Ninth-Inning Rally Falls Short in Beanpot Semifinal

BOSTON--On an overcast day at Yawkey Way, the Harvard baseball team had an afternoon typical of Fenway Park's usual inhabitants--bitterly disappointing.

A ninth-inning rally fell one run short as junior first baseman Erik Binkowski grounded into a game-ending double play with the tying run on third, and the Crimson dropped yesterday's Beanpot semifinal to UMass, 13-12.

The Crimson (21-14, 13-3 Ivy) entered the inning trailing 13-10, but put its first four batters aboard, and got an RBI single from freshman shortstop Mark Mager and a sacrifice fly from senior center fielder Andrew Huling to close the gap to 13-12.

That left runners at the corners with one out for Binkowski, who finished 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored.

Binkowski battled UMass reliever Nick Skirkanich to a two-strike count, then drove a split-fingered fastball up the middle, where second baseman Shaun Skeffington ranged to his right, scooped up the grounder, stepped on second and gunned to first, beating Binkowski by two steps.

"[Skirkanich] had thrown me three splitters," Binkowski said. "So I was looking for one. He threw one down the middle and I hit it back up the middle, which is what I'm supposed to do. Yeah, I was upset that I hit into the double play, but I don't know what I could have done differently in the at-bat."

With the win, the Minutemen (22-12) advance to their fourth straight Beanpot final, where they will meet Boston College, 9-7 winners over Northeastern in yesterday's first semifinal. Harvard has not won the Beanpot outright since 1991.

"We had the right guys up, our three-four-five," senior catcher Jason Keck said. "Huling did a good job and Bink hit it right on the nose, but at somebody. It's especially disappointing for the seniors because we haven't won in four tries."

UMass bounced back from a 10-4 deficit through four innings by reeling off nine straight runs behind the bats of two outfielders. Right fielder Aaron Braunstein was 3-for-4 with three RBI and four runs scored, and center fielder Nick Gorneault went 4-for-4 with five RBI and three runs scored.

Gorneault also cranked a two-run home run over the Green Monster in the top of the ninth off Harvard reliever Derek Lennon for what proved to be the winning runs. Braunstein had hit a two-run job off starter Dan Saken in the third.

"We hit the ball well, but so did they," said junior designated hitter Jeff Bridich, who was 2-for-5 with three RBI and a home run. "They hit the ball well enough to come up with one more run. These two teams were evenly matched. The score indicated that and the game indicated that."

The Minutemen started their comeback in the fifth, scoring four to close to 10-8 and chase Saken, who worked 4.1 innings, allowing five earned runs on seven hits.

Freshman Justin Nyweide (0-3) spelled Saken with runners on first and second, then surrendered an RBI double to Braunstein and a two-run triple to Gorneault before an RBI groundout by first baseman Gavin Clark made it 10-8.

Nyweide settled down, retiring six in a row at one point with a nice fastball-curveball combination before loading the bases on a single and two walks in the seventh.

Nyweide gave way to lefthander Matt Devine, who got pinch hitter Kevin O'Connell, the only batter he faced, to bounce into a RBI groundout to make it 10-9.

But Lennon then allowed a screaming two-run single inside the first-base bag to designated hitter Chris Morgan, and the Minutemen had the lead for good at 11-10.

Lennon served up Gorneault's two-run shot in the ninth to make it 13-10.

"Up 10-4, I think we let up," Keck said. "We were disappointed because that shows poor character."

Harvard collected a season-high 18 hits, knocking UMass starter Todd Samolewicz and reliever Jesse Santos around to the tune of 10 runs through four. Binkowski, Bridich and Keck provided the ammunition, as each had collected two hits by the fourth.

Binkowski drove in two runs in the bottom of the first with a single through the left side of the infield to tie the score at 2-2, and Keck hit a typical opposite-field single to right to score two runs in the third and tie it at 4-4.

It was Bridich, however, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, who supplied the big blow that juiced the Crimson up, driving a fat fastball from Samolewicz over the Green Monster in the third for a 6-4 lead.

It was Bridich's third home run of the season, and he is now tied with Binkowski for second on the team.

"Initially, I didn't think I had gotten enough on the ball," Bridich said. "I didn't see it go out, and I thought it was going to hit the top of the wall. Then I saw the outfielder give up on it, and I knew it was gone."

Bridich added an RBI single during a four-run fourth off Santos, giving him 21 on the year.

Santos (2-0) recovered nicely after coughing up four in the fourth, holding the Crimson scoreless through the eighth. He worked 4.1 innings, allowing seven hits and four earned runs, while walking four.

"Santos got ahead in the count starting in the fifth," Binkowski said. "And he started throwing his slider for strikes. He was throwing it in the fourth, but it didn't have much bite and I think he was nervous, it being Fenway and all."

Senior third baseman Hal Carey had a solid afternoon, going 4-for-5 with two runs scored, while Huling was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI.

Notes

Bridich, who was 9-for-14 with eight RBI and a home run last weekend at Brown, was named the Ivy League Player of the Week. He is the second straight Crimson ballplayer to earn the honor, as Huling took it the week before.

"It's great, I guess," Bridich said. "If we were 1-8 or something, it wouldn't mean quite as much, but it's nice to know that the offense is putting up numbers and I'm helping us win."

Senior righthander Donny Jamieson, who notched a win and a save during the four-game set, was named to the Honor Roll.

The Crimson will face Northeastern tomorrow at 11 a.m. in the third-place game. Harvard routed the Huskies 11-0 in last year's semifinal. Interestingly, both UMass and Northeastern are also on Harvard's regular schedule for next week.