Freshman Hurlers Whitewash Columbia

NEW YORK CITY--The difference was pitching--Harvard had it and Columbia didn't.

Parlaying 14 hits into 18 runs, the Crimson baseball team rode shutout pitching from freshmen Bill Larson and Billy Doyle to a sweep of yesterday's doubleheader at the Lions' Andy Coakley Field by resounding 11-0 and 7-0 scores.

The wins upped Harvard's Eastern League record to 3-0, and improved its overall mark to 3-2.

Larson turned in a strong performance in the opener--allowing only five hits and one rally--but Doyle did him one better in the nightcap. The Waterbury, Conn., native twirled a two-hitter, fanning seven and pitching to one batter over the minimum. Meanwhile, Columbia's second-game hurlers Eric Blattman and Larry Biondi combined to limit the Crimson to six hits, but faced 17 batters over the minimum, as 12 walks kept a constant flow of Harvard runners on the basepaths.

The count-four-and-trot offense jumped out to a six-run lead after two innings. Bobby Kelley opened the nightcap with a long double, then scooted home off a Mark Bingham single two walks later. After two wild pitches and a stolen base, the lead was 4-0, and a Kelley roundtripper with one on in the second upped it to six.

The bats were dormant until the final stanza, when designated hitter Eddie Farrell worked out a walk, and pinchhitter Billy Blood slammed a triple to centerfield, plating the seventh and final run.

Doyle needed just three minutes to dispose of Columbia in the seventh and complete his shutout, slipping third strikes past Ray Stukes and Blattman and forcing Mark Hanewich to one-hop to Kelley at second in an inning representative of the entire afternoon.

In the opener, the Crimson turned six fifth-inning walks into seven runs to lead Carson over the Lions. Behind 3-0 after four innings, Columbia twirler Mike Allen dealt three passes to Bingham and Farrell to open the fifth, and departed in favor of freshman Robert Flock. The reliever faced six batters, walking four, hitting one and allowing Joe Wark to loft a sacrifice fly to drive in another run, before taking leave down 7-0.

Harvard notched three more off of Joe Tiscina when Brad Bauer tapped a seemingly routine double-play ball to third. Two errors and three runs later, the lead was 10-0.

Earlier, Bauer had put the Crimson up by three when he drilled an Allen fast ball over second base in the fourth, scoring Rick Pearce and Wark.

The lanky freshman, who had singled and scored the visitors' initial tally in the first, also recorded the afternoon's premier defensive play, ranging far to his left to gun down roadrunner Mike Brown in the third.

The Axe Falls

With three RBIs to his credit on the day and runners on first and third, Bauer launched a fly to short center in the seventh and Wark attempted to tag up and score run number 12. The sacrifice fly turned into a triple play when Lion received Hanewich put the tag on the sliding Wark and then gunned down to first to trap Kelley in a run-down for the third out.