One for the Ages

Eric, my roommate, snapped back in his chair when he heard the news. "Harvard beat UCLA!", he exclaimed. At the time, his statement did not register with me. Further reflection, however, has convinced me that this brilliant beginning to the NCAA tournament is the best way to remember the end of the school year.

The sheer unexpectedness of the victory makes it even sweeter. After learning that Harvard would face UCLA (40-18-1 before yesterday's game), the top seed in the Midwest Regional, I had all but written the Crimson off.

Any lingering thoughts I had of the Harvard-UCLA game had dissipated in the midst of watching people move out (one of the worst parts of Harvard, when the Yard begins to lose its life), talking about summer jobs and swapping addresses.

Harvard's 7-2 win yesterday was the perfect pick-me-up after the weariness of finals: an avatar of textbook baseball in which the pitching and the offense combined to throttle the fourth ranked team in the country.

Harvard's pitching in Oklahoma was just as big a success as the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Senior Frank Hogan (8-2) did his job admirably, limiting the Bruins to just two hits in the first six innings.

Sophomore Don Jamieson, who trimmed Army, 4-1, last Friday, replaced Hogan in the ninth with two on and no outs. Jamieson faced three batters, all of whom flied out.

Harvard's offense was a total team effort. The Crimson bats were smoldering against the Bruins, as the starting nine batters each collected at least one hit in doubling UCLA's total. The usual stars turned in Oscar performances as junior Aaron Kessler's three RBI led the hit parade. Following right behind in the procession were sophomore Hal Carey and junior Jason Keck, who each had two RBI.

In addition, players such as sophomore Peter Woodfork and junior David Forst, normally recognized more for their fielding abilities, each chipped in with two hits.

Harvard is 33-14, Ivy champions and two wins away from capping its already outstanding season with a College World Series berth. Hogan has defeated two nationally-ranked teams: Miami (third) and UCLA (fourth). And people say this isn't an athletic school?

This afternoon, as some of us cram boxes into cars and others cram for finals, the Crimson faces the loser of the Oklahoma State-Stetson game. While many students might want to forget about anything to do with Harvard over the summer, our baseball team's accomplishment in beating the fourth-ranked team in the nation is something too memorable to discard.

Harvard's greatest achievement remains crystallized in the UCLA game: its perseverance and its ability to face adversity and emerge renewed and triumphant. It's not a conclusion to a season, only a bridge, and a fitting commencement to the end of the school year.