Baseball Swings for Third Straight Ivy League Title

After five weeks of indoor training in Lavietes Pavilion, the Harvard baseball team is coming down with a serious case of cabin fever.

The ball club that has breezed to a 48-12 Ivy League record, two league championships and four NCAA tournament wins in the last three seasons is simply dying to get outside.

The squad that has eliminated Stetson, Nicholls State and Tulane from post-season play and has finished the last two seasons ranked in the Top 30 of the Associated Press poll can't wait to face some live competition.

All things considered, that probably isn't the best news for the competition.

"Everybody expects this to be the year," said senior catcher Jason Keck. "With this staff, we feel like we can go deeper than we ever have before. Everybody's been working hard, everybody's itching to get out of the gym and get outside. Our goal is to get a berth in Omaha."

For the uninitiated, Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb. is the site of the College World Series, and if Harvard wants to book its tickets early, it can start on the bump.

Son of a Pitch

The Crimson--which returns five starting position players and 11 pitchers--will make its living on the mound in 1999, boasting the best staff in the Ivy League by a comfortable margin.

"We've got a lot of guys that can be used in any situation," said Harvard Coach Joe Walsh. "We're a very interchangeable staff, and a ton of good, quality arms. Our depth is stronger than ever and we're anxious to crank the stuff out."

Though the rotation is flexible and many of Walsh's pitchers will do double duty in middle relief capacities, Walsh expects three starters to be rotation mainstays: senior Garett Vail, freshman Ben Crockett and sophomore John Birtwell.

Vail, a Second Team All-Ivy selection last year, posted a 5-3 record with a 2.95 ERA and pitched a team--best 58 innings, striking out 38 while walking 18. Vail also won his last three Ivy decisions, including the clincher in the Championship Series against Princeton.

Birtwell, who missed a good month of the season due to a chronic virus, was sparkling when he was on--which was most of the time--finishing 4-0 with a 2.29 ERA. He started the elimination game against Nicholls State, working 7.1 innings and scattering five hits, allowing just one earned run.

"It's nice knowing I'm in the rotation," Birtwell said. "It's not that solid as far as order goes, but we've got so many pitchers it's like we're using a six-man rotation or a seven-man rotation."

Crockett is the only unknown quantity in the pitching equation, but what he's displayed has his teammates encouraged.

"I'd say he throws his fastball 88, 89," Keck said. "And all of his pitches move. He's got good command."

Walsh agreed.

"I think Crockett's got the best fastball on the team and a good hard breaking ball," he said. "But that's not what makes him great. He's competitive, he wants to finish what he starts and I think he's going to be a real inning-eater for us."

Walsh said he will throw the Topsfield native No. 2 in the rotation.

Two other seniors--righthanders Andrew Duffell and Donny Jamieson--made 16 starts between them and combined for an 8-3 record. Both are capable of filling the fourth slot in the weekend quartet, but Walsh said he was leaning toward using Jamieson out of the bullpen. Last year, Jamieson got both of the Crimson's NCAA tournament wins in middle relief.

"It's all about the guy on the bump," Walsh said. "And we got that guy."

Down the rightfield line, the Crimson can trot out an impressive pen alongside Jamieson, one which racked up better than half of its 36 wins in relief, including a combined 11-0 mark from graduates Mike Marcucci and John Wells.

Junior Derek Lennon is the long relief anchor who in his first season out of the JV program put together a 3-1 record and threw 29 innings in 11 appearances, limiting the opposition to a.223 batting average.

Junior Mike Madden--who is also a defensive back on the football team--is the incumbent closer, one of the reach-back-and-gun variety. But Madden has battled an elbow spur on-and-off.

"Madden is showing signs of being able to handle a lot more innings this year," Walsh said. "As a freshman, he was our No. 1 pitcher, and if he gets back to where he was in freshman year, whoa! He's gotten much, much stronger."

The Crimson gets another two-sport wonder in freshman Justin Nyweide, who came over from the men's swimming team.

"He's got potential written all over him," Walsh said. "He's a little behind, because of swimming, but he's a guy who can help our staff immensely."

Keck, whom Walsh consistently praises as calling the best game in the conference, will handle the pitchers. Keck hit .386 with three home runs and 37 RBI last season.

Around the Horn

Harvard only loses one infielder, but at times, Dave Forst '98 seemed more like two.

"Forst was important, to say the least," said senior second baseman Peter Woodfork. "He was a captain and a leader--but we're all capable of doing the job and hopefully it'll work out."

The slick-fielding Forst made his living for three years vacuuming ground balls off O'Donnell Field, but blossomed during his senior campaign into a .406 hitter who set a new school mark for hits in a season with 67.

Into that huge gap steps freshman Nick Carter, of La Jolla, Calif., who will represent the only underclassman link in the infield of junior first baseman Erik Binkowski, Woodfork and captain Hal Carey at the hot corner.

So how will the 6-4-3 look?

"He's looked good so far," Carey said. "Hopefully the chemistry in the infield is going to be the same."

But Woodfork was concerned:

"He's solid and definitely doesn't play like a freshman," he said. "But he's from California, so we'll have to see how he handles the cold."

Binkowski, a second-year starter at first, looks to expand on a spiffy sophomore season in which he hit .293 with three homers and 19 RBI, but provided some serious pop. He also fielded .995 at first.

Woodfork and Carey are veterans who earned starting jobs in their rookie campaigns. Woodfork hit .290 last year with 42 hits and 17 stolen bases, while Carey re-established his claim to the title of "The Boss."

Carey--the 1996 Ivy League Rookie of the Year--hit .374 with 53 hits and 25 stolen bases, epitomizing better than any individual player Walsh's fundamentals heavy deadball style.

As captain, he's been one of the main authors of Harvard baseball's resurgence from a 10-25 program in 1995 to a perennial national contender, on whom other teams focus obsessively.

"It's good pressure to have," Carey said. "Everyone expects us to win and we're ready to compete. That didn't seem possible when this team was 10-25, but now we're expected to be competitive."

Out in the Field

More than anywhere else, the outfield was sapped by graduation. The Crimson lost leftfielder Aaron Kessler and center-fielder Brian Ralph, now playing in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

Kessler hit .337 with 56 hits and 22 stolen bases in 1998, while Ralph--who fielded 1.000 and regularly made Willie Mays-style grabs in center--hit .347 with a team-high 10 home runs and a .703 slugging percentage.

Those are daunting numbers, but Walsh has juggled the outfield to compensate. Senior rightfielder Andrew Huling will move to center, while sophomores John Portman and Scott Carmack will get the left and rightfield nods, respectively.

"I think Carmack and Portman are ready to step up as sophomores like many of the seniors on this team did as sophomores," Walsh said.

Carmack hit .344 in his rookie campaign, appearing in 25 games and starting nine. Portman hit .220 in 50 at-bats.

Huling will provide the glue that the younger two-thirds of the outfield will need. A stellar defender and quiet contributor, Huling hit an unassuming .337 with 57 hits and stole 21 bases while fielding. 986. Huling also showcased a shotgun arm, recording eight outfield assists.

"Huling is on fire," Keck said. "There's just no weak spot in the lineup."

On the bench--for now--is freshman Javy Lopez, who suffered a near-career-ending eye injury while throwing batting practice during fall workouts.

"Javy's overcoming it," Walsh said. "He's not back to where he was, but we're anxious to see him once we get outside. If we can get him back healthy--and that's a big if--he'll be a tremendous asset. It will be a big boost for him and for the ball club."

Fresh Faces

In addition to Crockett and Carter, Walsh will also start freshman Josh San Salvador at designated hitter. Last year's DH-slot was a lefty-righty platoon between Brett Vankoski '98 and senior utility man Todd Harris.

San Salvador is getting talked up in the same exciting way as his classmates.

"He's the kind of guy that you might want to come out to see hit BP," Walsh said. "We're going to stick him right into the lineup in the three-hole. If we're going to be a good ball club, he's going to get his bat into the lineup."

That's good news, since the only glaring hole in an otherwise amazingly well-rounded team is power hitting. Keck and Binkowski--each of whom hit three homers last year--have more long balls than the other 19 returnees put together.

"Honestly, I think you're going to see more power from the freshmen than from us," Keck said. "San Salvador, [sophomore] Graham McKay at DH or first, they're the guys who are going to give us some good pop."

The Crimson also has got freshman infielders Mike Mager and Faiz Shakir on the bench, and both may be groomed for starting jobs next year.

"They're all shortstops by trade," Walsh said. "Mager has good speed, which fits into our system nicely, and Shakir's got a good glove, and he's very quick. He can bunt, run, slash, hit-and-run and he may be a second baseman of the future."

Two upperclassmen--sophomore outfielder Joe Llanes and junior catcher Jeff Bridich--will make the jump from JV.

Looking Forward

Harvard is once again the prohibitive favorite to repeat in the Ivy, although Yale and Dartmouth will provide the major competition in the Red Rolfe Division.

The Bulldogs lose First Team All-Ivy starter Eric Gutshall, but return Jon Levy and Sudha Reddy to the rotation. They are joined by defending Player of the Year Tony Coyne, who won the Triple Crown by hitting .378 with 10 homers and 43 RBI.

Outfielders Ben Johnstone, who hit .381 with 26 stolen bases, and R.D. DeSantis, who hit .298, are the returning outfield starters.

"Yale's a great ball club," Walsh said. "They're the team to beat, no doubt. It's funny, we may win the Ivy League and not have a single player on the All-Ivy."

Dartmouth sports the best 3-4-5 in the league, with first baseman Aaron Meyer, who hit .450 with 11 home runs and 48 RBI, third baseman Mike Conway, who hit .434 with 28 RBI and Brian Nickerson, a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American returning from injury.

But with the new 64-team NCAA format, winning the Ivy becomes much more important. 16 four-team regionals make up the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and the Ivy winner gets an automatic bid. In previous years, the Ivy champion participated in a play-in to earn a berth in the field of 48.

"I'm not sure if it will help or hurt us," Carey said. "If they send us a top team from the South as the No. 1, we'll be in the same boat. But it should help us against the bottom teams and get us a two or three seed."

However post-season play breaks down, the Crimson's single goal is to be involved. Indeed, the program has made such progress in Walsh's three years at the helm that anything less than a tournament berth would be unacceptable. And for Walsh, he's shooting even higher.

"Like every year, our goal is to be the last team standing," Walsh said.