Suter and Harvard’s Aces Give the Crimson a Stacked Deck

Standing at 6’5” with 100 strikeouts to his name after just two seasons of college baseball, junior pitcher Brent Suter is the pitcher Ivy League teams least want to face, according to a College Baseball Insider poll. The lefty also received preseason recognition from Ancient Eight coaches as one of the league’s top three starting pitchers.

With Suter on the mound, the Harvard baseball team is in good hands.

“Brent has done so much to take what was already super athletic and build and make himself strong and throw hard and be durable,” senior catcher Cole Arledge said. “[Our pitching staff] plays a lot of games in the summer and they work really hard, so you have to give a lot of credit to the pitchers.”

A sophomore last season, Suter earned first-team All-Ivy accolades as a starting pitcher after recording a perfect 4-0 record in Ivy League games. Suter will likely lead from the mound again this year, as part of a Harvard pitching staff that should be one of, if not the top, staff in the league. His dominant performance last season included 33 strikeouts in 33.0 innings pitched.

Coming off of what Harvard coach Joe Walsh called “an unbelievable summer,” Suter has recently earned the attention of major league scouts.

“I’ve been contacted by some major league teams…[and have been] doing some interviews and calls.” Suter said. “It’s really exciting, but right now I’m just focused on helping the team win.”

Having a player like Suter pitching for Harvard benefits the Crimson greatly, but, because Ivy League baseball teams play up to five games each weekend, one strong pitcher is not enough to establish a dominant presence in the league. Luckily for Harvard, the 2011 Crimson pitching staff is currently the deepest it’s been in several years.

“What I’m most excited about [this season] is having a good core of starting pitchers,” said senior Sean O’Hara, who garnered first-team All-Ivy honors at shortstop last season. “We didn’t have that in the last few years, which is kind of a problem, because we play three or four games in a weekend.”

“We have four, five, six really good pitchers that can give you starts and can beat anybody,” Arledge added. “I think that’s going to be the big difference this year. Hitting, I think we’re similar. Guys are one year older, and we didn’t really lose very much, but pitching is just awesome and, as a catcher, I’m just really excited.”

The lineup of starting pitchers for the Crimson will likely include Suter, senior right-handed pitcher Max Perlman, senior lefty Eric Eadington, and junior right-hander Conner Hulse, veterans all looking to lead defensive efforts for Harvard.

“We’re rolling out a weekend staff that can compete with every team in the Ivy League and in the country,” Suter said. “We think we can keep the team in the game every game by eliminating runs, keeping game at quick tempo, and throwing strikes.”

Perlman, a second-team All-Ivy selection his freshman year, had an impressive junior campaign, including a four-inning shutout of Brown last year, after an elbow injury forced him to the sideline for most of his sophomore season.

“Perlman’s back to where he needs to be just as a dominating pitcher,” Walsh said. “Eadington, he’s a lefty capable of throwing 90. We don’t see many teams in the big leagues that have that. Hulse…has gone from being an 86-87 guy to a 91-92 guy. “

A strong crew of reinforcements, including sophomore right-handers Matt Doyle, Joey Novak, and Danny Moskovits, will likely make a big impact on the mound as well.

“[A successful season] has a lot to do with having solid starting pitchers, but our pitching staff is very deep,” Arledge said. “I don’t think we’re going to ever run out of quality pitchers.”

“We had a scout day in the fall and we had nine guys throwing 88 [mph] and above,” Walsh continued. “We didn’t have Eadington, so it’s really 10. We have some power arms on this team, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you get that breaking ball and those sliders.”

Overall, the Crimson boasts three freshman pitchers and 16 upperclassman arms. And on a Harvard team that has few power hitters and a strong defense, the Crimson’s pitchers will need to take on a big role if the team hopes to make a run at its first Ancient Eight title since 2005.

“Our team goal is first and foremost to win the Ivy League,” Suter said. “We feel not only that we have worked hard enough, but that we have the talent and the drive to do it.”

“As a [pitching] staff, we want to keep a low ball-to-strike ratio, keep runs down, keep hits down,” he said. “But most of all to keep team in the game every single game.”

Though only time will tell if Harvard will win the program’s 20th Ivy championship this year, the pitching staff looks promising to Walsh.

“They’re all capable pitchers,” Walsh said. “Right now, we’re really excited because of the number of arms we have.”

—Staff writer Catherine E. Coppinger can be reached at ccoppinger@college.harvard.edu.