Harvard Baseball Splits Weather-Shortened Series with Princeton After Near No-Hitter from Pauley

In a season soaked with struggle and a weekend battered by rain, the Crimson finally caught a ray of light.

With Ivy League positioning on the line, Harvard baseball showed flashes of elite pitching and timely offense in its abbreviated series against Princeton. Harvard (5-21, 3-8 Ivy) split a Friday doubleheader against Princeton (8-24, 5-6 Ivy) at O’Donnell Field, dropping the opener 1-0 before bouncing back with a dominant outing from sophomore right-hander Truman Pauley to take game two, 3-2.

Originally scheduled as a standard Saturday-Sunday series, heavy rain forced the Crimson and Tigers to play a Friday doubleheader instead. Conditions remained unfavorable into the weekend, and the series-deciding third game slated for Sunday was officially canceled the morning of and postponed indefinitely.

Despite the shortened series, the Crimson made the most of its time on the field — thanks in large part to its starting rotation, which included junior right-hander Callan Fang and Pauley. Fang — last year’s Ivy League Pitcher of the Year — held Princeton scoreless through seven innings in the opener, while Pauley came within inches of a no-hitter in game two.

Pauley, in particular, delivered one of the most dominant outings in recent Crimson memory.

Harvard 0, Princeton 1

Harvard dropped the series opener despite one of its best pitching outings of the season.

Junior right-hander Callan Fang delivered a standout performance on the mound, tossing a career-high 8.0 innings and allowing just one run on four hits. He issued three walks and struck out four, keeping the Princeton offense in check for the majority of the game. Fang was especially effective in the early and middle innings, retiring the side in order in the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth frames. His command was especially visible in the top of the seventh, when the Tigers put runners on first and second with no outs. But Fang calmly navigated the jam, retiring the next three batters to escape unscathed.

The sole run of the game came in the top of the eighth. Princeton’s Jay Mentink led off the inning with a double, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a groundout to shortstop. The run, however, proved to be the difference despite Fang’s best efforts.

First-year left-hander Luca Alagheband took over in the ninth and kept Harvard within striking distance. He tossed a clean frame, allowing no hits and recording a strikeout. Alagheband also benefited from Harvard’s third double play of the night — one of several standout moments for the Crimson defense.

At the plate, the Crimson offense recorded six hits but couldn’t break through against Princeton starter Andrew D’Alessio, who delivered a dominant outing of his own. D’Alessio threw a career-high eight innings, allowing no runs with eight strikeouts and no walks. He was particularly effective from the fourth through the seventh, retiring 12 of the 13 batters he faced during the middle innings. Harvard’s best scoring chance came in the second when junior Jordan Kang laced a two-out double into left-center, but a groundout ended the threat. In the fourth, the Crimson put a runner on second following a single and an error, but D’Alessio again worked out of the inning with two strikeouts and a groundout.

Despite scattering six hits, the Crimson couldn’t find the timely one they needed to push a run across. Princeton’s bullpen closed the door in the ninth, sealing the 1-0 win and preserving the hard-luck loss for Harvard.

Harvard 3, Princeton 2

In game two, the Crimson turned to Pauley, and the sophomore delivered his best outing in a Harvard uniform, striking out 12 Tigers over 8.1 innings while allowing just one hit. The no-hitter was broken up in the ninth with a double, but Pauley exited with one of the best pitching performances in recent Crimson history.

Had he finished the game without surrendering a hit, Pauley would have become the first Harvard pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Ivy League play since 2018 — and only the second since 2001. The outing marked Pauley’s second straight impressive conference start; just a week earlier, he tossed six shutout innings against Dartmouth, striking out six while allowing just four hits.

“I wasn’t that dialed in until the eighth inning. And I was like ‘Oh, Coach is letting me go for it. I really gotta try and lock in right now,” Pauley said in a postgame interview with Harvard Athletics.

“Going out in the ninth today, that’s the best experience I’ve ever had,” he added.

Pauley’s 12-strikeout outing pushed him to second in the Ivy League in both strikeouts and opponents’ batting average (.191), continuing a turnaround from early-season struggles — including a 7.11 ERA entering the weekend.

Harvard gave him early support in the bottom of the third with Giberti and sophomore Jack Rickheim placing down back-to-back bunts.

With runners in scoring position, senior William Lybrook and sophomore Tyler Shulman came through with RBI singles to give the Crimson a 2-0 lead — a welcome return to the consistent hitting that had been missing in key Ivy matchups earlier this season.

Shulman added another run-scoring single in the seventh, bringing home senior George Cooper to extend the lead to 3-0.

Defensively, Harvard stayed sharp. After Pauley exited with one out in the ninth, sophomore Ryan McHugh — Pauley’s roommate — forced a game-ending double play to secure his second save of the season.

The victory marked the first time this year Harvard has won when scoring fewer than four runs.

The Crimson now turns its attention to the rest of a pivotal seven-game homestand, beginning with a midweek tilt against Stonehill on Tuesday before welcoming Cornell and Columbia for back-to-back Ivy League series. With the Beanpot Championship at Fenway Park on April 29, Harvard will look to carry forward the momentum from Friday’s breakthrough as it enters a crucial stretch of the season.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Saketh Sundar can be reached at saketh.sundar@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @saketh_sundar.