Attention to Detail

In the last lesson of a four-game clinic against Yale yesterday, Harvard Coach Joe Walsh did a very characteristic thing.

Senior righthander Donny Jamieson had just made his only serious jam of the afternoon a lot less sticky, starting a rare bases-loaded, 1-2-3 double play in the fifth by cleanly fielding Mike Kahney's comebacker to the mound and firing home for the lead runner. Senior catcher Jason Keck then turned and gunned Kahney out at first to preserve a 4-4 tie and leave runners at second and third with two outs.

Or so we all thought.

Pointing out that Kahney had, in fact, been called out for interfering with first baseman Erik Binkowski in the basepath, Walsh casually strolled out to home plate and correctly reminded umpire Rick Milner that runners may not advance on an interference call. Second and third quickly became first and second.

Though Jamieson made it a moot point by striking out shortstop Steve Dankof on a slider down and away to end the inning, it was a move symbolic of what Harvard did right all weekend--sweating the details.

In and of itself, Jamieson's double play was intelligent--it prevented the go-ahead run from scoring and got two outs for the price of one--but Walsh's spin made it that much better.

Seeing little things done correctly should come as no surprise to regular followers of Crimson baseball. Even a brief acquaintance with the Harvard dugout tells you how seriously everybody takes seemingly minor plays.

When a runner leads off and the pitcher makes anything like a pickoff move, 32 Harvard uniforms scream out "Back!"

When a batter hits a lazy fly ball, Assistant Coach Gary Donovan, who vigilantly and vociferously patrols the sideline, calls out, "Run hard! Never know!" on the off-chance that the fielder might shank it.

And when any ball finds its way into the gap, the dirt or the hands of an unsure outfielder, the first thing on everybody's mind is to take an extra base.

Take yesterday's opener, a 7-6 extra-inning decision that showcased several of the Crimson's typical fundamental successes.

Senior center fielder Andrew Huling, one of the squad's most aggressive base runners with a team high nine stolen bases, helped engineer the winning run in the bottom of the ninth when he wheedled his way into a double on a freak play with two outs.

Huling lined a ball off the pitcher's mound, and when the rebound ricocheted into short center field, he dug hard around first and motored for second while the Bulldog outfield looked at the ball like an arrival from another planet. He arrived in a cloud of dust, well ahead of the dilatory throw.

One batter later, pinch hitter Jason Larocque slapped an easy grounder to second baseman Luis Costa, who fielded it cleanly but threw wildly to first, his fourth error of the weekend.

As the ball rolled away into foul territory, Huling trotted home with the winning run. By taking the extra base, Huling allowed Costa's error to become decisive.

"That's something [Assistant Coach] Chip Forrest has been working on all week with the team-getting runners to take the extra base," Walsh said. "We've got guys looking for it every time they round first, and it makes us more aggressive base runners. You might not see it in things like stolen bases, but it shows up in plays like that."

Every inning showcased some example of heads up baseball. In the top of the seventh, junior reliever Derek Lennon spelled classmate Mike Madden with men on first and second and no outs in a 6-6 tie.

Walsh called for "66," one in a suite of plays the Crimson runs with runners on base in potential bunting situations.

Freshman shortstop Mark Mager, who had been holding Yale designated hitter Tony Coyne on second, sprinted away from the bag toward third base as Lennon hit his windup, freezing Coyne. Second baseman Faiz Shakir slipped in behind Coyne, and Lennon wheeled around and promptly picked him off second.

It was a classic example of Crimson misdirection, and it made Coyne, the defending Ivy League Player of the Year, look positively silly.

In addition, the Crimson was able to start and finish big innings all weekend, using smart execution of fundamental plays to turn stranded runners into runs.

In the top of the first, Harvard put rookie starter Craig Breslow in an early hole, scratching two runs on two hits and an error.

With one out, Mager waited out Breslow, working a walk, then harassed Breslow into an errant pickoff throw and moved over to third. Keck tripled him home with yet another opposite-field base hit, and scored himself when Huling blooped a Texas Leaguer over the third-base bag.

And in the third, Harvard used three singles, from captain Hal Carey, Binkowski and Keck, as well as two stolen bases and a wild pitch, to set up Huling's two-out, two-run double and a 5-3 lead.

Both rallies did a fine job of mixing spray hitting with attentive base running, bothersome tactics and capitalizing on Bulldog miscues. That's been typical of the new-look Crimson, which has scraped together 56 runs in its last five games by prolonging rallies and burying every kind of mistake it's lucky enough to get, or smart enough to generate.

But smart isn't shocking. These are Harvard students, right?