Baseball Searches for Beanpot Consolation Against Northeastern

After dropping a 13-12, nine-inning decision to UMass on Monday afternoon at Fenway Park, the Harvard baseball team looks to turn things around against Northeastern today in the consolation game of the Beanpot tournament.

The contest between the two teams is a re-match of the semifinal match of last year's Beanpot. In that game the Crimson (21-14, 13-3 Ivy) spanked the Huskies (17-14), 11-0, to advance to the championship game, which was cancelled due to rain.

Harvard is hoping for more of the same this time around, but it will need to improve on a lackluster performance from its usually solid pitching staff to duplicate last year's result.

Against the Minutemen (22-12), the Crimson squandered a 10-4 fourth-inning lead.

The Harvard bats were working, lighting the scoreboard up for 12 runs on 18 hits. But the pitching simply wasn't there for the Crimson as it surrendered 14 hits, including two home runs and two doubles, to UMass.

"It seems that this season we've hit well in some games and haven't pitched too great, or the opposite," captain Hal Carey said. "We simply had trouble combining the two, but we'll get it all together and will be fine."

Aside from some improved pitching out of its hurlers, Harvard will look to continue its onslaught at the plate. The Crimson has averaged over nine runs per game over its last five contests, winning four of them.

"We've really started to hit the ball well as a team the past couple of weeks," Carey said. "Early on in the season, we struggled a bit at the plate, but lately everyone has been doing his part."

Leading the way with the sticks for Harvard this season has been senior center fielder Andrew Huling. In addition to his sparkling play in the field, Huling's .415 average, 5 home runs, 43 RBI and 12 doubles are all tops on the squad. Huling went 2-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored on Monday.

Junior first baseman Erik Binkowski has also been murderous at the plate. He is hitting .336 with three home runs and 28 RBI on the year. And although he hit into the game-ending double play with the tying run on against UMass on Monday, Binkowski ended up 2-for-5 with three RBI.

The hottest hitter in the Crimson line-up of late has been junior designated hitter Jeff Bridich. Bridich--who was recently named Ivy League Player of the Week after going 9-for-14 with eight RBI and a home run against Brown last weekend--is hitting an even .400 on the year with three home runs and 19 RBI. Against the Minutemen, he went 2-for-5 with three RBI and a homerun.

With all of this firepower, the Crimson will face a Huskies club with an excellent 3.65 team ERA. Northeastern can also do some damage with the bat. Leading the Huskies at the plate is sophomore first baseman Matt Keating, who boasts a .360 average to go along with six home runs and 30 RBI this year.

Although the Crimson have the advantage on paper, team members said they must remain focused on the game at hand to avoid an upset.

"We feel confident going in, and we feel that we should win," Carey said. "But we are definitely not looking ahead of them. We are both different teams from last year, and we are taking this as a different game."

Nonetheless, Harvard remains the clear favorite in the match-up. Aside from the 11-0 drubbing it was handed by the Crimson last season, Northeastern has since lost team-leader Carlos Pena to the Texas Rangers, who selected him 10th overall in the Major League Baseball draft.

This loss of its best player, accompanied with a still-strong Harvard ball club, will make it difficult for the Huskies avenge last season's defeat.