Baseball Gets Swept by Top-Ranked Gators

After splitting its first four games of the season at the Wake Forest Tournament, the Harvard baseball team was swept by top-ranked Florida (17-1) in a three-game series this weekend in Gainesville. The games marked the first time the Crimson (2-5) has played a No. 1 ranked team during coach Bill Decker’s tenure and were the first of nine the team will play this week in the Sunshine State.

“[Sean] Poppen [and I] have proven that we can compete with teams like that and we went in with that mentality,” junior pitcher Nick Gruener said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t win those games, but we definitely put up a good fight in both games on Saturday. I was pretty fired up about the weekend overall and I was pretty proud of us for doing what we did.”

FLORIDA, 3, HARVARD, 1

In what was the closest of the weekend’s three contests, the Gators rode the arm of sophomore right-hander Alex Faedo to victory. Faedo struck out 13 and only surrendered two hits in eight and a third innings of work. Gruener, a Florida native, held his own against a potent offense. The junior held Florida to three runs in seven strong innings. The Gators’ offense had tattooed Crimson pitching for 25 runs in the weekend’s first two games.

“If you make a mistake pitch, they’re going to capitalize on that,” Gruener said. “You have to throw a perfect game against a lineup like that.”

Both offenses were held scoreless through the game’s first six innings. The visitors did not record their first hit until junior Josh Ellis reached on a single in the top of the seventh. Nelson Maldonado’s double in the bottom half of the frame drove in Peter Alonso and Jeremy Vasquez to give Florida the only runs it would need. Maldonado scored later in the frame on a squeeze by sophomore centerfielder Nick Horvath.

Harvard manufactured a run in the ninth after freshman leftfielder Trent Bryan doubled with one out to remove Faedo from the game. Senior second baseman Mitch Klug reached first on a throwing error that allowed Bryan to claim the run but junior left-hander Kirby Snead slammed the door on the Harvard rally.

FLORIDA, 9, HARVARD, 2

In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Crimson and its ace, senior Sean Poppen, squared off against the nation’s top collegiate pitcher, A.J. Puk, who many scouts believe will be the top pick in June’s MLB Draft. Poppen held his own early on before getting knocked around by the Gators’ offense as the game progressed while Puk struggled with command issues in a game in which neither starter made it out of the sixth inning.

Much like Gruener, Poppen did not surrender a run against Florida through the game’s first four innings. After a Dalton Guthrie sac fly plated Jonathan India in the fifth, the Gators’ offense came alive during the following frame. Two doubles and a single ended Poppen’s day and the hosts finished the inning holding a 5-1 lead after Crimson senior Nick Scahill allowed Maldonado to record a three-run home run. Florida added four more runs over the next two innings while Harvard got one back in the top of the eighth when freshman first baseman Patrick McColl singled home classmate Jake Allen.

“They’re the highest caliber pitchers that we’re going to face,” captain DJ Link said. “It’s a good challenge for us and it forces you as a hitter to simplify everything and not try to do too much. Overall, our hitters stepped up to the challenge and did pretty well.”

FLORIDA, 16, HARVARD, 5

The Gators jumped on Crimson sophomore Ian Miller for five runs in the weekend’s first two innings and then hung six more on senior T.J. Laurisch in the third. All told, Florida finished Friday’s game with 16 runs on 20 hits. Freshman second baseman Deacon Liput led the Gators with four runs batted in while Guthrie and sophomore designated hitter J.J. Schwarz got in on the action with three hits apiece.

Harvard’s offense scored more runs and had more hits on Friday than it did in its two games on Saturday combined. Sophomore third baseman John Fallon was a triple away from the cycle in three at-bats.

“He’s on fire right now and he’s a guy that’s going to be in the middle of our lineup and he’s been playing really solid defense as well,” Link said. “We need him to keep going throughout the year, he’s an integral part of our lineup and our defense. He’s doing a great job and really stepping up and being a leader.”

Classmate Conor Quinn had two hits and drove in a run while Link also had two hits. Sophomore Noah Zavolas and senior Joey Sliepka combined for three and two-thirds scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

–Staff writer Stephen J. Gleason can be reached at stephen.gleason@thecrimson.com.