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Baseball Repeats as Champs
As Professor of History William E. Gienapp is fond of saying in his "History 1653: Baseball and American Society" lectures, organized baseball will go out of its way to resist change.
The Ivy League did just that yesterday when it handed the Harvard baseball team the Ancient Eight crown for the third consecutive season. Harvard (28-16, 16-4 Ivy) faced arch-rival Princeton (25-20, 15-5) in the Ivy championship series for the fourth straight year and won the first and third games of the three-game set at O'Donnell Field to advance to the NCAA Tournament. HARVARD 8 PRINCETON 7 PRINCETON 7 HARVARD 6 HARVARD 5 PRINCETON 4
Minutes before the celebration began, however, the Tigers held a two-run lead and were two outs away from starting a new era in Ivy baseball. But the Crimson dynasty remained intact when a succession of ground balls and Texas Leaguers in the top of the ninth culminated in a two-run single by freshman designated hitter Faiz Shakir, who gave Harvard the tying and winning runs.
Senior righthander Andrew Duffell put the tying run on first when he hit Princeton sophomore catcher Casey Hildreth with a pitch but got the win after classmate Garett Vail retired the final two Tigers to secure the 5-4 victory for his "That was as exciting a ballgame as anyI've been involved in," Coach Joe Walsh said."I've been on the other end of those games andthings just didn't go our way all day. I stillwasn't sure it was going to happen but we had somekids that stepped up when we needed them most." Shakir's hit--a lined shot over the head ofPrinceton freshman shortstop Pat Boran with thebases loaded--was the climax of a championshipseries in which all three games were decided byone run. The visiting team trailed by two runsearly in all three games but went on to win eachcontest. Harvard's three-run ninth in Game Three was theonly successful final-inning comeback of theseries. The Tigers forced the rubber match bystaving off a three-run Crimson rally in thebottom of the ninth to win Game Two, 7-6. Harvardheld on to win Game One, 8-7, despite giving uptwo Princeton runs in the last half-inning. The Crimson will complete the regular seasonTuesday at Northeastern before studying for examsand waiting for the NCAA to announce brackets andpairings May 24. The 16 regional sites will beannounced May 17. "The whole team feels a sense of relief," saidsenior catcher Jason Keck. "Everybody expected usto win it all. Since we didn't have the bestseason, we were kind of tense and I felt that weplayed that way this weekend. But now that we arehere [in the NCAAs], I think we can let loose,play tough and see what happens." Harvard 5, Princeton 4 Things were not looking good for the Crimsonheading into the ninth inning. Boran's homer tocenter field in the bottom of the seventh gave theTigers a 4-2 lead. Senior second baseman PeterWoodfork died on first in the next half-inningafter his third hit of the game when senior centerfielder Andrew Huling grounded out to Tiger secondbaseman Jay Mitchell. Harvard had three outs toget two runs and seven batters would have theirchance before its two best hitters-Woodfork (.396)and Huling (.411)-would hit again. Keck then led off with a single to right fieldfor his third hit of the game. Sophomoreright fielder Scott Carmack replaced Keck on firstwith a fielder's choice and moved to second on asingle up the middle by freshman pinch hitter JoshSan Salvador. That forced Princeton manager Scott Bradley tocall in bullpen ace Jeff Golden, giving the seniorrighthander the single-season school record with22 appearances and a chance for his seventh saveof the season. But Harvard freshman shortstop Mark Magerblooped a single over Boran's head, loading thebases for junior first baseman Erik Binkowski.Boran grabbed Binkowski's hard grounder up themiddle but could not make a play as Carmack scoredto cut the Tiger lead to one run and the basesremained full. Up stepped Shakir, a 5'9" defensive specialistwhom Walsh penciled in at the nine-hole because hewas a left-handed hitter. In Game One he was0-for-2 with two strikeouts and, although he haddoubled earlier and is hitting .407, he wasmaking only the 27th at bat of his collegiatecareer. But the rookie slapped Golden's pitch tocenter field to drive in the fifth and sixth runsof his career. "I had a rough day Saturday but I just tried toget that out of my head," Shakir said. "I washappy when Coach let me come up in that situationwith the bases loaded and everybody on the teamhad confidence in me. This was the greatest momentof my career in sports." Golden finally settled down to get captain HalCarey and Woodfork. That left it up to Duffell,who had gotten the final two outs in Princeton'shalf of the eighth, to protect the one-run lead. "I wasn't nervous," Duffel said. "I'm a seniorand I've been here for four years. I didn't get topitch many innings this year but it's great to getthe win in this kind of game. Guys were makinghuge plays behind me." The biggest defensive play of the series cameafter Tiger freshman left fielder Ryan Achterbergled off the bottom of the ninth by bouncing agrounder under Mager's outstretched glove. Withthe tying run on first, Walsh called a defensiveplay--"43"--on the second pitch to the nextbatter, sophomore pinch hitter, Casey Hildreth,who represented the winning run and had tried tobunt the first pitch. As Duffell delivered to Hildreth, Carey andBinkowski charged from the corners and Woodforkwheeled to first base. Sophomore catcher ScotHopps--in for Keck, who was replaced by sophomorepinch runner Joe Llanes after his ninth inningsingle--received the pitch and fired to Woodfork,who tagged out the sliding Achterberg. "Coach called the play and everybody executed,"Hopps said. "Woodie did a great pitch and I justgot the ball to first base." For the second time in two innings, the crowdwas still raving over Walsh's genius. In theprevious inning, he had called for junior MattDevine to pick off Princeton senior leadoff hitterJason Koonin at first base. The play resulted in arundown with Koonin getting tagged out at second. But Duffell hit Hildreth on the hand on thenext pitch and Princeton had the winning run atthe plate again. That was all for Duffell and Walsh called inVail, who had pitched five-plus innings to get thevictory Saturday in Game One. The righthander gotMitchell to pop out to Huling in center and thenfanned Boran, who had just homered, before he wasmobbed by his Ancient Eight-champion teammates. "All of [the pitchers] who went yesterday toldCoach that we were ready to go, so I wasn'tsurprised when I got put into the game," Vailsaid. "In a game like this, you worry about yourarm later; the team comes first. The adrenalinewas enough to get through it. Coming in I knowthat I would only throw a few pitches, so they hadto be good ones." Princeton 7, Harvard 6 Just as it would do in Game Three, Harvardscored three runs in its final inning of Game Two.But that was not enough, and Princeton held on forthe 7-6 victory in Saturday's nightcap. Tiger junior righthander Jason Quintana heldthe Crimson to three runs over eight innings butleft the game after a throwing error by Princetonsenior third baseman Chris Loving let Mager reachfirst and Carmack advance to second. Bradleyturned to Golden to protect the 7-3 lead and thesenior did, but barely. Carey slapped a single past second base to loadthe bases and Woodfork followed with a shot up themiddle to drive in two runs. Huling grounded outto second but advanced the runners to second andthird. Keck rolled a grounder to second, butMitchell hesitated and everyone was safe, withCarey scoring. But Bridich hit the sixth Harvardgrounder in a row to end the game. "We made it exciting in the ninth but we hadplenty of chances to score earlier in theballgame," Walsh said. "We weren't dropping buntsor knocking runners in from scoring position." The Crimson cruised to a 3-2 lead behindsophomore righthander John Birtwell until play wasinterrupted by a 25-minute rain delay in thebottom of the sixth inning. But Birtwell onlylasted to face four Tigers in the top of theseventh, when he left with the score even at 3-3and two runners on base. Walsh called in junior righthander DerekLennon, who gave up a sacrifice fly to Boranbefore retiring the side. Princeton added a run inthe eighth and two in the ninth. Harvard 8, Princeton 7 After falling behind early in the contest 5-2,Harvard rallied for three runs in both the fifthand sixth innings, withstood a ninth inningPrinceton rally and held on for the 8-7 victory. In the series opener on Saturday afternoon, theCrimson sent Vail to the mound to face-off againstTigers' freshman phenom, 6'10 Chris Young. In Young, the Tigers sent up perhaps the mostdominant pitcher in the Ancient Eight this season.Young, who ran away with the Ivy League Rookie ofthe Year Award in basketball, is a heavy favoritefor the baseball equivalent of the award. Heentered the contest 4-1 with a 1.52 ERA. After Harvard notched one run in the top of thefirst on a Carey double and Woodfork RBI single,Koonin, the first batter Vail faced, reached on athrowing error by shortstop Mager. The nexthitter, sophomore designated hitter Andrew Hanson,laced a two-run home run over the right fieldfence, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Harvard came back to tie the game in the top ofthe second as Carmack, who double by Mager. Vail seemed to find his groove, setting downsix straight after the home run. In the bottom ofthe third, however, first baseman Matt Evansdoubled in a run, and right fielder Max Krancefollowed with an RBI single to give Princeton a4-2 lead. An error by Shakir, who was filling in forWoodfork at second base led to an additionalunearned run in the fourth, as the Crimson founditself trailing 5-2. With Harvard down by three runs, and Younglooking strong on the mound, Carey led off thefifth with a blast over the left field fence,cutting the deficit to 5-3. Then, with one out,Huling laced a double to left. Young then hit Keckwith a pitch, and walked Binkowski to load thebases for left fielder Jeff Bridich. The juniordidn't disappoint, lacing a single into center.The hit drove in two runs to knot the game 5-5 andknocked Young out. Vail cruised through bottom of the fifth, andin the top of the sixth the Crimson onslaughtcontinued. Mager and Carey led off the frame withsingles, and Woodfork sacrificed them over a basewith a bunt. After an intentional walk to Huling,Keck cleared the bases with a double down theright field line to give Harvard an 8-5 lead. "It was a 2-0 count with the bases loaded and Iwas expecting a pitch up in the zone," Keck said."I love coming up to the plate with men on, andcoming up with the big hit with the game on theline." HARVARD, 8-7at O'Donnell FieldR H EHarvard 101 033 000 -- 8 13 3Princeton 202 100 002 -- 7 10 1 PRINCETON AB R H BI BB SOKoonin cf 4 0 1 0 0 2Hanson dh 4 1 1 0 0 1Evans 1b 4 1 2 2 0 1Krance rf 4 1 1 0 0 1Loving 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2Achterberg lf 4 0 1 0 0 0Small c 2 0 1 0 1 0Mitchell 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0Boran ss 4 1 1 1 0 2TOTALS 34 4 9 4 1 9E: Boran. DP: Princeton 1.LOB: Harvard 6, Princeton 5. 2B:None. 3B: None. HR: Evans, Boran.SB: Carey. CS: KooninHARVARD IP H R ER BB SOCrockett 6.2 7 4 4 1 7Devine 0.2 0 0 0 0 0Duffell W(3-1) 1.0 2 0 0 0 1Vail 0.2 0 0 0 0 1PRINCETON IP H R ER BB SORowland 8.1 10 4 3 0 1Golden L(1-1) 0.2 3 1 1 0 0
"That was as exciting a ballgame as anyI've been involved in," Coach Joe Walsh said."I've been on the other end of those games andthings just didn't go our way all day. I stillwasn't sure it was going to happen but we had somekids that stepped up when we needed them most."
Shakir's hit--a lined shot over the head ofPrinceton freshman shortstop Pat Boran with thebases loaded--was the climax of a championshipseries in which all three games were decided byone run. The visiting team trailed by two runsearly in all three games but went on to win eachcontest.
Harvard's three-run ninth in Game Three was theonly successful final-inning comeback of theseries. The Tigers forced the rubber match bystaving off a three-run Crimson rally in thebottom of the ninth to win Game Two, 7-6. Harvardheld on to win Game One, 8-7, despite giving uptwo Princeton runs in the last half-inning.
The Crimson will complete the regular seasonTuesday at Northeastern before studying for examsand waiting for the NCAA to announce brackets andpairings May 24. The 16 regional sites will beannounced May 17.
"The whole team feels a sense of relief," saidsenior catcher Jason Keck. "Everybody expected usto win it all. Since we didn't have the bestseason, we were kind of tense and I felt that weplayed that way this weekend. But now that we arehere [in the NCAAs], I think we can let loose,play tough and see what happens."
Harvard 5, Princeton 4
Things were not looking good for the Crimsonheading into the ninth inning. Boran's homer tocenter field in the bottom of the seventh gave theTigers a 4-2 lead. Senior second baseman PeterWoodfork died on first in the next half-inningafter his third hit of the game when senior centerfielder Andrew Huling grounded out to Tiger secondbaseman Jay Mitchell. Harvard had three outs toget two runs and seven batters would have theirchance before its two best hitters-Woodfork (.396)and Huling (.411)-would hit again.
Keck then led off with a single to right fieldfor his third hit of the game. Sophomoreright fielder Scott Carmack replaced Keck on firstwith a fielder's choice and moved to second on asingle up the middle by freshman pinch hitter JoshSan Salvador.
That forced Princeton manager Scott Bradley tocall in bullpen ace Jeff Golden, giving the seniorrighthander the single-season school record with22 appearances and a chance for his seventh saveof the season.
But Harvard freshman shortstop Mark Magerblooped a single over Boran's head, loading thebases for junior first baseman Erik Binkowski.Boran grabbed Binkowski's hard grounder up themiddle but could not make a play as Carmack scoredto cut the Tiger lead to one run and the basesremained full.
Up stepped Shakir, a 5'9" defensive specialistwhom Walsh penciled in at the nine-hole because hewas a left-handed hitter. In Game One he was0-for-2 with two strikeouts and, although he haddoubled earlier and is hitting .407, he wasmaking only the 27th at bat of his collegiatecareer. But the rookie slapped Golden's pitch tocenter field to drive in the fifth and sixth runsof his career.
"I had a rough day Saturday but I just tried toget that out of my head," Shakir said. "I washappy when Coach let me come up in that situationwith the bases loaded and everybody on the teamhad confidence in me. This was the greatest momentof my career in sports."
Golden finally settled down to get captain HalCarey and Woodfork. That left it up to Duffell,who had gotten the final two outs in Princeton'shalf of the eighth, to protect the one-run lead.
"I wasn't nervous," Duffel said. "I'm a seniorand I've been here for four years. I didn't get topitch many innings this year but it's great to getthe win in this kind of game. Guys were makinghuge plays behind me."
The biggest defensive play of the series cameafter Tiger freshman left fielder Ryan Achterbergled off the bottom of the ninth by bouncing agrounder under Mager's outstretched glove. Withthe tying run on first, Walsh called a defensiveplay--"43"--on the second pitch to the nextbatter, sophomore pinch hitter, Casey Hildreth,who represented the winning run and had tried tobunt the first pitch.
As Duffell delivered to Hildreth, Carey andBinkowski charged from the corners and Woodforkwheeled to first base. Sophomore catcher ScotHopps--in for Keck, who was replaced by sophomorepinch runner Joe Llanes after his ninth inningsingle--received the pitch and fired to Woodfork,who tagged out the sliding Achterberg.
"Coach called the play and everybody executed,"Hopps said. "Woodie did a great pitch and I justgot the ball to first base."
For the second time in two innings, the crowdwas still raving over Walsh's genius. In theprevious inning, he had called for junior MattDevine to pick off Princeton senior leadoff hitterJason Koonin at first base. The play resulted in arundown with Koonin getting tagged out at second.
But Duffell hit Hildreth on the hand on thenext pitch and Princeton had the winning run atthe plate again.
That was all for Duffell and Walsh called inVail, who had pitched five-plus innings to get thevictory Saturday in Game One. The righthander gotMitchell to pop out to Huling in center and thenfanned Boran, who had just homered, before he wasmobbed by his Ancient Eight-champion teammates.
"All of [the pitchers] who went yesterday toldCoach that we were ready to go, so I wasn'tsurprised when I got put into the game," Vailsaid. "In a game like this, you worry about yourarm later; the team comes first. The adrenalinewas enough to get through it. Coming in I knowthat I would only throw a few pitches, so they hadto be good ones."
Princeton 7, Harvard 6
Just as it would do in Game Three, Harvardscored three runs in its final inning of Game Two.But that was not enough, and Princeton held on forthe 7-6 victory in Saturday's nightcap.
Tiger junior righthander Jason Quintana heldthe Crimson to three runs over eight innings butleft the game after a throwing error by Princetonsenior third baseman Chris Loving let Mager reachfirst and Carmack advance to second. Bradleyturned to Golden to protect the 7-3 lead and thesenior did, but barely.
Carey slapped a single past second base to loadthe bases and Woodfork followed with a shot up themiddle to drive in two runs. Huling grounded outto second but advanced the runners to second andthird. Keck rolled a grounder to second, butMitchell hesitated and everyone was safe, withCarey scoring. But Bridich hit the sixth Harvardgrounder in a row to end the game.
"We made it exciting in the ninth but we hadplenty of chances to score earlier in theballgame," Walsh said. "We weren't dropping buntsor knocking runners in from scoring position."
The Crimson cruised to a 3-2 lead behindsophomore righthander John Birtwell until play wasinterrupted by a 25-minute rain delay in thebottom of the sixth inning. But Birtwell onlylasted to face four Tigers in the top of theseventh, when he left with the score even at 3-3and two runners on base.
Walsh called in junior righthander DerekLennon, who gave up a sacrifice fly to Boranbefore retiring the side. Princeton added a run inthe eighth and two in the ninth.
Harvard 8, Princeton 7
After falling behind early in the contest 5-2,Harvard rallied for three runs in both the fifthand sixth innings, withstood a ninth inningPrinceton rally and held on for the 8-7 victory.
In the series opener on Saturday afternoon, theCrimson sent Vail to the mound to face-off againstTigers' freshman phenom, 6'10 Chris Young.
In Young, the Tigers sent up perhaps the mostdominant pitcher in the Ancient Eight this season.Young, who ran away with the Ivy League Rookie ofthe Year Award in basketball, is a heavy favoritefor the baseball equivalent of the award. Heentered the contest 4-1 with a 1.52 ERA.
After Harvard notched one run in the top of thefirst on a Carey double and Woodfork RBI single,Koonin, the first batter Vail faced, reached on athrowing error by shortstop Mager. The nexthitter, sophomore designated hitter Andrew Hanson,laced a two-run home run over the right fieldfence, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Harvard came back to tie the game in the top ofthe second as Carmack, who double by Mager.
Vail seemed to find his groove, setting downsix straight after the home run. In the bottom ofthe third, however, first baseman Matt Evansdoubled in a run, and right fielder Max Krancefollowed with an RBI single to give Princeton a4-2 lead.
An error by Shakir, who was filling in forWoodfork at second base led to an additionalunearned run in the fourth, as the Crimson founditself trailing 5-2.
With Harvard down by three runs, and Younglooking strong on the mound, Carey led off thefifth with a blast over the left field fence,cutting the deficit to 5-3. Then, with one out,Huling laced a double to left. Young then hit Keckwith a pitch, and walked Binkowski to load thebases for left fielder Jeff Bridich. The juniordidn't disappoint, lacing a single into center.The hit drove in two runs to knot the game 5-5 andknocked Young out.
Vail cruised through bottom of the fifth, andin the top of the sixth the Crimson onslaughtcontinued. Mager and Carey led off the frame withsingles, and Woodfork sacrificed them over a basewith a bunt. After an intentional walk to Huling,Keck cleared the bases with a double down theright field line to give Harvard an 8-5 lead.
"It was a 2-0 count with the bases loaded and Iwas expecting a pitch up in the zone," Keck said."I love coming up to the plate with men on, andcoming up with the big hit with the game on theline."
HARVARD, 8-7at O'Donnell FieldR H EHarvard 101 033 000 -- 8 13 3Princeton 202 100 002 -- 7 10 1 PRINCETON AB R H BI BB SOKoonin cf 4 0 1 0 0 2Hanson dh 4 1 1 0 0 1Evans 1b 4 1 2 2 0 1Krance rf 4 1 1 0 0 1Loving 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2Achterberg lf 4 0 1 0 0 0Small c 2 0 1 0 1 0Mitchell 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0Boran ss 4 1 1 1 0 2TOTALS 34 4 9 4 1 9E: Boran. DP: Princeton 1.LOB: Harvard 6, Princeton 5. 2B:None. 3B: None. HR: Evans, Boran.SB: Carey. CS: KooninHARVARD IP H R ER BB SOCrockett 6.2 7 4 4 1 7Devine 0.2 0 0 0 0 0Duffell W(3-1) 1.0 2 0 0 0 1Vail 0.2 0 0 0 0 1PRINCETON IP H R ER BB SORowland 8.1 10 4 3 0 1Golden L(1-1) 0.2 3 1 1 0 0
PRINCETON AB R H BI BB SOKoonin cf 4 0 1 0 0 2Hanson dh 4 1 1 0 0 1Evans 1b 4 1 2 2 0 1Krance rf 4 1 1 0 0 1Loving 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2Achterberg lf 4 0 1 0 0 0Small c 2 0 1 0 1 0Mitchell 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0Boran ss 4 1 1 1 0 2TOTALS 34 4 9 4 1 9E: Boran. DP: Princeton 1.LOB: Harvard 6, Princeton 5. 2B:None. 3B: None. HR: Evans, Boran.SB: Carey. CS: KooninHARVARD IP H R ER BB SOCrockett 6.2 7 4 4 1 7Devine 0.2 0 0 0 0 0Duffell W(3-1) 1.0 2 0 0 0 1Vail 0.2 0 0 0 0 1PRINCETON IP H R ER BB SORowland 8.1 10 4 3 0 1Golden L(1-1) 0.2 3 1 1 0 0
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