Baseball Drops Three of Four at Samford to Start Season

Baseball teams across the nation are itching to get back on the diamond after the break, and the time has finally come.

The Harvard baseball team kicked off its 2018 campaign with a four-game set at Samford last weekend in Birmingham, Ala. The Crimson looked to begin its quest to improve upon last year’s 19-23 season with a fast start, but the Bulldogs (5-3) took three of four games to temporarily slow Harvard (1-3) down.

“First of all, it was absolutely amazing to be out on the field after all the work we’ve put in in the fall and a couple weeks in the spring,” said sophomore pitcher Kieran Shaw, who made his first career start against Samford. “It was awesome just to be out there with the guys, playing baseball, just being at the field in that environment, throwing the baseball around outside in some nice weather.”

The two teams treated fans to copious helpings of extra baseball upon the Crimson’s arrival at Joe Lee Griffin Field on Friday afternoon. Not only was a doubleheader scheduled, but both games went extra innings, forcing the squads to eventually play 25 total innings of baseball in one day. The two teams split Friday’s doubleheader before a drained Harvard squad lost both of Saturday’s games to drop the series.

“The first weekend is always a readjustment and a ‘get-adjusted’ period for any team, especially when coming out of the Northeast and playing in the bubble,” Shaw said. “We learned a lot of things about ourselves.”

At the end of the 2017 season, Samford was ranked 102nd on the NCAA Div. I RPI rankings, while the Crimson was ranked 189th. This weekend marked the first-ever meetings between the two teams.

SAMFORD 3, HARVARD 1 (SEVEN INNINGS)

The tail end of Saturday’s double-header was originally scheduled for Sunday, but was stacked on top of Saturday’s game due to weather. As tired as both teams were, the contest went the way of the Bulldogs, as Samford’s pitching duo of sophomore Hamp Skinner and junior Connor Burns held Harvard’s offense to just three hits once again.

“The first day, we had a lot of energy, but that’s something we need to work on coming into the second day of the series, as our bodies are tired and we might not be mentally a sharp,” Shaw said. “We’ve got to be able to come back strong, both physically and mentally.”

The Crimson’s lone run came off the bat of junior catcher Devan Peterson, who singled to right center to plate freshman DH Buddy Hayward.

Junior pitcher Kevin Stone, who went 4-2 and pitched the second-most innings on the team last year, tossed six innings of three-run ball, giving up eight hits and three walks. Stone was credited with the loss.

Hayward, for his part, went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored.

SAMFORD 8, HARVARD 0

Game one of Saturday’s doubleheader gave Harvard a preview of the pitching dominance that rolled over into the last game of the series.

Sophomore third baseman Hunter Bigge and junior center fielder Trent Bryan were the only Crimson players who were able to collect hits against Samford freshman pitcher Samuel Strickland. Bigge went 2-for-2 with a walk and Bryan went 1-for-2, but it all went for naught as no other Harvard players reached base.

On the other hand, the Bulldogs offense banged out 12 hits and got RBIs from six different players. Most of the damage came late in the game—after holding onto a 2-0 lead through the sixth, Samford broke it wide open by posting six runs in the seventh inning against senior pitcher Garrett Rupp.

Shaw got his first start of his college career and posted a solid five-inning outing, giving up two runs, six hits, and three free passes while striking out five. The sophomore righty still, however, noted room for improvement.

“To be honest, I didn’t have my best stuff out there on the mound,” Shaw said. “It was a grind and battle day for me. I never got into that happy place where it’s just boom, boom, boom…I’m happy with where I got to, but I know that I can play way better, and I know our team can play way better in a series.”

HARVARD 5, SAMFORD 3 (15 INNINGS)

The highlight of the Crimson effort came in Friday’s nightcap, as the visitors simply outwilled the home team in a brutally long game lasting nearly seven hours.

Junior first baseman Patrick McColl, the team leader last year in RBIs, finally drove in the winning two runs in the top of the 15th inning with a double to left field. The winning hit came off of Bulldog junior pitcher Jack Rude and put Harvard in front, 5-3.

“Whatever team could stick together for the longest is the one that’s going to come out on top,” sophomore shortstop Chad Minato said. “We just really came together in a defining game for our team. I think it boosted everybody’s morale going forward.”

Bigge, also a pitcher, got the W with two innings of scoreless relief work in extras. Junior Simon Rosenblum-Larson got the no-decision but sizzled in his first start of 2018, striking out eleven in six innings and allowing no walks.

On the offensive side, the Crimson struck first in the top of the sixth, as senior second baseman Matt Rothenberg tripled home leadoff man junior Ben Skinner and sophomore right fielder Jake Suddleson. Two innings later, Suddleson hit the team’s only home run of the weekend, a solo shot down the left field line.

However, Samford was able to respond both times, knotting up the score at two and then three as the game headed to extras.

SAMFORD 6, HARVARD 5 (10 INNINGS)

Harvard held multiple late leads but was unable to bring home the W, as ninth- and tenth-inning rallies by the Bulldogs befell the Crimson in the season opener.

Rothenberg, McColl, and junior P.J. Robinson all had multiple-hit days as the 2-4 hitters for Harvard, and senior pitcher Noah Zavolas pitched went seven innings, keeping his team in the game.

A three-run eighth gave the Crimson a 4-3 lead, but Samford knotted the game up in the bottom of the ninth to force extras.

With runners on the corners and no outs in the top of the tenth, Harvard managed to drive in a run to take a 5-4 lead, but back-to-back RBI doubles gave the home team a walk-off 6-5 win in the bottom half of the tenth.

—Staff writer Bryan Hu can be reached at bryan.hu@thecrimson.com.