort.

“That was huge for us as a team,” junior reliever T.J. Laurisch said. “He kept wanting to pitch to another hitter and another hitter. It was huge from a team perspective to get that many out of him and get such a good performance out of him, especially in one of his last starts.”

The victory kept the Crimson alive in the Red Rolfe Division at the time. But with two losses on Sunday, Harvard was eliminated from Ivy League Championship contention.

The Crimson beat Yale, 7-0, as the offense posted six runs in the game’s first two frames. Timoney entered the weekend as the team’s most consistent starter, leading the rotation in wins and earned run average and solidified his role as staff ace by picking up his sixth win of the season and lowering his ERA to 3.63 overall and 3.09 in Ivy League play.The Glenside, Pa. native has been at his best in Ivy League play.

Harvard is 3-1 in his conference starts, having allowed just eight earned runs in his four Ivy League outings in his last season donning Crimson. After walking 14 batters in his first six starts of the season, Timoney has consistently been able to locate all of his pitches as of late. The righty has walked just three batters while striking out 15 in his last two starts.

“He’s a good pitcher to play behind,” senior infielder Jake McGuiggan said. “He’s very efficient and he likes to work fast. He’s pitched well all season so we know that if we can get him a few runs, the chances are, we’re going to pick up a win.”

Timoney has been steadily improving ever since he graduated from boarding school at Mercersburg Academy in rural Pennsylvania. He has shaved more than half a run off of his ERA each season he has been in Cambridge, including a 1.13 drop in his ERA from his junior to senior year. The evolution of Timoney’s slider, which baffled Bulldog hitters Saturday afternoon, has led to an increase in strikeouts this season.

“I’ve put more focus on throwing my slider for strikes early in the count,” Timoney said. “With that, it’s just a simple changing my focal point a little higher so that it’s more consistently in the zone rather than curving away from the hitters. Once I’m able to get ahead of hitters, they’re more likely to chase my other pitches.”

On Saturday, Timoney threw 77 of his 114 pitches for strikes and did not allow a single extra-base hit. The righty has taken advantage of his first season as a fulltime starter and has played a big role in what will be the most successful Ivy League season of the senior’s career if the team is able to split its four-game series with Dartmouth this weekend to close out the season.

Timoney has served not only as the team’s go-to pitching option this year but also as a leader of the rotation. He and fellow fourth-year Tanner Anderson are the lone seniors on a predominantly young Crimson pitching staff. The two have accounted for only 28 percent of the total innings pitched this season.

“Matt Timoney is the only true pitcher in the senior class,” McGuiggan said. “He’s had a great career for us. He’s definitely progressed over the years as one of our better starting pitchers and I think that he really capped off his career in a good manner this season with a really good senior year.”

The Computer Science concentrator hopes to build off of one of his best performances as a member of the Crimson and take this year’s eight seniors out in style against Dartmouth.

“I just want to go out there and compete the same way,” Timoney said. “It would be special if I were to pitch well in my last game.”

—Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at sgleason@college.harvard.edu.