Baseball Wins Two Saturday, Loses Two Sunday

The Harvard baseball team followed its best day of the season on Saturday with one of its worst days of the season yesterday at Providence, R. I. Harvard  7  15 Brown  3  7 Harvard  4  4 Brown  10  5

Harvard (9-18, 6-10 Ivy) swept a doubleheader against Brown on Saturday, winning 7-3 and 15-7, but the Bears (10-24, 5-11) returned the favor yesterday, winning 10-4 and 5-4.

In game one Saturday, Harvard spotted sophomore pitcher Frank Hogan a 6-0 lead in the first, and Hogan needed little else. Hogan pitched a gem, allowing only four hits and one walk while striking out eight in a complete-game victory.

Sophomore Mike Hochanadel (2-3, three RBI, two runs scored) paced Harvard's offense, while freshman Brian Ralph (2-4) and senior Joe Weidenbach (2-3, one RBI, one run scored) also had strong offensive performances.

In game two, Harvard's hitters knocked the cover off the ball, pounding out 15 hits and scoring 15 runs in a 15-7 victory. Six players had two hits apiece, led by junior catcher Dennis Double (2-4, two RBI, two runs scored) and Hochanadel (2-4, four RBI, one run scored).

Senior Mike Cicero started and pitched the first five innings for the win.

Yesterday, however, was a day the Crimson would love to forget or replay. Of course that won't happen.

What did happen was a rough fielding display, as two Harvard errors in the first game led to five unearned runs. The Crimson held a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth, but that's when the trouble started. Brown scored five times and then put up a three-spot in the sixth to put the game away.

Junior Scott Parrot had two of Harvard's eight hits and drove in two runs, as did sophomore Peter Albers.

The final game of the weekend was a killer; Harvard just couldn't pull it out. Down 5-4 in the top of the seventh, the Crimson got the first two runners on but it grounded into a double play, and Hochanadel (2-4, one run scored, two RBI) was nailed on a close play at first on a grounder to third.

Senior Lee Mancini allowed only one run in three-and-a-third innings, but he took the loss, as the Bears broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the fifth.

See tomorrow's Crimson for more in-depth coverage on Harvard baseball's four-game series this weekend.