Batsmen Split Two With Boston College

CHESTNUT HILL--There's a big difference between spring training and the regular season.

For the Harvard baseball team, the regular season is a little easier.

After struggling in games against the Red Sox farm teams last week in Florida, the Crimson (now 2-4) came back north to split a doubleheader with Boston College (2-3) here at the Heights yesterday.

Sophomore Mike Dorrington (1-2) looked very impressive in his first victory of the young season, giving up only two earned runs while striking out six in seven innings of work as the Crimson came from behind to take the opener, 9-3.

In the second game, called after five innings because of darkness, the Eagles bombarded a group of Harvard pitchers, 16-5, to split the doubleheader.

"We have a problem there," Harvard Coach Alex Nahigian said. "I wouldn't say that any of our pitchers pitched well in the second game."

The pitching problems that Harvard had coming into the season have been aggravated by injuries to ace Bob Baxter and freshman Zach Hope. Although neither injury is considered very serious, the Crimson will need more strong showings from Dorrington.

Harvard 9, Boston College 3

The Eagles drew first blood against Dorrington with a pair of runs in the second inning. Leftfielder Lance Giroux and rightfielder Bryan McGourthy both singled to left, and catcher Chris Russo followed with another single for the first run.

With two outs centerfielder Gregg Radachowsky blooped a double in front of Dan McConaghy to knock in McGourthy, but Dorrington got out of the jam by forcing Marty Naughton to pop up.

The Crimson was having trouble against B.C.'s Pat Fitzgerald. With the help of some diving catches, the Eagle righthander kept Harvard hitless for the first three innings.

But when freshman leftfielder Marcel Durand and Co-Captain Frank Caprio both walked in the fourth inning, B.C. Coach Ed Pellagrini brought in Tim Smith to replace Fitzgerald, even though he had a no-hitter going.

"He hasn't had a chance to pitch much, and I thought he was getting in trouble," Pellagrini said.

Smith walked firstbaseman Rich Renninger, but got a lot of help when Co-Captain Frank Morelli's hard ground ball hit Caprio off second base, putting the runner out. The sophomore hurler got out of the inning when freshman third baseman Aron Allen grounded out.

Breakout

Harvard finally broke through in the fifth inning when shortstop Dave O'Connell led off with a walk and moved to second on secondbaseman Casey Cobb's single to right. DH Tom Konjoyan was then hit by a pitch while trying to sacrifice to load the bases.

In a weird replay of the previous inning, McConaghy's hard grounder struck Cobb for the first out of the inning. But with the bases still loaded, Durand blasted a double to the rightfield wall to drive in O'Connell and Konjoyan and knot the score at two.

With the left-handed Renninger coming up, Pellagrini brought in lefty hurler Tom Logan to get the lefty-lefty advantage. But that strategy backfired, as Renninger deposited Logan's third offering behind the rightfield fence for a three-run homer to put the Crimson up, 5-2.

Those runs would be all Harvard would need as Dorrington settled down from the second inning and began to dominate the Eagle batters. The big righthander, who had six strikeouts, yielded only one more hit and run to earn his first victory.

"I felt a little tired, but I knew I had good control of my breaking balls," Dorrington said. "When you get your breaking balls over, it's so much easier to get people out."

"He has his confidence now," Nahigian said. "Confidence is everything in baseball."

Harvard continued to score on B.C. pitching, sending four more runs across the plate in the sixth inning. Allen led off with a single and moved to third on O'Connell's walk and Cobb's sacrifice. Konjoyan drilled a double down the leftfield line to score Allen, and McConaghy drove in both O'Connell and Konjoyan with a line single to center. McConaghy then scored when Caprio, Renninger and Morelli walked.

Boston College 16, Harvard 5

Unfortunately, the Crimson didn't have quite as good pitching as it did in the opener. Four Harvard pitchers gave up 12 walks and ten hits in a game that was called after five innings due to darkness.

The game started with promise as Allen led off with a two-base error. After McConaghy and Caprio singled to load the bases, Renninger hit a sacrifice fly and Morelli singled to put Harvard up, 2-0.

Freshman Jon Biotti started on the mound for the Crimson, and the rookie got wild. Biotti walked four straight batters with two outs, but got a pop out to get out of the jam.

In the top of the second, the top of Harvard's lineup delivered another run. With two outs, Allen singled and scored when McConaghy's line-drive single rolled through McGourthy.

But that was the end of the Crimson's lead.

In the bottom of the inning, the Eagles sent 15 men to the plate and exploded for nine runs off of Biotti, losing pitcher Cody Weston (0-1) and Chip Lippman. The highlight of the rally was Radachowsky's grandslam, which put B.C. ahead, 5-3.

Despite being down, 10-3, after that inning, Harvard fought to stay in the game. In the top of the third, Caprio and thirdbaseman Tim Hurley scored two runs on an O'Connell single and a bases-loaded walk by Allen.

"We hung in there, and we didn't give up," Nahigian said. "We played with the same intensity when we were down by a lot as we were when we were even."

But it was not enough, as the Eagles scored four more runs in the third and three in the fourth to pull far ahead of the Crimson.

THE NOTEBOOK: Radachowsky had a whopping six RBIs in the nightcap...Renninger's homer was his first of the season...McConaghy, who hit .409 last season was 4-for-8 on the afternoon.